Originally Posted by
doorknob 
I do wish you would explain that more.. or direct me to a website that does.
I am unsure how much of a chemsitry background you have so I will try and keep it as basic as possible. I have a background in chemistry as I am majoring in biology which requires a chemistry background. I also took had to take chemistry when I was in nursing school. I am not a chemist by any means and as I stated it is my understanding that there are many types of alcohol besides the kind we drink. What type of alcohol is produced is dependent upon the ratio of carbon to hydrogen atoms as well as the number of each present in the solution.
Alcohol by definition is any substance containing an OH group attached to a hydrocarbon.
Examples are ethyl alcohol or ethanol: C2H5OH; butyl alcohol or butanol: C4H9OH. All of these are alcohol but react differently in the body.
A more complex example can be viewed from the quote below. This came from the website
http://www/tiscali.co.uk/reference/e.../m0009891.html
Alcohol (chemistry)
In chemistry, any member of a group of organic chemical compounds characterized by the presence of one or more aliphatic OH (hydroxyl) groups in the molecule, and which form esters with acids. The main uses of alcohols are as solvents for gums, resins, lacquers, and varnishes; in the making of dyes; for essential oils in perfumery; and for medical substances in pharmacy. The alcohol produced naturally in the fermentation process and consumed as part of alcoholic beverages is called ethanol. When consumed the effects of alcohol include poisoning at high concentrations, and changes in the functioning of human nerve cells.
Alcohols may be liquids or solids, according to the size and complexity of the molecule. A monohydric alcohol contains only one hydroxyl group in each molecule. The five simplest alcohols form a series in which the number of carbon and hydrogen atoms in the molecule increases progressively, each one having an extra CH2 (methylene) group: methanol or wood spirit (methyl alcohol, CH3OH); ethanol (ethyl alcohol, C2H5OH); propanol (propyl alcohol, C3H7OH); butanol (butyl alcohol, C4H9OH); and pentanol (amyl alcohol, C5H11OH). The lower alcohols are liquids that mix with water; the higher alcohols, such as pentanol, are oily liquids immiscible with water; and the highest are waxy solids – for example, hexadecanol (cetyl alcohol, C16H33OH) and melissyl alcohol (C30H61OH), which occur in sperm-whale oil and beeswax, respectively. Alcohols containing the CH2OH group are primary; those containing CHOH are secondary; while those containing COH are tertiary.
Hope this helps clarify.