Thanks, Coyote... I can relate in a way, even though I don't drink any more, and never drank to excess.
AW can down a 12-pack of beer in a day and remain awake. In fact, it puts her in some kind of weird lizard-like trance, and she can sit up all night and watch TV. (One beer would make me want to take a nap... that's one reason I quit drinking it.)
The hard stuff, on the other hand, reduces her to a vegetative state, and she eventually passes out. When I first noticed her problem, she was guzzling Crown Royal. My daughter and I found about 20 of those velvet bags stuffed in the cabinet; I guess she thought they were worth saving. I hate to think how much money she wasted on that stuff.
Now she has switched over to Vodka... somebody probably told her it wouldn't make her breath smell, or something. At least it's a little cheaper than Crown Royal.