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Contrary to popular opinion, it turns out that coffee is more of a hindrance than a help when you’ve been drinking too much. A study at Temple University carried out on mice showed that caffeine had no effect whatsoever on the mental and physical impairment that alcohol caused but instead just made them more alert. The study authors believe that this finding actually shows that coffee has a negative effect on people who have drunk too much by perhaps fooling them into thinking they are less impaired than they really are. Basically, drunk people without caffeine are more likely to understand and admit to being drunk and to impairment while those who have consumed caffeine may feel and believe that they are less impaired than they really are.
Interestingly the research did discover that alcohol reduced jitters and induced anxiety from caffeine in the mice.
All this leads to one important question – what does this mean for the current fad for drinks based on Red Bull and other high caffeine drinks?
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Doc Gurley is a Board-certified Internist physician and the only Harvard Medical School graduate to have been awarded a Shoney’s Ten-Step Pin for documented excellence in waitressing. 
I drank Redbull drinks all the time while I was in college. I liked the way they tasted and the fact that I didn’t feel totally wasted, but I was still drunk…if that makes sense. I did some really stupid and dangerous things because my perception of my degree of impairment was way off. I can’t imagine that binge drinking beverages that contained stimulants and depressants was healthy.
People are going to drink them because they’re “funner” than straight alcohol drinks, especially for people who don’t like beer. Unfortunately they’re more dangerous because it’s hard for one to gauge his or her level of impairment, which might lead him or her to drink more and engage in dangerous activities.