Newbie Looking for Advice/Input

Hey all, I’m a “late bloomer” in trying alcohol (28M) for a variety of reasons but I’ve finally dived in now. I started out with some Mike’s Hard/Harder lemonades as an intro, but my default tolerance required moving up to mixing 40% vodka with some sprite + flavored syrup, and that worked better.

I need at minimum ~3 drinks to feel enough to justify the money/effort, so that’s where I’ve been hovering. 95% of the experience is a nice physical feeling overall, which has not been a problem yet. I definitely laugh uncontrollably much easier, but otherwise it doesn’t affect me mentally. I don’t necessarily want to get fucked up, but I’d like to see what the next step(s) would be. I hesitate because I don’t know if 3-4 mixed vodka shots in ~1 hour mixed is already a lot or if I have room to add more safely.

My other main question involves the other types of alcohol I hear a lot about (whiskey, tequila, bourbon, etc.) I’ve had friends in the past say things like “whiskey makes me [this feeling]”, “vodka makes me [another feeling]” etc. yet I’ve also been told that alcohol is alcohol and the only part that’d change things is the ABV. Which is true? Would simply switching from 40% vodka to 40% Whiskey (or similar) make a difference in how I feel that justifies experimenting, or is that unnecessary?

Thanks for input 🙂