Is it normal? hard alcohol doesn't affect me, but beer does?

I'm not the kind of person to drink very much or very often. Oddly, I can sit there and drink shots, and feel nothing, besides the initial warmth right when I drink it. Now, if I add a beer or something similar (a hard cider, malt liquor, hard soda, etc), suddenly it hits me like a ton of bricks. Before, I feel completely sober and not even tipsy in the slightest, and it don't matter the amount of hard alcohol either. On several occasions, I've done several shots worth, or nearly a fifth, and felt nothing. If I stick to the hard stuff, nothing! The moment I add a beer to that though, and I'm smashed. If I stick to beer, I slowly become drunk.

And this is from a guy who doesn't drink very often, I only drink alot every once in a blue moon. (No pun intended) I rarely drink more than one beer in a week, if that.

is it normal hard liquor doesn't affect me unless I add a beer to it?