Elmlea's Thread of Not Drinking - The Bear and Badger

Elmlea

I don't remember if we have a generic alcohol thread, but I thought I'd start my own one anyway.

I've found over the last couple of years that the way I drink has changed quite markedly. Â Rather than student-level bingeing sessions, I'd find myself often just having "a couple of beers" on an average night. Â It was a pleasant, grown up way to relax, and certainly did take the edge off a frustrating day at work. Â However, in order to get to that "nicely lubricated" feeling, I found that I was progressively having a bit more every so often, to the extent that I'd buy a stack of beer and just slowly work through it all over the course of a few days just because it was there. Â It's obviously a bit unhealthy, but it had become totally habitual; I do a lot less of it since moving to the US, but if I pop a 6-pack in the fridge it's still lucky to survive more than a night. Â The shift work has stopped the temptation for even one beer on a work night, but the habit still kicks in if there's beer in the fridge.

Coupled with that, I go through 3 distinct stages when properly drinking; I start out as ridiculously happy and cheery, then end up a little melancholy and worried about stuff; I suddenly get terribly worried that I might have spent too much money, or I've forgotten something, or similar stuff. Â The third stage, disappointingly, is I tend to get a bit short tempered, and frankly, turn into a bit of a dick. Â I don't like that stage at all, and I'm totally sick of people I care about being justifiably unhappy with me when I get up, gently hungover in the morning.

So, I'm don't have a lot of fun if I get really drunk, and I'm probably not gaining much by habitually drinking a little bit several days in the week. Â So I thought I'd tentatively try not drinking for a while, he said, getting to the point.

Anyone ever done it? Â Either for a short detox, or because they're unhappy with their behaviour when drunk, or their overall relationship with alcohol? Â If so, tell your tales here.

As a start, I've actually just poured out the 4 bottles of beer I had in the fridge and stuck them in the recycling. Â I'm at home with the little one in bed while my lovely wife and her mother have gone out for dinner, and this is exactly the sort of day where I'd normally just sit and drink, well, whatever was in the house while sitting in front of the TV. Â Instead, I'm going to watch TV anyway, but then go for a run when they're home later. Â I run virtually every day when I'm at work on breaks anyway, so it'll be nice to actually get some benefit when I'm at home rather than undoing the work I've done during the week!

I'll let myself have a few drinks during Bearstock, but nowhere near as many as I might have before, and I'm looking forward to breaking the cycle of always being the one who drinks when we go out for dinner etc etc. Anyone ever tried?

ChattinWithChet

I had a couple of very bad experiences when drinking a few years back - involving self-inflicted gubbins, becoming physically and generally unstable, and seriously worrying some people who matter - and went on anti-depressants instead. I stopped drinking for about three months, and it generally improved my life. When I started drinking again, I switched mainly to bottles, and kept it to 3 - 4 on most outing, got heavier into choosing good beer and that is where most of my enjoyment came from, rather than getting drunk. I still have the odd time when I get quite drunk, but even then it's restrained and without getting sick or upset. When that does happen, I take a month off and focus on finding other ways to get happy. The desire for your mind to be smashed into oblivion is generally a sign that you should medicate yourself in better ways.

Elmlea

ChattinWithChet wrote:

The desire for your mind to be smashed into oblivion is generally a sign that you should medicate yourself in better ways.

I can understand that, and I think that sort of thing is why I've never really thought the amount I drink needed toning down or adjusting or anything. Â I never like getting so drunk I don't know what I'm doing. Â I don't like being smashed anywhere near oblivion, but I do like that little relaxed feeling I get after I'm half way through the second bottle of beer.

However, like you said, I'd like to be able to drop from drinking for the sake of it to just having a couple. Â I'd love to be able to just actually have one beer when I'm home from work, rather than ending up slowly working my way through the whole six pack. Â Getting completely drunk? Â I don't think I'd mind if I never did that again, ever.

ChattinWithChet

Elmlea wrote:

I can understand that, and I think that sort of thing is why I've never really thought the amount I drink needed toning down or adjusting or anything. Â I never like getting so drunk I don't know what I'm doing. Â I don't like being smashed anywhere near oblivion, but I do like that little relaxed feeling I get after I'm half way through the second bottle of beer.

I think everybody does, that's part of the pleasure of having a drink, in the same way that having a cup of coffee or tea gives you a nice waking up feeling. Switching to really good - and more expensive beer - really did work very well for avoiding having six just because they're there kinda thing, which I used to do a lot. And even better, I found that splitting every beer with a friend, or two, and tasting everything gives the impression that you have had way more than you actually have. There is an optimum of beer and going past it really does just end up leaving you sick, down, and usually missing a good portion of funds. Hangovers are just shit, and waste so much time.

Skerret

Bugul is now sadly battling a dependence on sandwiches.Â It's always something.Â I'll second the move to boutique beer though, like most good quality food items you typically don't want to hare through the lot asap because the joy is in the savouring.

ChattinWithChet

I do like sandwiches

Elmlea

Skerret wrote:

I'll second the move to boutique beer though, like most good quality food items you typically don't want to hare through the lot asap because the joy is in the savouring.

I do prefer the sound of that. Â I did, at times, buy some pretty average beer just because it came in great quantities.

Skerret

There's a brewer in Victoria called Grand Ridge and they make fantastic beer.Â I'm not a big drinker by any stretch but it is freaking delicious.Â I met one of the guys that make it and they are fanatical about maintaining the quality and not selling out to a big brewer, which I admire.Â It's not cheap (a few are $40-50 a six-pack) but it's worth it.

I expect a bit of digging out your way would yield similar small breweries.Â Micro brewery beer is becoming very popular round this way.Â A friend of mine has been making his own for a few years and has recently had interest from a few pubs about stocking it, so wahey.Â When we do the Meredith music festival in December, we bring in a portable bar with tap attached and he brings a few barrels of his best.Â We pull beer after beer between sets, it's brilliant.

ChattinWithChet

Depending on where you're living, you should investigate what kind of local craft brewing goes on. America is probably the gold standard right now for how many successful, local breweries are operating, but a lot of places are getting in on it. Over here it has really kicked off in the last few years, as well as pretty much every shop having a quality world wide selection of beers. Tescos is currently doing 5 bottles of pretty much anything - including all the Shepherd Neame beers - for a tenner, which works out very well.

ChattinWithChet

One of the best beers in Ireland now is from the Eight Degrees Brewing Company. They operate out of Cork, and are run by one fellow from Australia and one from New Zealand. I met one of them in a pub while he was dropping off supplies for their new Christmas beer and they gave me a free bottle.

http://www.eightdegrees.ie/

Their Red Ale is my favourite.

ChattinWithChet

Actually, I had the first ever Australian beer that was equal in quality to European / American brews last week. Little Creatures Pale Ale. Delicious!

regmcfly

This appears to have turned into the best beer thread.

Skerret

ChattinWithChet wrote:

Actually, I had the first ever Australian beer that was equal in quality to European / American brews last week. Little Creatures Pale Ale. Delicious!

Little Creatures is indeed nice stuff, but there are many better ones.Â Boutique breweries coming out the a-hole over here, every man and his drunken dog, though many of them wouldn't be big enough to export much I'd say.

Just had a quick look online in the EU and UK for craft beers, and the only Aus ones are things like Coopers and James Boags.Â Certainly leagues ahead of Fosters and VB, but leagues behind the proper good stuff. Â

Ignore the major breweries up top of this list, the microbreweries below are the ones worth looking at.

I could possibly organize freight of a slab of something exclusive...

ChattinWithChet

DO IT

Skerret

If you're willing to pay for it.Â Maybe a sample of a few singles.

ChattinWithChet

I could repay you in Irish craft beers p'raps? We'll talk on the voice soon.

Elmlea

regmcfly wrote:

This appears to have turned into the best beer thread.

Not entirely the initial thought I had, to be honest. Â That said, I'll continue to post about the intended subject!

Brooks

Until very recent forays back into scotch etc. getting myÂ epicureanÂ on, I'd been off booze for about a decade. That was due to misuse. I can recommend not misusing alcohol.

Skerret

Thread about techniques for avoiding potential alcoholism turns into beer appreciation thread.Â Typical of this place.

Skerret

ChattinWithChet wrote:

I could repay you in Irish craft beers p'raps? We'll talk on the voice soon.

THE VOICE

beano

Reminds me of the smoking support thread I started which ended up going down the road of bitcoins, legal highs and not so legal highs.

FYI I am back on the smokes! Woe. Hope Elm has better luck than I putting down his chosen vice.

Rev

I haven't had a drink in 6 months.

Tempy

I only drink when I'm out with friends, so that's twice a week on a bad week. It's expensive and makes you go to the toilet a lt and after about 5 hours no one can understand anything any of you say beyond some basic, chest thumping nature and it usually goes quickly downhill after then.

I switched to wine and/or half pints of stuff like Brewdog stout or Leffe because it's actually tasty for someone who doesn't like beer. I hate hangovers, I utterly despise them, and drinking less goes hand in hand with less hangovers. Also hanging from the tap for about an hour when I get home works too.

I have really never seen the fuss that goes along with drinking truly great quantities and never drink at home beyond a drink with a meal. On the rare occasion I has a full pint when our, usually Guinness, it lasts me as long as two pints for my friends.

I realise this doesn't really answer your question, but I could certainly stop drinking and it wouldn't hamper my life at all.

djchump

I barely drink - always been a lightweight cos I'm half-japanese so even back at school and uni days I'd normally be first pissed and first passed-out.Â
During uni learnt my limits and what level of drunk I actually enjoy and pretty much stuck to that. Best party vibe was always a couple beers and a spliff or two and then I'd be energetic but still nice and mellow, just enjoying whatever's going on.

Lot of people I know would get blasted because they either didn't know when to slow down or start alternating with soft drinks to keep the level of drunk at a good spot, oftentimes it was peer pressure on pub crawls but I've never had qualms about telling someone to fuck right off if they're trying to force me into something I don't want (oo-er!). A stony-faced "No means no, now fuck off" generally does the trick. I think it helped immensely that we were always skint as students so we never got into that habit of buying rounds, forcing everyone to match drinking pace with the heaviest drinker there.

Nowadays I'm a boring cunt and hardly go out so don't really drink. Nice to meet mates down the pub and have a drink, but I can nurse a pint or two for a good hour or so while we chat. My mates aren't the types to go out just to get blind drunk and puke so never got dragged into that scene. Will have a drink at home with a meal every blue moon but only ever to make the meal nicer, rather than to get drunk.

Do recommend the speciality beers thing - sounds fun and some guys at work would club together every now and again to get a variety of super-expensive bottles delivered to try out the premium/speciality/weird stuff. May help switch focus from drinking for the effects of the alcohol to drinking for the experience itself - plus if it's expensive shit you might take it slower to savour it :-)

JonB

I used to drink a lot but now I only have a single beer about 5 nights a week after dinner. I think I used to drink out of sheer boredom, and it was a sign that my life was just too dull. Now I'm far more fulfilled and the last thing on my mind is drinking lots. And I don't miss those hangovers, that's for sure.

humantarget

I only drink on a Friday or Saturday when I'm out with friends, usually a significant amount but as I don't get hangovers and it's only one day a week I'm not too bothered.

adored

I occassionally give up drinking for a month or 2 just for the sake of it. Managed about 3 months the year before last but not done it since - might give it a another go over August/September.

But yes, drink better beer.

Rev

revelthedog wrote:

I haven't had a drink in 6 months.

that isn't some kind of on the wagon statement. My lovely new shiny wife is pregnant so it's kind of nailed it on the head for me.Â
Â
My ex was a night winer. As well as being a whiner. She was one of those that had a glass or two of red wine every night. Was obviously worse for wear in the morning. Couldn't go anywhere social without having a drink. In fact she would be an absolute bitch if we went somewhere and she wasn't allowed a drink, because she considered it being social and said because I didn't mind, I should have the decency to be the designated driver. when we went to her parents her mother was just as bad. Â And she was a moody, aggressive shit when she had too many - which was usually after 3 glasses.Â
was it alcoholism? Dunno, but it wasn't normal.

igorgetmeabrain

I would routinely drink a beer or glass or two of wine most evenings until I realised that I felt so much better if I didn't. It's a very easy habit to slip into, especially if you have a stressful life, but I'm not sure it's really all that helpful, even in moderation, if it becomes something of a crutch.

three1ne

I stopped drinking for around 4 months, 3 years back just to see if I could do it. I was around 27-28 then and was still going out in town most weekends. Stuck to diet-coke all night.Â

I didnt do it because I had a problem or because IÂ necessarily wanted to stop drinking, but kind of just an experiment I guess. Was strange finishing the night sober, rewarding too.Â It didnt effect my ability to join in on the fun either, once you get past that initial moment of "but I dont feel drunk.." then it doesnt matter.

Saved a fuck load of money too. Â£40 per night down to may be Â£10-15.

Brooks

My rule is now "only if it's expensive". Not that this'd especially interrupt me were I a raging addict, but.

Basically, spirits are too interesting to dodge entirely.

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