How much do you drink?

For me before I quit I was usually over 30 units a week, sometimes over 60 units, I would end up drinking Thursday-Sunday with a bottle of wine and then beer and gin or any combination of those, plus sometimes whiskey, on a "good" night I could drink 2 bottles of wine and around 1/4 bottle of gin no problems - that was just when I was staying in, going out would be pints of beer, then wine or whiskeys. I spent several years worrying about how much I drank without doing much about it, I tried to moderate, and it was hit and miss, once I start drinking the off switch can just as easily get lost as be there. Apart from that, I'm not someone who usually dwells on the past, but if I think of all the times I've regretted my behaviour or wished I'd done things differently its been after a drink, I just realised that I was just as much likely to be an $rsehole as be someone who was the life and sole of the party after a drink and there was no predicting who was coming out to play.
It was hard to stop, i must have had 50 day 1 attempts, sometimes I'd go 4-5 days, sometimes longer but often not get past 3 days, its weird, but the shame of not being able to control what is an addictive drug is somehow something blamed on the person drinking by society - like you aren't normal or are weak. When you tell people you don't drink there's still this feeling that its because you are not the normal one, and the people poisoning themselves are.
The key to stopping for me in the end was to remove the perception that drinking holds any value in itself, I realised I could go to social occasions, birthdays', weddings, etc, still have a cracking time and wake up the next day feeling great and knowing I didn't have to spend any time piecing together the events of the night before to work out if I upset anyone or generally made a fool of myself.
This has been a really interesting thread, and thank you for your honest feedback and stories, sharing out feelings, especially around drink is very difficult as its such a massive part of our culture that to question it takes a lot of courage. I'm no expert but I'm here to talk if anyone needs an advise or just wants to chat, , 8 months sober and I can say i don't miss it at all now. One of the hardest things for me are the feelings and emotions that come up which I previously drank to avoid. When I was unhappy before I could drink and forget, now its about facing those feelings and dealing with them, after 30 years of drinking its not easy.
I just remind myself that alcohol is an addictive poison which kills life at the cellular level, it is a thief which steals you time, your health and your dignity. How can it hold any value? I would rather face 50 years of raw emotions then 1 more day of self-induced slow suicide.
I found this book really helped kick start my journey, I'd recommend it to anyone whos considered quitting but don't know where to start, the audio version is great:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Alcohol-Li...ords=alcohol+lied+to+me&qid=1617188559&sr=8-1

 

I noticed Brewdog had gone down the route of non/low alcoholic bar/s. I mentioned it to my missus the other day and she didn't believe me. A quick google, showed her the Old Street location... and her expression was a treat to behold!

Will be interesting to see if it's a fad/gimmick or has a lasting following. A while ago, a nearby pub (independent at the time) with a very sizeable footprint took on a manager. It was very old school before that and seldom had anyone in though did have a few ok beers but food was awful.

The new manager got a lot more footfall and did it by catering for mums and their kids. It was rammed whenever I went by. But 2 months later the manager was booted out and they reverted to what they were previously. It seemed sales were considerably down despite the huge footfall increase.

AF is an interesting concept, especially separated from the pubs which serve alcohol, especially for a brand that gained its initial brand awareness and foothold from very high ABV drinks, and i'll be interested to see if it establishes and gains traction over a period of more normal trading. Keep us posted if you can.

 

Chin up mister, for many I very much think there are good signs of something better on the near horizon. It's been a thoroughly **** 12 months for many, but where there's life there's hope.

 

Really good to see people acknowledging the link between alcohol intake and the effect it has on your mental health. It is one of the first things we discuss when assessing and treating people.

I've been through a rough couple of years mentally and have reduced my alcohol intake to maybe a couple of beers per week. It helps that my girlfriend drinks very little too (due to a kidney disease). I know that when I'm anxious or depressed alcohol is not going to help me long term. It just helps maintain it and can be a slippery slope.

 

In a normal time, I'd be interested to see a new market sector operate over 3-5 years and see what happened thereafter, but we've had the mother of all disruptions and nothing is normal or usual as we knew it. It would be a shame if it didn't continue just as it adds diversity of choice for those who might want it, and I'd suspect the feel of it is quite different and a different demographic. Just like the UK didn't realise it needed so many coffee shops before that wave came a generation or two ago. But when "normal" materialises, I think none of us know quite whats going to happen.. A surge for sure, but I'd also expect new habits and some consumers delaying or being nervous to adopt.

It's crazy to think that its now over a year since I saw much of London at all. The aspects from my windows are either garden and a small park, or a residential street and houses opposite. So seeing people is pretty rare and in a way I'm quite glad I don't see the places I'd commonly go and enjoy in this half way house. I think that would be all the more saddening to see places of life in flux or experiencing a slow death.

The highlights instead of hedonism have been a visit to the GP, the hospital, the pharmacy or an hours walk in a loop in one direction or another. but it will change soon. For most, if not necessarily for me.

 

Great post and pretty much hits the nail on the head . It is easy to use alcohol as a crutch to counter anxiety / stress but your not really dealing with those emotions , merely putting them off until the next day where the chances are your going to be tempted to drink again to deal with them . Truth be told the longer you stop the easier those emotions become because the chances are you ve never dealt with them before and ultimately there's nothing to fear . For anyone interested there's a great little app below which is a free download . Tells you how your health is going , money saved etc . You ll be surprised !

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.herzberg.easyquitsdrinking

 

Too much..

 

Other than the odd drop of alcohol at Christmas, I can't honestly remember the last time I had a drink. I blame this prohibition on my steadily deteriorating sanity.

 

That's really interesting. I drink alcohol free when I'm driving or if I fancy a midweek or daytime beer, and there are some really good options now. I haven't tried Punk AF, but Ghost Ship alcohol free is excellent. However, if you're drinking for the taste rather than to get slaughtered, there are some beer styles that lend themselves to really high ABV - New England IPA or pastry stout for example, need to be 7% as an absolute minimum, unfortunately. However, at least brewers are trying to lower the alcohol content while not compromising on flavour. Kernel's table beer range comes in at 3% and is absolutely cracking. Perfect for a session or washing your lunch down with,

 

Jesus, that's rough. I really feel for you. No matter how annoyed I got being cooped up at home with my wife and daughter for most of last year, I fully appreciate how much better it is that the other side of the coin.

 

I haven’t seen Jeannie since December 2019..

 

My condolences.

 

Got this thread to thank for today's little shopping trip! Looking forward to cracking open a few of these in the park later.



(All 0-0.5% ABV, in case that's not obvious!)

 

It's a really good point you've made in there, that some beers just have to be high ABV. The only imperial porter with a low ABV (and I still think thats around 7%) i enjoy is Gorlovka (Acorn). The others i like are really high ABV (10-14%). If I was in a tap room i'd have a 1/3 of such things. But at home, and they are often in big cans, its sipped over time or shared with the missus. It's still therefore likely to be more alcohol consumed than I'd otherwise do if in a bar or taproom.

It's going to be interesting to see what happens over time. If drinks can be made to taste the same with or without alcohol, does alcohol become less relevant to more people.

One thought thats just come to me... do low/no alcoholic drinks have less taxes on them? That could become a big hole in treasury coffers while if levels of volume allow, could also reduce the cost of social drinking as well as the health impacts.

 

Gorlovka is a good shout.

 

I've got no idea whose bright idea it was to start putting high ABV beers in 440ml cans, but it now seems to be endemic. 750ml bottles obviously intended to share round a table are one thing, but some of these tins contain upwards of 4-5 units.

I'm about as far away from a neo-prohibitionist as it's possible to be, but I think sticking the equivalent of two-thirds of a bottle of wine in a format that by its nature is single-serve is really silly and damaging. I'm surprised that nobody's tried to normalise a 250ml can for big beers yet - I vaguely remember Cloudwater making positive noises about something like that a few years ago (and it seems like the sort of thing they'd do), but I've just checked and they still seem to be 440 across the board.