I’m 39 and have never been drunk and never plan to. At least I don’t think so - how do you know when you are officially “drunk”? More on this in a moment.
Part of the problem is I really don’t like the taste of alcohol. So I mask the taste with other stuff.
Part of the problem is I don’t like the feeling of being intoxicated. I like a light buzz as much as anyone but beyond that I feel weird.
Part of the problem is also that I really, really despise public drunkenness, like with major scorn and contempt. It’s gross. It’s unseemly. People throwing up all over the place and thinking every fool thing they say is funny, or getting belligerent. Don’t worry, I don’t hang around drunk people and insult them or anything.
One day I sat down and decided I was going to get drunk. I made a big pitcher of one of my favorite drinks - mojitos. I figured as far as mixed drinks went, they weren’t too heavy or as calorie-heavy as some others. And I started drinking. (I was at home, at my computer).
I had like six or seven. I felt it pretty strongly, but I still didn’t feel like I was “drunk”. My vision was swimming and I had to make my movements a little more careful, but I navigated my way to bed fine, didn’t throw up, or even feel sick, wasn’t slurring, etc. So - how do you know when you are “drunk”?
Anyway with mixed drinks it might take me a while. But I feel a buzz almost with my first couple of sips - it just takes a while to go from “tipsy” to “drunk”.
There are really about 5 stages of drinking in my world
The might feel it, might not stage, where my perceived effects are negligible. This is usually around the 1-2 beers per hour consumption.
The pleasantly buzzed stage- where I can tell I’ve had something to drink, but am not particularly impaired. 3-4 beers in an hour will put me here.-+
The mildly drunk stage- kind of like the previous stage, but starting to have some impairment- tripping over toys, generally being clumsy. This is the 4-5 beers in an hour place.
The drunk stage- head swimming a bit, definitely impaired, still feeling good. This is around 5 beers in an hour- maybe 6 if I’ve eaten ahead of time.
The seriously drunk stages… this is like the stage above, but the head-swimming and impairment increase and tend to become unpleasant. Vomiting sometimes ensues, depending on what and when I’ve been eating and drinking. This starts at 7 in an hour and goes up from there.
In practice, what happens is that over the course of a big party or barbecue or something is that the goal is to stay in stage 2, but due to inattention or stronger than average drinks, I end up coasting to stage 3 and then coasting back down a couple of times over the event. Rarely do I get to stage 4 anymore, and that’s usually due to drinks that are deceptively strong, which screws up the inner tally of what I’ve had to drink.
I used to have a pretty good tolerance. It would take a lot to make me drunk (although I must say I have been DRUNK drunk maybe 6 times in my entire life - we’re talking earth spinning, seeing double, where’s my brain drunk). The last time that happened, it took half a pitcher of a midnight martini to put me out (enough for 10 glasses worth).
Now that I am in stage 5 kidney failure, not only is most alcohol I prefer out the window (no beer or wine), but a small amount of hard liquor knocks me for a loop. A few weeks ago I had half of a mai tai and I was giggling like a damn fool.
I’ve got a pretty good tolerance I think, I only drink on days ending in “Y” and only after the time is 12pm somewhere in the world.
1 bottle of red wine and 3 cans of beer is a standard evening during the week, I feel relaxed not the slightest drunk. Double that and I’m a bit wobbly and close to drunk.
I can feel it when I’m getting what i call drunk. that’s when i notice the coordination is going, I take myself to bed, but it takes a fair bit to get to that point. I’ve tested at over 0.15 BAC and felt fine.
It’s wisest to keep clear of wine, especially white wine. I’m convinced being addicted to wine is different to being addicted to alcohol - hence the term wino.
I’ve been addicted to a variety of things including one period when I drank up to 14 cups of full strength coffee each day - to the point of feeling really sick. Wine seems similarly addictive. I’m lucky I take trips to Asia where its far too expensive to drink wine and a bottle of local beer is pretty good value. This helps to break any wine cycle.
If you manage to knock out the wine you’ll probably sleep a lot better and will certainly lose a fair bit of weight. 3 cans of beer is more than enough to satisfy any actual alcohol dependence.
You have me intrigued. I’m sleeping fine, I could lose a little weight but not “a fair bit” (current BMI 27.7) and 3 beers is basically not drinking at all.
Though this bout of beer-only temperance hasn’t reduced my waist one iota I need to do some exercise as well.
You mentioned three beers isn’t even starting to drink. The wine is what hits the spot and that’s why it’s so addictive. However, it’s not the alcohol. I’ve drunk some fairly respectable low alcohol wines that are most satisfying (sadly a lot more expensive than the usual cleanskin)
Canned beer seems boring after being used to wine. In fact I don’t really like the taste of most packaged beer. I may get the home-brew kit running again and drink warm low fizz real-ale straight out of the cask - which surprisingly is nearly as satisfying as some wines.
Having tried Black Box and Bota Box (and both are quite good), my wife and I are all about the Big House boxed wines. Big House Red and Big House White are both good, sturdy blends, and The Usual Suspect (cabernet) is another favorite.
Significantly, Big House wines were already a staple in our home in bottles, and we were pleasantly surprised when they started offering boxes.
It definitely depends on a variety of factors - have I eaten, have I been drinking in the recent past (like the night before), what I’m drinking, who I’m with, and where I am. It seems a lot easier to get drunk in a bar with friends, maybe six or seven pints of beer and I’m a happy drunk, at home I can drink 2 four packs and feel a bit of a buzz, or drink 2 bottles of wine and be pretty blitzed. If I drink a bottle of vodka (haven’t for a year) I’ll be very drunk but capable of making a sandwich.
Some of this resembles me: in my case, I’m a fairly belligerent person, and was known to get into fights at the drop of a hat in my youth, so I was afraid to get drunk, because I always suspected that I’d be one of those angry drunks. So afraid, in fact, that I don’t think I’ve ever even been buzzed: I’ll have one or two drinks, and then quit. And, when you’re my size, one or two drinks doesn’t appear to be enough to do the job, especially when you never drink on an empty stomach.
Plus, I don’t like the taste of most alcohol straight up, either, so I pretty much only drink blended drinks, which are either too much of a pain in the ass for me to mix myself, or too expensive to pay bar/club prices for more than one.
I need to do some exercise as well.