I loves me some Toasted Almond (Kahlua and cream and Amaretto) and there are a few other sweet, girly drinks that I like, but alcohol in all its forms makes me sleepy. Why would I go out to have a good time and deliberately get sleepy? So on the rare occasion when I have an alcoholic beverage (last time was 3 weeks ago at my daughter’s wedding - I had a couple of ounces of wine for the toast) it’s generally at home in the evening, when I just want to zonk out.
I had a friend tell me I’m a cheap date because I don’t drink. My husband doesn’t drink either, so going out to dinner *is * a cheap date for us. And as I think back over the years, most of our friends weren’t big drinkers. Most of our social occasions featured water or tea. But we still had fun - go figure!
I probably drink 5 nights out of the week - mostly wine, but sometimes beer, and very occasionally a mixed drink. On a typical night, Mr. Athena and I share a bottle of wine, either with dinner or after dinner.
The primary reason that I drink is the taste. I looooove finding and tasting good wine, and also do a lot of reading and talking about wine. Beer’s a close second. Nothing like a nice crisp beer on a hot day, or a good thick malty beer in the dead of winter.
I do like the buzz as well. It’s nice to relax with a glass of wine after work. But the buzz is not the reason I drink. Hell, I can’t count the number of times that Mr. Athena and I wish there was some way to de-alcoholize a bottle of wine. We’ll finish the first bottle and talk about opening a second one, but we know that we’ll both feel it in the morning if we do so most of the time we don’t. Also, I know my taste buds and nose aren’t as good one the second bottle. I wish there was a pill you could take that would stop the alcohol effects so I could drink that second bottle and not get drunk.
I am another who very rarely drinks alcohol; I just don’t like it much. Dad introduced me to beer when I was a kid and I thought it was horrid. I don’t know what I’d be like drunk; I’ve never been drunk.
I don’t particularly care whether others drink. However, I think that celebrating getting wasted as a goal in itself is rather immature, and is something people grow out of.
I gave it up completely six days ago, out of necessity (peptic ulcer). I typically drank 500 ml. of Trader Joe’s scotch whiskey per night. I found passing out drunk preferable to insomnia, and of course, I liked the buzz. I’m glad I’m getting through it without having to join some cult like A.A. And I enjoying watching the late night talk shows such as the Daily Show, and actually remember it the next day.
I love the taste of beer. I drink different beers because I enjoy the taste and comparing different beers. I consider this similar to my love of coffee. I enjoy trying different coffees as well.
I do enjoy the caffeine in coffee as I do the alcohol in beer.
I used to like to drink (in moderation, with the occasional blow-out evening), but I found as I got older, I lost my tolerance for alcohol. When I started getting bad hangovers from three beers, I just stopped drinking pretty much altogether. If my body doesn’t like alcohol, I won’t put alcohol in it. Simple. I’ll still sip my husband’s beer or wine, and I miss good beers and bloody caesars, but c’est la vie; if a couple of sips is all I can tolerate, that’s all I’ll have. No one has ever given me a hard time for not drinking; I wouldn’t have much tolerance for that, either.
From a very young age until 19 I’ve had wine on occation with dinner (under supervision of relatives - its a cultural thing).
From 19 (legal drinking age when I was 19 - 18 across the border in Wisconsin) to my mid 30s I very seldom drank. It was expensive, not good for you, never learned to like beer, and I did have one of those “drink to excess” college evenings which left me with a desire never to drink again.
Somewhere in my 30s I picked it up again, mostly in moderation, mostly a glass of wine at or after dinner - sometimes two. I do drink Cosmopolitans out, which are pretty much a “tipsy as a result of one” drink. Or margaritas if I’m eating Mexican - occasionally we pour bourbon or whiskey and coke around the house.
I haven’t had a hangover since that one college experience.
Late 30’s, and I rarely drink. I don’t really like the taste (although I don’t mind the smell), and going to school in rural PA, I’ve seen alcoholism and its effects on the family up close and personal. I’ll have a beer or two when I’m with friends, but I nurse the bottle, and I don’t go for anything harder.
That said, I–like many others–drank fairly heavily in Korea, getting toilet-hugging drunk more than once. My fears of becoming an alcoholic are probably exaggerated, because when I got back stateside, I went off alcohol without a hitch. Still, better safe than sorry. Outside of Korea, it’s never been a part of my life.
I am a recovering high-functioning alcoholic. You probably wouldn’t believe me if I told you how much I drank daily. Let’s just say it was more than 20 drinks a day. I developed a taste aversion to almost all alcohol years before I quick drinking. I hated almost all of it yet I had to keep drinking to avoid withdrawal. Wine was the only thing that tasted good along with some specialty drinks like hard lemonade. It sucks to have to force that crap down over and over day after day. Yuck. It starts to feel like forcing down bottles and bottles of liquid medicine daily and that is when you know you have a serious problem (if it wasn’t self-apparent already).
I drink. Quite a lot compared to most of the other posters to this thread it seems. It would be probably average within the peer group I know. It’s very much part of the culture over here.
A normal week would consist of at least one weeknight where I’d go from work for a few with friend/s and have about 5 pints. One or maybe two other weeknights I may only have one or two depending on other plans. If I wasn’t out I’d have a beer or two watching the tv at home.
Fri or Sat could be a night out from 7 till late. Most Sundays I go out with me Da to his old haunts in town and sit with him and his mates, sometimes we go to a Jazz band or a ballad session. He’s always well oiled by the time we get home, me not so much. In years past it was always the other way around. Ah ain’t age a bitch.
I love sitting in a nice pub with friends and having the craic. So do a lot of people over here. So the beer is generally good and the bars conducive to a relaxed good night.
I also like being mildly to middling drunk. It’s a nice feeling. Although I like the act of drinking, the pubs in which it all happens and the effects of alcohol I have never felt the need to drink or any compulsion about it. In the past when circumstances meant I had to pull back from drinking for a while, financial and health(non-alcohol related) it didn’t bother me other than I was missing on the craic (fun).
I drink to fight insomnia. I’ve always had insomnia to an extent. When I am off of alcohol I can get at most 2 nights of sleep out of 3. That’s right; at least one night in every three I’m tossing and turning without getting deep sleep.
Alcohol was good for a while, but after a year or so, I was back to the same pattern of sleep. I quit drinking last month because I decided if you are going to not sleep, you might as well do it for free rather than paying for alcohol.
I’m on an extended trip this month and have been drinking 2 drinks every night —sometimes three. The alcohol seems to be working. I intend to quit drinking again when I get back home, but see using alcohol to combat sleeplessness when on vacation.
For the record, I hate the taste of alcohol and have tried ambien and lunesta with only moderate success —and alcohol is way cheaper. I guess I’ll just live with a sleepless night or two —or three ----each week.
As a slight tangent, Fervour, you might take up some careful strenuous excercise. I never slept better than when taking a spinning class at the local rec center.
I find more than one or two drinks makes me snore like the dickens…which means my WIFE doesn’t sleep well.
I have heard that alcohol actually interferes with sleeping properly. You might be exacerbating your insomnia by medicating it with alcohol. I always recommend this to insomniacs (but no one ever seems to take me up on it) - meditation. When I was meditating regularly, I’d meditate in the evenings, and fall asleep almost instantly (I know you’re not supposed to sleep while meditating, but I was just SOOOO relaxed!). Even though I haven’t meditated in a while, I still fall asleep within minutes of starting to concentrate on my breathing.
My husband doesn’t drink either, so going out to dinner *is * a cheap date for us. And as I think back over the years, most of our friends weren’t big drinkers. Most of our social occasions featured water or tea. But we still had fun - go figure!