fervour: (good name!) Have you tried melatonin? No shit, works for me! Sleeping with lights or TV on, or just exposure to them for too long before going to bed disrupts the melatonin-production cycle – it only happens AT night IN the dark during REM sleep. Once it’s disrupted, it becomes a viscious cycle.
Anyway, you can get melatonin at any corner drugstore. (my grocery outlet has it too!)
That’s right - darkness is essential for the production of melatonin (and serotonin, too, I think, but I’m not sure about that one). Even the light from your bedside clock is enough to disrupt production.
I too enjoy the tastes of wine, port, and cider, so when I drink, those are what I drink. I don’t enjoy the tastes of most spirits or beer, so I don’t drink those.
I don’t care for the taste of alcohol, but I like the buzz. I drink a glass of wine with dinner nearly every night.
When I was younger, I got schnockered on a regular basis. It was always accompanied by much puking and pain, but for the most part, I know where to draw the line now.
Depends on the insomniac and the reason for insominia. If your insominia is “can’t turn off the brain anxiety” related, some alcohol may let you shut down and relax enough to fall asleep.
But self medicating with alcohol is seldom a good idea (though I’ve done it myself on occation). Your first stop should be a doctor - and additional research since the doctor may perscribe something just as poisonous and addictive as alcohol.
Meletonin and valarian both work for me - though not consistantly, but they do not work for everyone. Meditation works for garden variety insomia for me. Only Ambien or its ilk works for the “I am now officially frightened of my bed” insomnia. And I have a girlfriend whose issue has nothing to do with FALLING asleep - she can’t STAY asleep, and to date has not been able to find anything that lets her sleep in more than two hour naps (her CPAP has been the best thing, but even there, she wakes).
I don’t like being drunk, or even tipsy. Anything more than the almost-imperceptibly-relaxed stage is more than I want.
There are specific drinks that I like the flavor of, and I drink them occasionally, but I don’t generally seek them out–if I’m having dinner at a nearby pub, I’ll have a glass of pear cider, for instance. I have quite a bit of booze in my pantry, but the bottles gather dust until I have company over. I brew mead, but I give the majority of it away.
On the whole, I just prefer soda, tea, or some sort of juice-based drink.
I recently turned 50, and not long before that was advised to cut down to no more than a glass of wine a day, due to a prescription I was given. Before that I’d been averaging about 2 drinks a day, sometimes mixed, sometimes wine. Although my intake had been creeping up, I’ve had very little trouble sticking to the one-glass a day regimen. In all the six months or so since I started the prescription, perhaps three or four times I’ve had a second drink. When I do so, I notice it affects me more, and is more apt to give me a headache.
My wife has an elderly cousin who will very occasionally drink a glass of wine, but in general hardly touches alcohol. Seeing my own reaction to alcohol change with time, and observing this relative makes me wonder if it’s normal for non-alcoholics to gradually lose taste for alcohol as time goes on. I certainly haven’t lost the taste, but I don’t seem to have the same need as I once did.
I would really like to know what a Bloody Caesar is. Is it what we call a Bloody Mary in the States?
(Spicy tomato-juice based blend, with a shot of vodka, usually served with celery and lime. Usually thought of as an afternoon drink, popular at beach and poolside bars.)
I drink occassionally, even though I’m really not supposed to, because of my epilepsy.
Even so, I’ve never actually gotten drunk, which is probably a good think.
My preference tends towards Bailey’s and the like, and, I’m ashamed to admit, wine coolers.
zrget off th e stag e you… I don’t… wait… what wre w e tlking abot now?
I googled because while I don’t drink,I do enjoy a Virgin Mary, and wondered if I would similarly enjoy a Virgin Ceasar, The difference apppears to be Clamato, so Ill stick with Mary.
When my classmates were just starting to drink all there was to drink was beer. I tried it a time or two and did not like it. As a late teen I joined a church whose members do not drink alcohol.
I don’t know if it holds true for everyone, but I’ve noticed a similar thing in both myself and many people I know. Perhaps it is related to older folks also feeling less need to party, get rowdy, and carry on as we used to. We don’t recover as quickly as we used to, and eventually most of us figure that out. But the pattern of drinking less as you get older does occur in at least some people.
Late 20s.
Ever since I had a string of panic attacks last fall related to extreme stress at work, I haven’t been able to drink a drop because my throat’ll slam shut on the first swallow and I have to go dig for my inhaler to pry it open again. (I had severe childhood asthma, which is why I still have one hanging around.) I haven’t talked to my doctor about it, but I suspect it’s anxiety related – either way, I’m currently dry as the Southern Baptist Convention. 
And no, I never drank to excess except for one occasion. The sole time I drank more than 1-2 drinks, at a party, I got… well, medium-toasted on Jello shooters and Tequila Rose, but I stopped when I couldn’t fingerspell the ABC without having to concentrate to form the letters. Never got that toasted again.
Drunk isn’t my thing. The nice glow is, and I can get that by sipping a single glass of wine or a couple fingers of black label Bushmill’s over an entire evening. I’m not a fan of frou frou drinks – I got my start with Drambuie and Bushmill’s, and went from there to wine.
FTR, I come from parents who were teetotallers.
Oooh, don’t the the Clamato throw you off - a Bloody Caesar (usually just called a Caesar) is the nectar of the gods. I don’t know why clam juice should taste so good in a mixed drink; I just know it does. I don’t know if you can get a proper one in the US - anyone who’s interested, make sure you have one when you visit Canada.
i’m definitely a moderate drinker when it comes to wine. i rarely drink the hard stuff – although i have a closet full of it. that’s all stuff people have given me or brought to parties. the only exceptions are an occasional tanqueray and tonic with extra lime in the summer or a couple fingers now and then of frangelico (delightful italian hazelnut liqueur).
i’ve noticed in the last 15 years that my tastes have changed dramatically, moving from the realm of white zinfandel :::shudder. the hell was i thinking?:::: toward the drier reds like pinot noir and merlot. at this rate, can cabernets be far behind? it’s rare if i don’t have a couple of glasses a night any more – preferably while i’m soaking in the tub with a good book.
when it comes to beer, i prefer blue moon to most anything else no matter what the season, especially when cut with a couple ounces of orange juice in place of the orange wedge. yummy. wine usually wins out unless i’m really in the mood for beer.
I drink because I like the taste and because it relaxes me. Typically, I’ll have beer or wine with dinner. I’m lucky enough to live in a town with four thriving local breweries, so I’m spoiled for choice when it comes to great beer. I love good bourbon, straight up, and I’m fond of G&Ts in hot weather. I can’t stand sweet drinks.
I thought I was the only one who did this! Cleaning the bathroom when you’ve got a slight buzz on makes it so much more bearable.
heh. missed that first post. now we are three. 
I drink primarily because I like the taste of certain alcoholic beverages. I may go for days without any alcohol at all (even weeks sometimes), but a more typical week would be a couple of pints about every other night.
Since I drink for the taste, I want the good stuff. Homebrewed or craftbrewed porters, stouts, and IPAs; not Coors, Bud, or Miller. A hearty Zinfandel; not mild white wine in a box. A top-notch reposado or anejo tequila; not cheap border-town mezcal. I’ve never developed a taste for whiskey, rum, or any of the other hard liquors (except the aforementioned tequila).
A light buzz is great. Being drunk is not. The day after being drunk is miserable. Every now and then I goof up and drink too much, and that’s enough to keep me down to a few pints a night for years.
I have never understood why someone would get falling-down drunk, act stupid in front of friends, vomit, lay helplessly in bed while the world spins, wake up with a splitting headache and unhappy digestive system, and then do it again the next day. On purpose. This makes no sense to me whatsoever.
Regarding insomnia, BTW: My personal experience is that a couple of drinks will help me to get to sleep. Unfortunately, I’ll sleep restlessly and wake up earlier the next day and generally not feel rested.
What he said. I had my last drink February 29, 1988 (has it been 20 years? Ye Gods!) If I drank, I’d get drunk and then I’d have to get sober. And I don’t think I could do that again.
Yow! I’ll bet you’re a mean drunk! 
Mostly beer and wine and cider and just about every night. I’ll usually open a bottle of wine to have with dinner, although I will also open up a bottle or two just to do tastings every now and then. And we almost always have a couple of local beers on tap in the garage or a few homebrews around. If we don’t then it’s Sierra Nevada, but my husband likes to keep a decent mix of different styles and breweries on hand. Every once in a blue moon I’ll have a craving for a whiskey or scotch, a mixed drink, or a champagne cocktail.
I’m 37. I enjoy the different flavors. I love pairing beer and wine with meals and experimenting with creating new flavors/experiences that way, as well as comparing them to each other. I consider them an equally important part of most meals.
And I definitely enjoy the buzz, although I can’t say I always get one. At least I try, darn it, at least I try.