I drink in fits and starts. I’ve been known to drink a case of beer a week, but I have over half a case left that I bought for the 4th of July. I used to enjoy it a lot more, now I seem to only drink a couple of beers when I mow the lawn or cook on the grill…
That said, a six pack a week seems pretty innocent.
I would too, which is why I always switch to liquor after two or three beers.
I’ve never seen a definition of “problem drinking” that included 1 beer per day.
“Problem drinking” is spilling more than you drink.
Eh, let’s be clear here, it’s not that I’m having a beer after work every day. It’s that some days, I have 2 or 3 beers after work, and this happens maybe twice or three times a week. Make no mistake, I enjoy being drunk. That’s a large part of why I drink. I enjoy the intoxication. Switching to soda would not be the same thing, and while I could give it up (and have in the past for weeks at a time, or just because I’m too lazy to drag the bottles back on my bike), it is definitely a factor.
You have to make the call yourself. Everyone - including support groups and treaters - have their own definitions.
IMO - what you describe is no problem. Would probably suggest you not drive after 2-3 beers. Some folk would say if you have 3 beers at home by yourself, that’ sa problem. I disagree, but opinion suiffer.
Along the lines of driving, have you had any adverse results from drinking? arguments? poor job performance or absences? Comments from friends, relations, etc. Do you have any personal regrets related to ETOH? Insult anyone? Make an ass of yourself?
If no to all of the above, and if you are reasonably active and earing decent diet, IMO drinking a couple of beers a couple of times a week is nothing to be worried about.
To me, the bolded part says it all. I’ve never met an alcoholic or an addict too lazy to get their fix.
IMO, not being able to quit isn’t a sign either. I think the only real sign is that you can’t stop once you’ve started. Is two or three your limit or do you make the decision to stop?
Just my $.02 -DESK
Missed the edit window. When I said “Being able to quit” I meant being able to quit completely, not “not being able to quit once you’ve started for the evening.”
“Problem drinking” is easy to define, and doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with addiction, or even with quantity. Is your drinking causing you problems? If yes, then that’s problem drinking, if no, then it’s not.
And we should also be careful how we define terms like “longing”. Obviously the OP prefers drinking beer to (say) pop or tea, or else he wouldn’t do it at all. But just having a preference is not the same thing as an addiction.
I drink about twice as much as you (12 units a week, or rather 11.8 last time I averaged it out), mostly confined to the weekend, so I don’t consider a six pack a week to be very much. I was drinking about three times as much as you for about two years, and that was IMO too much (although it certainly improved my social life), so I cut back about 33%.
The most important thing to bear in mind is, 1) yes, alcohol is a hepatotoxin, although there may or may not be strategies to mitigate that risk*, so you need to weight costs against benefits, and 2) more importantly people vary quite a lot in their susceptibility to the health risks of alcohol. Some people develop liver damage from quite small amounts of alcohol, other people can be full fledged alcoholics and be in quite good health. If you’re concerned, you should maybe get your liver enzymes checked at your next physical. (I get them checked at my yearly physical, and at the last two they were well within normal).
*Acetylcysteine seems to mitigate liver damage from alcohol in rats, but I’m pretty sure no human studies have been done.
Everyone experiences a personality change when they have one drink. (If you don’t, it means you may have built up a tolerance to alcohol, which is a problem in itself). My personality changes for the good (more peaceable, less irritable, more generally ‘chill’ and sociable, less likely to get angry). Some people’s personalities change for the worse, which is probably a good reason not to drink.
I was giving a talk in England last year, and the graduate student hosting me took me to lunch and asked, “Would you like anything to drink? Coffee? Soda? Um…wine?”
I said no, of course, but it underscored that England is…definitely not America.
I’m pretty sure my dog drinks a 6pack a week of the beer I spill.
Thanks for the advice guys. Given all this, I think I’m in pretty decent shape. 
Can’t help but think you are lowballing your estimate. 2-3 beers after work 2-3 times is between 4 and 9 beers during the work week. Then you have more on the weekends. You say it’s fun to play a game while drunk, but I doubt a regular drinker like yourself has that much of a buzz after a couple of beers. So I have a suspicion that your 2-3 beers sometimes sneaks up a little higher.
That said, doesn’t sound like a real problem.
I’m no expert on addiction, but I think an important question is whether you find alcohol to be necessary in order to enjoy certain situations:
The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism’s (NIAAA) thresholds are as follows (italics mine):
So according to the government, at a six pack a week, you’re not skating close to any of the thresholds, unless you drink it all at once in a 2 hour period. Even if you double your consumption, you’re still under the threshold, unless you have more than 4-5 on an occasion.
Then there’s this chart., which puts you between the 8th or 9th decile.
You, sir, have a drinking problem!
I think you’re fine. I’ve read that you’re not in a problem area unless you average more than 12 drinks a week if you’re a man, 6 if you’re a woman. Based on people I’ve known, it seems the ones who were alcoholics had a genetic disposition to it. If none of your biological parents had a problem with drinking, odds are you won’t either. Personally I would try and shoot for half the weekly maximum, about six drinks a week. Alcohol is high in calories, is hard on the liver and carries an increased cancer risk. You can mitigate most of that with regular exercise and drinking moderately.