Let's talk about booze

[punkarsenic]

i have a beer now and then, only because i like the taste. it always strikes me as odd when a (male) friend would tell me 'men dont actually like beer, they all just pretend to' - its the only alcohol i can stand the taste of??? its like liquid bread

i also cant get into the logic of having more than one in a sitting - unless im trying a few different beers, im very happy at one. like i wouldnt have two coca colas in one sitting, or any other drink (besides, like, tea.)

also, baileys is awful

[Azifri]

You're from the US? Then I was right, you're from a conservative place and makes sense that you think that alcohol makes you "dance topless" as you say, but fail to see that it's the cultural inhibitions that you guys have, what get unleashed when you drink.

I remember during the time I lived over there, seeing kids thrashed drunk because drinking was prohibited for them until 21! And they were even proud to be drunk. What the heck! You can go to war and marry at 18 but can't have champagne at you wedding. Pathetic.

And yes, alcohol is food. Not gonna give you a history lesson that you can Google by yourself, just know that it was developed to preserve liquids and carbs. Conservative places tend to make certain things negative, and so people will obviously abuse them because that's what humans like to do. In reality, any food or activity that gives you pleasure can give you an adicction. Think of fats for example.

[vothnthorvaldson]

It's a bit tough, but pretty much what I think.

To be complete, I'll add that there are some valid biological reasons to delay alcohol consumption, however, that's only theory. Indeed, practically, there are plenty of proof this delay (as a law) does not work or is even counterproductive. That is the kind of things that are more efficiently managed by prevention than repression.

As a European Canadian, I think people may be more aware of that in Europe than in NA because Europe has a variety of alcohol legislations in a very small geographical region, and it's easy to see that alcohol problems have nothing to do with alcohol legislation (even a very shallow comparison of UK, France and Germany can give a good idea of that).

[Darkstrong]

I drink quite rarely, a couple of cocktails (mostly Cuba Libre) once a week, maybe. Sometime less. And I never get really drunk, even when I tried, alcohol just never gets my past that point where I lose control... the most drunk I managed to get is something like 10% loss in motor functions, 15% loss in cognitive. Hangover is a different story though...

[Lady_DarkStar]

Some basic things about alcohol:
1. It is a depressant.That's why drinking when your down is a bad idea.
2. It suspends your judgement. Hence people doing crazy stuff they wouldn't do sober. It's called liquid courage, but it should be called liquid dumb ass.
3. It's a pain killer. Vicodin doesn't actually kill pain, it just makes you not care that you are in pain. Alcohol on the other hand actually does kill pain. It's used in cough syrups because it numbs the throat on contact.
4. It's a preservative. Lab specimens used to be preserved with it. Ever hear the term pickled liver? It's a rather accurate common term for what happens to an alcoholics liver.
5. It's an antiseptic. Great for cleaning wounds.
6. It is poison. You blackout when you drink too much because you have poisoned yourself. I'm sure everyone can tell a story about someone at their high school, who was at a party, in a drinking contest that passed out and got left on their parents doorstep; only to be found dead by their parents the next morning. Cause of death: alcohol poisoning.You can build up a tolerance to it. Same as the practice of ingesting tiny amounts of poison over time and working up to larger does to gain an immunity to that particular poison. I don't remember the technical name for this practice.

Given all that, I'm a whiskey drinker. I can't stand the taste of beer. In moderation, or when used medically, there is nothing wrong with alcohol.

[DokiDokiTsuna]

but fail to see that it's the cultural inhibitions that you guys have, what get unleashed when you drink.

As perfect as it might sound to assume that my cultural background is forcing me to see alcohol in a way that I shouldn't, the truth is that I'm not biased. I'm just being realistic. From a biochemist's standpoint, alcohol really just isn't the same as any other food. It does things to your perception and analytical skills that other substances don't; that's what makes it special. By pretending that there's nothing unusual about it, you're ignoring what makes humanity attracted to it in the first place.

Can you get addicted to other things? Sure. Caffeine addiction, for instance, is seen as completely normal in this 'conservative' society, even for children and teens. And no one cares at all about sugar addiction, despite how powerful it is.
The reason we don't dramatize them, however, is because there's not much dramatic about them. Caffeine may make you hyper or jittery, but it can't form a completely different persona for you the way alcohol can. And unless you're diabetic, you aren't likely to see the detrimental effects of excessive sugar intake until years after the fact.

My point is that there are lots of psychoactive substances, and if you want to be technical, sure, in the end it's all just food. But each one of them has its own properties, and for some those properties are more powerful than for others. That's not a 'negative' outlook, it's reality.

[joannekwan]

I don't really like drinking tbh.
The taste is abhorrent unless mixed with enough of another drink so that the sweetness masks whatever nonsense the alcohol component tastes like.

I also don't handle the side effects well. 3 shots of vodka and I'm losing my vision and I feel like I'm going to die.
I'm a panicked, need-to-sleep-off-this-shitty-feeling kind of drunk.

[SilentHamster102]

When I was a novice to drinking I used to lose my vision too, I even wasn't able to use my phone, I saw three of them at one time. That was cool, I'm missing that effect actually.

[PaulieBlade]

That's hilarious. And also refreshing to hear someone not hating on booze experiences.

[feardeer]

A bit off topic, but this got me thinking about my own experiences. I don't drink (the only alcohol I've ever liked is kahlua mixed with chocolate milk), but I've been around a lot of drunk people. It's usually a very uncomfortable experience for me, but I was also reminded me of a friend I had who used to go out drinking with his buds, then come home and chat with me on skype. He was the most ridiculous drunk, lots of fun, the only drunk I ever enjoyed the company of. He'd crack himself up reading our messages the next morning.

Anyway, I realized I missed him a ton, so I decided to reach out on skype (since that's the only contact I have), and see if he still uses it. He does! So I'm just here to say that thanks to this thread, I've reconnected with a dear old friend.

[Kelheor]

I prefer beer, mostly stout, unfiltered beer and kriek. Also, sweet cocktails. Don't like vodka, whiskey and gin at all. Absinthe is great alcohol without any hangover after it! But the taste is not to everyone's liking.
I don't really drink much, a cocktail once in a week or two and I definitely don't like to drink a lot, but I feel nice after some alco. Relaxed, much less shy and much more talkative. Also I swear a lot, but it just comes with less shyness

[Wumbl]

I'm one of those people that loves alcohol, not for getting drunk but for the flavour and feeling.

For me spirits are the best. I love rum, whiskey and well-filtered vodka... I also have a soft spot for jagermeister, midori and Pinot Grigio. I like beer, too, as long as it's german or spanish beer. I love cocktails because I've been a bartender before and I like to come up with my own unique recipes for friends. Every party I go to, I end up being the one making all the drinks.

I am mostly a social drinker. The only times I drink by myself is if I have a particularly nice bottle in the house and feel like a nightcap.

I have the welsh side of my family to thank for my impenetrable alcohol tolerance. I can drink people twice my size under the table despite being a short and very skinny guy. My party trick is being able to drink an impressive amount while being totally fine. I can get to like..... 10-14 drinks and still be fine. I take great care of myself and give myself plenty of recovery time inbetween heavy drinking instances...... I'd say I only get drunk <10 times a year. Most people in my country get drunk 3 times a week though, because alcoholism is for some reason romanticised in our culture. I really don't get it because alcohol should be savoured and appreciated, and it can be expensive to go out every week.

I've never had a proper hangover, but that's probably bc I'm still in my early twenties and my metabolism is still good. I know that as you get older you don't metabolise as well and that's why hangovers happen.

[Jenny-Toons]

I'm one of those people that loves alcohol, not for getting drunk but for the flavour and feeling.

I really don't get it because alcohol should be savoured and appreciated, and it can be expensive to go out every week

That's it right there!

Whenever I see people (even if it's a few friends at a party) just guzzling down alcohol like it's water, I'm standing there -- still on my 1-2 drinks mind you -- going "are you even tasting it?"

It's one of the bigger reasons I prefer Champagne, meads, and other sweet tasting drinks. I just adore the taste. There's just something there that's appealing to my taste buds. Beer's kinda ok, and it's softer than any of those hard liquors. But compared to the sweet stuff I usually have, it's like drinking water (bad comparison, but that's what came to me off the top of my head XD)

And again -- it's expensive so it has to last at least 1-2 nights (2-3 if you have a wine topper to keep it fresh). I think I've only bought like...4-5 bottles since I turned 21 last October, and most of it was shared with other people. I'm still a college kid, so I can't be spending big time money.

[HGohwell]

I'm one of those people who don't drink very often but I have a reasonably high tolerance, and I drink whiskys. Its what my mum likes to refer to as "our Scottish genes". I once drank an entire bottle myself while the two girls with me got smashed on a bottle of lambrini between them. They were wobbling all over the place, nearly got hit by a car, and my worst mistake was giggling my head off when I forgot I'd locked my dorm room door and walked straight into it trying to open it.

That said, there's totally a problem with alcoholism around here. Especially the high functioning alcoholics, who aren't really considered alcoholics because they can hold decent jobs. You see it in fiction most commonly with lawyers or judges.

There's also a very uncomfortable stigma around not drinking here. If you go out anywhere at my age (late 20s) and have a nonalcoholic drink, especially in the evening or if someone else is paying, the response is "you can have something stronger" and if you say you don't drink, or don't want to drink, you're expected to explain yourself. I don't get that and it really annoys me that I'm expected to explain my drinking choices to people. And that stupid thing about "don't trust people who don't drink".

(Also, awful story, I once accidentally got my cat drunk when I dropped a glass of Baileys, first drink so I was totally sober don't know how I managed to drop it and before I could do anything she'd shot in and licked it up while I was trying to grab her and get her out of there. It wasn't much and she was fine, don't worry, but if you've ever seen a cat coming round from an operation, it looked a lot like that and if we weren't so worried it would have been hilarious)

[beta1042]

seeing kids thrashed drunk because drinking was prohibited for them until 21!

but most states it's actually legal to consume alcohol under 21 around a parent/guardian...

And I'm half German and have been to Germany a lot, and even though their legal age is much lower, you still see people abuse alcohol. I don't think the legal age has anything to do with it, I think it's the general culture. And in some cultures alcohol is seen as an addition to the meal, and in others it's seen as a sort of recreational drug to let off steam and relax. A drug where if you consume enough people will let certain behaviors slide because they are aware you are inebriated. And I do personally think a lot of people ham up their behavior because they can get away with it and because their impaired judgement is not telling them to stop XD

[Zin_Trollborn]

There's also different ways and reasons to drink alcohol.
Examples :
- traditional/cultural like pre-dinner or lunch/aperitif or after-dinner liqueur (I know it doesn't exist in some countries)
- for fun, getting drunk and all at parties
- loneliness, boredom (it's medical at this point)
- addiction (it probably joins the medical point)
- pleasure (savoring the tastes with or without a meal)

I live in a country where all celebrations and opportunities happen with alcohol
Someone is coming home? Alcohol.
Eating a good meal? Alcohol.
Going out with friends to walk in town? Alcohol.
Gifts to do to friends? Alcohol.
Going picnic? Alcohol.

In old times in my country, wine was even given to kids with their meal. Now you get in jail for that XD

I quite grown a taste for good quality alcohol so I always say "if you have to mix your booze with some other juices, then your booze is probably shit".
Also being tipsy is fun and being overdrunk sucks.

[lunaartemisasama]

I never get drunk because most of the time I fall asleep before that happens lol.
I like beer the ones that have a lighter flavor like Corona or Stella Artrois,
I only drink wine or champagne on special ocasions like family reunions.

In my country it was common that your first hangover was in your first quinceañero , at age of 15 lol.
I mean I remember I even had a chopp in mine, but nowadays people are getting more strict about giving alcohol to youngsters and even beer companies encorauge it.

I was once in USA, in the north part and it really amazed me that there would be special shops just to sell alcohol but you could buy bullets in Wallmart O_O.

[spadesart]

idk if someone mentioned this but you actually CAN die if you drink too much water. soy sauce can kill you too.

[Nachi]

I don't usually drink that often. I am probably one of the very few people in the Czech Republic who don't like beer. I, however, enjoy wine, occassionally coctails or some shots. Also thanks to my dad's and other relatives' efforts to make me drink on silvesters etc. since I was about 14, maybe sooner. Like, the legal age is 18, but honestly, the majority of teens don't wait till then.

I got drunk a few times to the point of vomiting, every single time by drinking too much wine too quickly. Like it feels ok, ok, and then suddenly I am past the treshold. And I don't want to do that ever again I have however, learned to distinguish where the threshold lies. Eating in between helps, too. Like, I can get really sick after a bottle of wine, but when drinking over a period of time and eating too (fatty stuff), I was able to drink a couple and a glass. Feeling terrible the other day, but not the worst I ever had. But hey, weddings!
So I think wine can make you feel really bad. However, on a month long trip to Russia to study birds, we drank vodka quite a bit, every single day, some days as much as a bottle per person. And I felt perfectly ok in the morning, never had any hangover. So... russian vodka is really great
I hope I don't sound like a drunkard now. I, however, don't drink even every week and when I do, it is usually just a glass of wine, or two O:)

[LordVincent]

idk if someone mentioned this but you actually CAN die if you drink too much water.

yeaaaaah i was going to say.

Family of mother who died after drinking seven litres of water in radio contest...