[ynotbrusum]

Agreed - self control is the key.  How many weekends without a beer?  Not very many.  How many weekdays (M-Th) without a beer, quite a few.  How many beers at a sitting - depends on a lot of factors, but probably more often than not, more than I should, I must admit.  I live in a neighborhood of brewers that like to share and enjoy.  I am happy, but will be more mindful, even at festivals going forward.


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[ccfoo242]

Frontal lobotomies were used for a variety of ailments including alcoholism.

I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy.


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[Herminator]

I have to say that I really appreciate this conversation/thread.  It is interesting to read everyone's opinion, experiences and examples.  It seems like there is a lot of us that agree in regards to being cognizant about the amount while recognizing that the amount you have is a personal decision based on a variety of factors.  Thanks again Denny for starting the conversation. 

Cheers!

[HoosierBrew]

Agreed - self control is the key.  How many weekends without a beer?  Not very many.  How many weekdays (M-Th) without a beer, quite a few.  How many beers at a sitting - depends on a lot of factors, but probably more often than not, more than I should, I must admit.  I live in a neighborhood of brewers that like to share and enjoy.  I am happy, but will be more mindful, even at festivals going forward.


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That's pretty much my approach. I don't drink much through the work week, though I did in my younger years. But on Friday evening if I'm home there's a fair chance I'll toss back a few. Maybe a few on Saturday, maybe not. Definitely the older you get the longer it takes to recover. But life will kill you, and I damn sure plan to enjoy the fruits of my labor in (for the most part) moderation. +1 on the festivals - most of them are glorified frat parties that happen to serve craft beer, as opposed to a true craft beer sampling.

[klickitat jim]

I remember an NGO flier that was popular in the 80s. It was taken as fact at the time. It was handed out when I was in the Marines.

It said "If you answer yes to any of these, you are an alcoholic". The first question was "Do you deny that you are an alcoholic?"

[erockrph]

My mother nearly drank herself to death about 10 years ago. I watched her descent starting in my early teens. Even though her brush with death was finally able to bring her to sobriety, my relationship with her has never recovered. I've had a similar relationship with food on and off over the years, so I don't doubt that I've inherited some of those addictive tendencies from her.

I pour one beer a day most days, after everything is done and I start winding down for the day. Half a beer for something big like a quad or barleywine. Usually I finish it, but if I don't its no big deal. I might have 3 or 4 once every month or two when I'm hanging out with my buddies, but for the most part I like the taste of beer way more than the alcohol. I generally brew beer in the 4-5% range specifically because I don't want to get buzzed when I have a beer.

[etbrew]

I remember an NGO flier that was popular in the 80s. It was taken as fact at the time. It was handed out when I was in the Marines.

It said "If you answer yes to any of these, you are an alcoholic". The first question was "Do you deny that you are an alcoholic?"

So in order to be an alcoholic you have to deny your an alcoholic but you aren't an alcoholic if you deny you're an alcoholic...it's gona all Catch-22 

In seriousness though I do really love the flavor of high alcohol beers and I can't understand why commercial examples of the highest alcohol beers are bottled in the bigest bottles.  I have been keeping tasting notes on beers for years and have tasted many hundreds of beers.  Up until last year I would open a 24oz or 750ml bottle 11% moster beer and drink it all myself.  I've really stopped enjoying doing that because I'm sick of getting snookered from one of those bottles.   Now if I open one of those bottles it is with freinds or early on a weekend.

I, like many have said in this thread have been drinking and brewing more session beers.  My last two beers were pale ales at 5.5% and 4.5%.  I love the complexity of high alcohol beers but have also come to really appreciate craft it takes to make a great low alcohol beer.  I also like to be able to have two beers without catching a buzz. 

I love beer and I drink at least a beer every day.  I also love food and I cook and eat every day.  Like folks have already said it's about self control and moderation.  Too many beers a night leave me tired and mentally sluggish as does consuming a massive amount of food at dinner.  So to paraphrase Michael Pollan, eat food, mostly plants, not too much and drink some beer  

[kramerog]

I've been thinking about this topic a lot because it is one of the recent topics in Chemistry of Beer, a free online course at OU.  One of the interesting things I learned is that binge drinking, which is defined as getting drunk, is more harmful in some ways to the drinker's brain than chronic alcoholism because the binge drinker does not develop tolerance mechanisms and because of rebound effects.  Anyway my current strategy is to drink daily if I'm in the mood for a beer but to drink moderately.

As others have said, moderation is key.  It would help if more pubs have a variety of serving sizes so I can taste more beers and drink less.  I was at a winery in Napa that refused to make small pours.  That does not help although I should have not finished the samples.

One thing I'm doing right now with high alcohol beers at home is to mix them with a low alcohol beer to get  12-16 oz of a beer that has the taste of a high alcohol beer without all the alcohol.  I've been enjoying an Old Ale blended with a 70 shilling that tastes like an Old Ale.

[Joe Sr.]

Frontal lobotomies were used for a variety of ailments including alcoholism.

I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy.


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Isn't that an old country song?

[morticaixavier]

[...]  So to paraphrase Michael Pollan, eat food, mostly plants, not too much and drink some beer

That guy is really wise. I learned a lot about how to think about enjoyment and differentiate between that and excess from reading his books.

[klickitat jim]

I thought he was famous for "I cut down trees, I skip and jump, I love to press wild flowers"

[morticaixavier]

I thought he was famous for "I cut down trees, I skip and jump, I love to press wild flowers"

close... very very close.

[majorvices]

Frontal lobotomies were used for a variety of ailments including alcoholism.

I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy.


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Isn't that an old country song?

It's from the same guy who said "Always carry a flagon of whiskey with you in case of snake bite. And furthermore, always carry a small snake." W.C. Fields. One of my heroes.

[The Professor]

...I can't understand why commercial examples of the highest alcohol beers are bottled in the bigest bottles....

I've puzzled about that one as well.  It was disappointing when Anchor stopped bottling Old Foghorn in 7oz bottles.

Considering  all the talk being tossed  around these days preaching  about and hyping  "respect for beer", the current trend of striving for very high alcohol levels and then packaging it in bomber sized bottles (or bars serving them on draft  by the pint) seems to turn the whole "respect for beer" argument into some kind of sham. 

Even my favorite "local" (which pioneered the concept of multiple taps featuring exclusively "good" beer here in NJ back in the 1980s) has suffered;  on a recent visit there I was shocked to hear the bartenders pushing mainly the hi-test brews as if the alcohol content was the main thing that the customers should be looking for in a beer.
Kind of sad, really...

[Jimmy K]

More and more I love bars that list abv and serving size and do some quick math when deciding what to order. After all, an 8oz snifter of 12% abv beer has less alcohol than a 20oz glass of 5% beer. Not that I'd always choose the snifter, but I'm just trying to be conscious of what I drink.
 
Tastings can be the worst. I like the attention to flavors, but lots of small samples can sneak up on you.