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Posted: |
Feb 20, 2021 - 9:06 AM
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By: |
KeV McG
(Member)
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I know, maybe I should have titled it 15-30, which is when many of us first try out the demon drink.
I started with me school mates, aged around 15/16, when our local pub would allow us to sit in there and imbibe.
I started out on Bitter, which changed to Golden (half bitter/half lager as a pint) and then that just became Lager.
I very rarely drank shorts as a late teen or early twenty-en (a bad night drinking Pernod still, to this day, has me nearly vomming just at the smell of it).
Like many, I had many a rowdy night and on some occasions, drank myself into oblivion (with my mates, of course).
I can't remember the amount of times I would declare 'never again' the next morning (afternoon?) only to repeat the trick the following weekend.
But my drinking habits have certainly changed over the years.
Partly because I finally made good on my promises after all those heavy heads.
Also to stop any long term damage to my body (I'm 55 now but still play football each week - pre-lockdown - with lads, some almost half my age).
And also because life gets in the way and you slow down just because.
While I still enjoy the occasional binge day out with various groups of mates and at weddings/birthdays etc - pre-lockdown - my main drinking habit now is a lager or two, followed by a nice whisky liqueur (Benedictine...Glayva) on the rocks, when winding down with my Good Lady watching TV, late evening.
I hated the taste of beer in my early days, and did it mainly to have a laugh with me mates and to grow the Dutch courage to talk to girls/copp-off.
But nothing tastes nicer now than an ice cold lager on a sunny day in town or on holiday.
And the liqueur's are divine.
I never did acquire the taste for wine though...tastes like vinegar to me (I do love Port and Sherry though and will often take them with some crackers and cheese...sometimes in my study).
So, what's your habit and how has it changed, if at all?
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Posted: |
Feb 20, 2021 - 9:45 AM
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By: |
BillCarson
(Member)
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I used to have 2 glasses of red wine a week, id love one with a meal. Never really liked beer or shorts.
But now it creaks my joints and gives me instant migraine next day. In a way, maybe no bad thing.
Ive seen too many mates who start out home drinking, get pissed more n more frequently but then if they carry it on into their 40s n 50s, insisting all is fine, eventually it takes toll on skin, liver, health and their body fights back one day.
Ive got 2 mates who binged and now cant touch another drop or they'll die, and 3 friends who have already gone early - 53, 56 and 67.
Dont get me wrong, im not the London temperance union, a few beers or wine to relax is fine. Its the excess thats the problem and irreversible long term damage.
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Never drank in my greener days. Kev can attest to my chugging-down Coca-Cola at the pub on my visits to Liverpool while he and my other Goldsmith Society mates imbibed copious pints!
That said, in the intervening years I've acquired a taste for champagne. Caviar too for that matter, though I rarely indulge in either. Still not big on wine, a tiny sip of beer put me off it for good, and have no interest in the harder stuff.
Hoping another friend or relative will get married soon so I can have some more champagne.
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Posted: |
Feb 20, 2021 - 4:29 PM
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By: |
Ado
(Member)
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Alcohol is a creeping seduction, that is what young people do not understand. By the time you realize you cannot quit it, that you "need it" it is already too late. The best practice is to drink, at most, every other day, and I have practiced weekend only drinking for a while, the only exception is for Christmas, Thanksgiving. The drink has a grip that you do not realize until later. I do not drink mixed or 80 proof, only red wine. There is at least some health benefit to it. But yes, the wine has a comforting delight that can succor you into it's prison den quite easily as well.
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Posted: |
Feb 21, 2021 - 8:29 AM
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By: |
Thor
(Member)
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Quantity-wise, it hasn't really changed much. But there are some other differences. One is that a hangover only lasted about day in my youth, but now it lasts 3 days. Sometimes even longer. Still feeling Friday's Zoom binge, for example. Another difference is that I don't go to the disco, or out on the town as much as I did 15 years ago. The mid 2000s was my 'glory period'. I was on TV, I had success professionally, I was in great shape, I had endless party stamina, I had a pretty good success rate as far as picking up girls. Etc. etc. The opposite is true these days, for all of those things.
If you read the first few pages of the 20-year-old "Cheers" thread, you'll get a glimpse into some of this life.
Then there's my beer passion, which really only kicked in some 10 years ago. That has also had some influence; I'm more into the taste of things rather than just chugging down pints. At least up to a certain point.
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Haven’t had a drink, or any kind of drug for that matter, in well over 35 years. Reached the point where I realized it wasn’t good for me, and have stayed sober one day at a time ever since.
No regrets. Best thing I ever did.
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I drink lots of stuff... water, coffee, tea, coca-cola, beer, wine, whisky, rum, tequila, hot chocolate, orange juice, and plenty of other stuff,... whenever I want and however much I want. Varies though how much that actually is.
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From underage to about 20 (back in '81), I used to go to town, and believe me Barnsley was a hoot in the late 70s. Pubs packed with girls, and I drank to get drunk. Every Friday or Saturday night. The hangovers! Dreadful. And the beer was bog standard John Smiths, and the odd lager. One night we decided to drink whiskey everywhere. Boy was I ill.
I will say at this stage I've never been able to get more than six or seven pints down without being ill. Hugging the toilet pot. As I got older I was grateful to my apparent body's intolerance of too much. Because I've never been 'legless'. Seen kids thrown into the back of a van because they couldn't stand up. This is where I theorise that my own skinny body managed to keep me on the straight and narrow. It knew when to tell me "that's enough mate" and simply rejected the excess. But hah, the recklessness of youth. And nightclubs...
But I went to Canada in '79 and was handed a book by my brother-in-law. Beer and Skittles. Told me all about 'real ale'. A revelation. From that point on I did drink for taste, even if I still got a little drunk occasionally after. But I purposely started hanging out with a mate who was tee total, knowing he wouldn't encourage me, and going instead to a local village's two pubs that were quiet. I could there enjoy a few beers, conversation, and talk films, tv and film music.
Never looked back after that.
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