Poll:Alcohol

[califdreamer]

Just curious. I would have to say I'm in the first category for good or for ill.

BTW, one drink would be about a 5-6 oz glass of wine, a 12 oz beer or a cocktail with 1.5 oz of liquor.

If you're so inclined, what is your bev of choice? For me, wine. Beer second. Then liquor.

 

[Nords]

I'm not a teetotaler but I'm probably closer to the "7 drinks per year" category...

 

[SecondCor521]

I'm not a teetotaler but I'm probably closer to the "7 drinks per year" category...

I used to be but have tried to start drinking red wine more lately at my doc-sister's recommendation because of my slightly bad cholesterol levels. Go figure. Hey, it's easier than exercising ;-) (That's a joke, RIT!)

2Cor521

 

[ESRBob]

I've had the boozy years but am now in the handful of drinks a week category, and almost never >2 in an evening. The hangovers just got to be too much when I got to around age 45.

Beverage of choice is Boddington's english pub ale in one of those cool cans with the spinning widget that makes it taste just like it does in a pub -- a nice creamy head, no carbonation. Delicious, and I'm pretty sure it would qualify as a health food.

Next is dry Spanish sherry -- really pale gold -- the type known as Fino. Great before dinner. Not the sweet stuff!

Next in line is single malt whiskey -- pretty much any type, but Lagavulin is really special. Very peaty. mmmmmm.....

Finally wines -- I love them when they're right, but so often I get clunkers so that I almost feel like giving up. Even when I stretch my LBYM guidelines and splurge for an expensive highly-recommended bottle it is a crapshoot as to whether it will taste any good. So I've become a bit wine-shy.

 

[Rich_by_the_Bay]

Beverage of choice is Boddington's english pub ale in one of those cool cans with the spinning widget that makes it taste just like it does in a pub -- a nice creamy head, no carbonation. Delicious, and I'm pretty sure it would qualify as a health food.

A fine choice. Next time you pour a glass look closely - it actually forms a trilevel head: creamy on top, tan in the middle, and ale at the bottom. Just pour it hard and fast right from the agitator can. Mmmm.

 

[laurence]

Boddington, yes! Unfortunately, being in the LBYM young accumulator phase, I get the 30 pack of cans of MGD when it's on sale.

I drink way more than 7 per week when I'm not training for an race event, and go down to nearly zero as I am training. This holiday season I prolly averaged 3 bevs a night (there were some really, really good parties raising that average). Managed to gain a wee bit of weight so now I'm training for a 5k, then half marathon, then marathon in June, so I'll just be enjoying the occiasional beer or wine. If I have more than 1-2 I have a terrible workout the next day.

 

[BarbaraAnne]

I enjoy a few (or so) glasses of shiraz a week except when low carb dieting. When I was younger it was no problem, but now that I'm over 50 I can't lose any weight if I drink wine, no matter what I eat.

I love red wine but my metabolism has obviously changed. Anyone else have that problem?

 

[TromboneAl]

At lunch I had two beers with the crab that we got off a crab boat. Wow, was that good!

 

[TromboneAl]

"How many did the crab have?" There, I said it before someone else did.

 

[Goonie]

My #1 drink of choice...Water. #2 Cold Milk. #3 Coffee.

HOWEVER.....If I'm cooking, then Jack Daniels is cooking too!!! All of my marinades contain JD, whether beef, pork, chicken, fish, veggies, or whatever. I really like the flavor, but I just don't care to imbibe. (may in part be attributed to the fact that my Dad used to over-drink quite a bit....it wasn't too pleasant. He did become a tea-totaler for his last 10 or 12 years....much more pleasant)

 

[brewer12345]

Next is dry Spanish sherry -- really pale gold -- the type known as Fino. Great before dinner. Not the sweet stuff!

If you haven't already, try a manzanilla sherry. Very nice, and usually bone dry.

 

[califdreamer]

I've had the boozy years but am now in the handful of drinks a week category, and almost never >2 in an evening. The hangovers just got to be too much when I got to around age 45.

This is what I've run into as I've progressed through my forties... the next-day effects are definitely more prounounced. I do a good bit of entertaining customers and, maybe since I'm single, a lot of social activities revolve around drinking. When I string two or three nights of "entertainment" together my energy gets sapped.

I drink way more than 7 per week when I'm not training for an race event, and go down to nearly zero as I am training. This holiday season I prolly averaged 3 bevs a night (there were some really, really good parties raising that average). Managed to gain a wee bit of weight so now I'm training for a 5k, then half marathon, then marathon in June, so I'll just be enjoying the occiasional beer or wine. If I have more than 1-2 I have a terrible workout the next day.

I'm with you on both points, Laurence. The holidays provided many opportunities for indulging (sometimes overindulging). And there's no better workout prevention method than a hangover

I enjoy a few (or so) glasses of shiraz a week except when low carb dieting. When I was younger it was no problem, but now that I'm over 50 I can't lose any weight if I drink wine, no matter what I eat.

I love red wine but my metabolism has obviously changed. Anyone else have that problem?

I notice several pairs of pants seeming snug after this Holiday season.


As for the beer, Boddington's is a terrific brew but I lean more toward hop-heavy IPAs and West Coast style pale ales. Stone IPA (local favorite here in San Diego... an underrated beer burgh BTW) on tap is delicious. Had a great IPA at Dulles airport several months ago.... I think the brewery was called Old Dominion.

As for wine, love the cabs, Spanish tempranillos, Argentinian Malbecs and many others. For white, a really dry, crisp Sauvignon Blanc. Preferably from the Sancerre area of France.

Off to a wine bar tonight for some more "entertainment"...

 

[Caroline]

Just curious. I would have to say I'm in the first category for good or for ill.

That's for ill, fyi. My ex did about that much and his Dr. finally told him to quit now or die -- liver enzyme readings were wayyyyy out of the normal range.

It didn't do a thing for his relationship, either, btw.

 

[Meadbh]

I enjoy a few (or so) glasses of shiraz a week except when low carb dieting. When I was younger it was no problem, but now that I'm over 50 I can't lose any weight if I drink wine, no matter what I eat.

I love red wine but my metabolism has obviously changed. Anyone else have that problem?

I'll second that!
Those Australian reds are GOOD! Plan to take a trip there after ER.

 

[rogerc1944]

My doctor told me to have a glass of red wine every day as it's good for my health. I said to him, "How about 2 glasses of red wine?" He said no, I could only have one. So now I have one for the doctor and one for me. This proved to be good advice as I haven't had a cold or anything for at least a week.

 

[Sandy]

I've had the boozy years but am now in the handful of drinks a week category, and almost never >2 in an evening. The hangovers just got to be too much when I got to around age 45.

Same here. Plus the calories are killer. Many wines, both white and red, leave me ill after even 1 glass, so I just gave up.

Single malt scotch, vodka, and beer are my perferred choices depending on the situation.

 

[Alan]

My doc told me to only have a drink after a meal.

Phew... 10 meals a day is killing me :

I have a glass of red wine every day and a couple of nights more than that at weekends. In fact we are off to a party right now.

An Irish Pub has recently opened 2 minutes walk from the office so now on a Friday I walk down with a few guys and gals from work and have a couple of the foaming ales - big selection of draught ales including Boddingtons.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

An 1600's era british sailors weekly allotment of beer was approximately 8 gallons, or about 10 pints a day.

No wonder they conquered half the world. They were on a road trip!

(I still cannot for the life of me imagine working a large sailing vessel...or doing much of anything at all...with ten large beers in me)

Then again, I think water was a bit of a problem on ships and they drank stored beer as a substitute. Might have been lousy 1.2% beer at that.

In the 1700's the ration was replaced by a pint of rum, watered down. I'm sure that worked out much better.

 

[anes]

Two glasses of wine a day will increase your longevity by ten years. I have calculated, that at my rate of consumption, I will live forever.

 

[ESRBob]

An Irish Pub has recently opened 2 minutes walk from the office so now on a Friday I walk down with a few guys and gals from work and have a couple of the foaming ales - big selection of draught ales including Boddingtons.

I lived for many years outside the country and used to have to contemplate a lifetime of travel and/or being an expat in order to get a decent beer. One of the best things to happen in the U.S. in the last 30 years imho is the advent of good ethnic food and good English beer, (along with a raft of really good micro-brewed domestic beer done on the English beer/ale genre). I feel very little need to leave town anymore. (Besides don't they still smoke inside in those other places?)

Actually we're going to Ireland this summer for my first visit there. But even Murphy's beer is available at my local here in NY.

 

[Helen]

I envy you people who can enjoy a few drinks. I had to give it up. It's easier for me not to drink than to drink and try to limit myself. It's a bad habit I picked up in college - but I had a damn good time !

 

[Gumby]

One of the best things to happen in the U.S. in the last 30 years imho is the advent of good ethnic food and good English beer,

Thank God it wasn't ethnic beer and English food.

 

[Caroline]

In the 1700's the ration was replaced by a pint of rum, watered down. I'm sure that worked out much better.

Worked really well for my granddad (RN Signalman WWI, Dardanelles and Admiral Jellico world tour.)

He hated the stuff so he traded it to his drinking buddies for their shore leave. Saw the whole world that way!

 

[Leonidas]

(I still cannot for the life of me imagine working a large sailing vessel...or doing much of anything at all...with ten large beers in me)

Then again, I think water was a bit of a problem on ships and they drank stored beer as a substitute. Might have been lousy 1.2% beer at that.

It wasn't just the sailors, apparently the English weren't drinkers of water. I think that back then everyone walked around halfway buzzed because they drank beer or wine exclusively.

"water is not wholesome solely by itself for an Englishman.... If any man do use to drink water with wine, let it be purely strained, and then [boil] it; and after it be cold, let him put it to his wine."

I think they got into the habit because their water was so contaminated due to using the rivers as a sewage system. But, apparently they came to like beer, a lot, and scorned water even when it was clean.

Even when water was not contaminated, it was scorned by the English because it was free. People drank water only if they could not afford to buy ale. "Would you believe it," wrote César de Saussure, a Swiss visitor to England in the 1720s, "though water is to be had in abundance in London, and of fairly good quality, absolutely none is drunk? In this country ... beer ... is what everybody drinks when thirsty.

Perhaps the generally accepted notion that English cuisine is abominable is because they were all too drunk to care what they were eating.

 

[laurence]

I don't understand, beer causes a net loss in hydration, were people just sucking on a lot of limes?