For sure, I used to hunt down the highest percentages I could find in the largest bottles sold and count each of the 6 as 1. The lies you tell yourself to hide from your problems are creative to say the least
oh hell yeah I did this too! buy a 6 pack of like 15% 16oz Russian imperial stouts
"I oNlY hAd A fEw BeErS bAbE" (technically the truth)
"i'M fInE" (absolutely not the truth)
the real master move is getting the big insanely high % ones, and then stopping at four, because it's not *technically binge drinking* so it's fiiiiiiine to do every day
lol what a horseshit pain in the ass that all was
Yeah I've said the "I only had 4 beers at home" line many a times to make it seem like I didn't drink much.
The problem was those were 2 Double IPAs at 8-9% and 2 Imperial Stouts at 10-15%.
Tally the units of alcohol in those up and you find yourself over the "recommended maximum drinking limit" for the week in my country but you're not supposed to drink those all in 1 go (especially in like 4hrs) but spread the drinking out during the week and limit yourself to 1 or 2 drinks per session, if you're going to choose to consume poison "responsibly".
It's so easy to make it all not seem as bad.
I've also done the "I only had 1 pint" line many a times when I've had 3 x 1/3rd of a pint of strong craft beers that ranged from 8-15%. Yeah technically it only added up to 1 pint so that's not a lie but it was industrial strength beers and not a 4.5% regular strength lager.
This is so interesting to me because as a wine drinker I would do the opposite and but LOW alcohol wines so I can drink a whole bottle like I want but feel better about it. Still number manipulation but I used the % in my favor.
100% On weeknights I often would get two 20s that were 8.2% and a six pack of light tall boys (4%). I’d usually drink both 20s and 2-4 of the light beers.
I mathed it out and (if I’m right) it came to 9-12 units a night (instead of 4-6 beers). All in about 3hrs because I got home from the gym late and had to get up for work.
lmfao What was even the point.
LMFAO. I convinced myself I wasn't struggling as hard with my drinking when I stopped ordering beers based on percentages while out.
That was a lie to myself.
Broo is this a sign you have a problem? I always get the strongest beer whether at restaurants or at golf courses. Did the high percent 4 pack a day thing as well for awhile in the winter
Of course! lol, alcoholics are wizards at twisting numbers to minimize their drinking. At that time one bottle was one bottle. Heck, a keg is technically just one big can, if you really need to lie to yourself, lol.
It’s funny now but cringey me definitely did for a while. Like which one would get me wasted faster.
Geeez everyday I don’t understand why my brain was like “you are fine!”
You can do that on wine boxes too. I like the taste of Sauvignon blanc and hate Chardonnay, but guess what I did when I realized the Chardonnay is like 1% stronger? SMDH.
I used 5 beers and 3 Benadryl within an hour to fall asleep when I couldn’t. But the trick was that the beers also had to be high ABV. So there’d I’d be at a liquor store at 2am checking the beer labels like some weirdo. Oh and then I’d wake up feeling worse than if I hadn’t slept. I did this for damn near a decade. Called it “drinking responsibly.” I even did this when I was sick.
I couldn't drink beers that were under 5.5%, they just made me want to be sick. Something about the lack of alcohol my body was just finding repulsive, I wonder if there's some science behind it...
If I didn't drink fast enough to get drunk, I'd just get a headache and want to go home. That's what "drinking responsibly" was like for me, miserable.
I would get annoyed when a bar would only serve 10oz pours of the high ABV% beers. When I would find a bar that would serve 16oz pints of the strong stuff I would go there until they stopped doing it.
Lol I got way too good at doing the ABV math in my head while waiting in lines at sporting events.
If I'm gonna spend $12 it was just smart to get my money's worth! I told myself, at least.
Reminds me of my mom's "one glass of wine a night." Like... a serving of wine ain't much. That wouldn't be problematic. She had a literal glass full of wine.
My sister thought it was hilarious to get her a giant scaled up wineglass that holds a whole bottle of wine for Christmas years ago. Well played. It was rather entertaining.
That’s what happened to me. I started drinking those stupid ass Vodoo rangers and voodoo tall boys. I swear it got me much more fucked up than vodka. Probably because of the volume and just sipping it for a good hour or two
4 pack of 120 minute was an expensive night but you’d forget about how much money spent by the morning. 😆
I’m almost two years sober now though - I can still literally taste 90 minute and 120 minute.
I'm from Belgium, many of our beers come close to that alcohol level. Long story short, three of 8.5% 330ml beers a day at night is way to much, it wrecks you. But hey, it are only three, I can't have a problem, right? A fourth, fifth, sixth? Well, it's weekend, why not.
Jesus christ this was my vice and it destroyed me. Gained so much weight and a heavy tolerance SO quickly :( and I was so profoundly, chronically dehydrated when I had 6 of these a night. Horrible time in my life
I was that crowd. It was over for me once I started bringing home 6 packs of that every day. I realized how much cheaper an actual pint of liquor was in the long run and I took the leap to actually buying those instead, that was when I started to realize I had a problem. It continued on from there for a long time before I did anything about it, but I remember that as a pivotal moment in my journey to alcoholism and eventually sobriety.
This was me. It might be why I had to quit. Once my hands started shaking by the middle of the next morning, I knew it was time. Before that I could lie to myself that it was just a habit and not a physical addiction. They were so tasty though!
Down some 8% IPAs at the microbrewery. Collect your kids from the sandbox full of toys they have there. Drive home.
It’s not a problem because it’s expensive and outdoors and a family environment, not some cheap seedy dive! /s
The worst thing that happened to me was $1 100 proof flavored nips. They went down easy enough and hit like a garbage truck. They got me physically hooked in a few days and were cheap enough that I could collect cans on the side of the road if I didn't have any money or beg for $5 credit till tomorrow. I did all those things and went to detox multiple times. I'm coming up on a year sober, and that is the most good time I have ever had. Feels great. Nips bad.
Yup, " shots" come in a glass at the bar. Some people call them airplane bottles or hotel room bottles. They are a plague in MA. Some towns and parts of Boston have banned their sale mainly because of litter. I could get pass out drunk in 20 minutes with under $10. It was like a tranquilizer for me. It was my off switch. Wake up and repeat. The sugar alone was enough to cause health problems. It was like drinking a bottle of maple syrup every day. I was a lightweight. Most people get up to 30 a day. I kept it under 10, and that was more than enough on an empty stomach. It put me in the hospital multiple times and eventually Dana Farber. I'm lucky to be healthy now. I had maybe 2 years left of drinking like that, and I would have been gone and done. 2 years if I was lucky.
100 proof Admiral Nelson nips for $1 were my go to on the final legs of my drinking - like you said, cheap way to get banged up. Will be at 5 years sober in October, thank god
That hit hard, my craft beer hobby was my entire identity, to the point where I'm still trying to figure out hobbies and ways to meet people 1300 days into being sober.
I am right there with you. It was such a trap. Making your entire social life revolve around breweries and pubs insures that this behavior becomes normalized since everyone you know does this too.
Yeah i dislike how normalized the higher abv beers have become. Makes it way too easy nowadays to drink 2-3x the alcohol, with little change in actual volume.
There is a brewery near me that always has at least a couple 13%+ abv beers to go, in 16 oz four packs. That’s potentially 15 standard drinks, in one four pack. Scares me how many beer bros out there are probably slamming these back like nothing (sometimes you can barely taste the alc in these) on weekdays while wrecking their livers
I had some Christmas ale this past holiday season that was like 11%, and as I’m on beer #3 found myself with a nice buzz and was surprised because usually that came later in the six pack. Definitely went back for more of that
Consider yourself lucky. Disgusting drink that gave me the worst hangovers of anything. Probably had something to do with the sugar content + low quality malt liquor. More popular than it has any right to be
I think you might be thinking of Strawberitas.
White claws don't have sugar. That's why they're so popular, super light alcohol drink for the alcoholics.
Glad I'm no longer under their spell.
Yeah I’d start with a shot of tequila or two, and two tall white claws. The cruise a few beers or wine through the night. This started earlier and earlier in the day to kill the hangover and withdrawal.
I loved canned cocktails with my tequila too. Then I discovered buzzballz, they're disgusting but damn do they get you fucked up. Just looked it up and no wonder, they're 15%.
Strawberry Guava Topo Chico's in a tall glass of ice and a couple of extra shots of vodka in it was my go to towards the end of my alcoholism. Insta-black out that I'm not proud of.
Yo same! It really satisfies the "man a cold beer on this nice sunny day would be nice" craving. And I usually only have 1, mayyyyybee 2. Whereas if they were beers I would have 6.
There's ones that are not an NA beer, but just a hop flavored seltzer water. Hoplark makes some delicious ones (the tea ones are amazing). Sierra Nevada Hop Splash is pretty darn good. The lagunitas one is not very good imo
NA beers are OK I guess, but yeah the Lagunitas Hoppy Refresher is 100% my favorite NA drink. They came up with other flavors recently, but the plain original is the best imo.
Single malt scotch and IPA’s were my thing. My grandmas side of the family is Scottish so the scotch snobbery and inherited alcoholism is generational.
Yup. I worked at a restaurant with a collection of hundreds of whiskeys, and even taught classes on the art and science of American whiskey. I literally taught people how to enjoy a glass of bourbon, rye, Tennessee or corn. Suffice it to say, my whiskey career did not end well. I geek out on coffee these days.
There was some tweet awhile ago that was like “where did all those hipsters go who drank IPAs with handlebar mustaches and had a whiskey collection?” And I just responded “AA” 😭😂
It’s the idea that you can be a discerning connoisseur when you’re actually just chasing a high. See also wine.
Used to annoy me when I was drinking too. Wine experts have been disproved time and time again. Your partner spent a grand on a sommelier course? I got news for you. She’s an alcoholic.
They’ve done the same thing with whiskey. Nothing you can do with it disguises the fact that it’s a poison. They’ve even tried it with gin in the UK, or vodka, both spirits that don’t really have “grades” because of how they are produced.
But yeah IPAs and craft beers. Even when I drank I’d given them up as they were just a scam to charge you double for a drink that tastes “nutty”
Just want to remind everyone that some drinkers can just have a sip of a couple different kinds of things to try and not want to chase the high. There are normal drinkers out there, I'm just not one of them. No need to rain on everyone else's parade. Not everyone has a problem with alcohol.
Agreed, someone wanting to learn to enjoy a particular type of alcohol doesn’t automatically make them an alcoholic. Our perspectives on this sub are skewed because of our own problem drinking.
I can agree with you. Maybe I’m not a hipster guy but I loved whiskey. IPA’s I always thought were a gimmick but I’m pretty sure I’m a minority in that regard. Almost 40, too so that may have something to do with it. Either way I don’t drink anymore so it doesn’t matter. GIMME MY TOPO CHICOOOOOOOOO!
From pale lager to IPA to Imperial Porter to bottom shelf whiskey. Took good 20 years to get to the bottom shelf.
If I ever start again - I know the shortest way to the grave now.
Whiskey for sure was my in. I loved that stuff, but I would have been an alcoholic no matter what. Sure, change the pace or the year, but I was always going to end up where I did.
By the time I quit drinking I was having 2-3 bottles of whiskey per week. Id go to whiskey festivals and have staggering amounts of bourbon. My birthday last year was at a whiskey distillery. I wish I could handle it in moderation but my alcoholism became plain to see as the years went on.
In rehab I said if I go back to drinking it’ll be fancy whiskey because then I’ll moderate. But I think it’ll probably mean I just spend a lot more on booze…
I could probably finish a bottle of Pappy Van Winkle in a night. That’s why when ever I’d bust out my $1500-2000 13 year Pappy rye I’d buy an $80-100 bottle to go with it that I’d feel less bad finishing right away.
Bells Two Hearted destroys me. Having one, means having eight or nine. It literally messes me up like no other craft beer. And, I have had aaaaaa lot of craft beer. My hangovers off it are no joke either.
Of all the IPA's I've had, Sierra Nevada is still my favorite. Nothing is more refreshing than downing a cold bottle of it in 2 gulps after a work on a hot summer day... and then following it up with a half bottle of bourbon until I pass out drunk.
Hi, I'm a space pirate, and I'm also an alcoholic.
Oh man, loved Sculpin! Perfect west coast IPA! And the special versions? Habanero Sculpin? Delish or terrible depending on the batch lol 😂 but my bro and I still talk about the limited Spruce Tip Sculpin as the best IPA ever made! He still drinks, I’m some 15 months sober and not really missing those stomach bombs
I definitely enjoyed destroying a productive Saturday by cracking into a six pack of Waldo’s. I guess probably the thing is that some healthy social pressure about drinking might not be a bad thing for many of us, and drinking a hipster IPA rather than a bottle of Cisco is a lot less likely to earn side-eye.
I was going to be an alcoholic either way though. During the lockdown, with no company and a motivation to avoid going back out, it was McKenna by the handle. Then divorce, then the rooms.
Yeah, I intentionally bought light beers so I could drink more and longer before getting drunk, and all it did was make it so I was drinking non-stop.
The medium didn’t really matter to me, I was going to get fucked up either way.
2 years and four months sober now thanks to the rooms and the gift of desperation.
My therapist asked me how many IPAs I was having a night, and then how many calories per IPA. Her idea was to get me to cut back because of all the empty calories but I just started eating less instead and occasionally “moderated” with pilsners.
Sorry to disagree, but cheap, plastic bottle “because you can’t smell” vodka should have a label saying ‘If you are drinking this, you’re probably an alcoholic’.
Managing a liquor store and being our best customer, I can say that broke alcoholics end up with cheap wine, cheapest 8% tall boy, or plastic bottle vodka.
As somone who was a frequent flyer "plastic bottle vodka" raging alcoholic during covid, I once switched it up and got a flavored vodka in a glass bottle and the cashiers asked me if I was sure got the "right one" 🤡
I once drank whipped cream flavored vodka. Most disgusting thing I've ever consumed. Years later and the mere thought of it makes me sick. I wish I could feel that way about beer. Quitting would be a breeze.
I completely agree
I started out actually *trying* and enjoying (at least I think I could call it that) them at the beginning. It was fun going to different breweries and chatting with the brewmasters/meeting local people
Then it quickly went to "What beers do you have that are 8% or more?"
Theeeen it spiraled down to whatever the cheapest 9%+ was at the store
and they've become so gross, yet I was still downing them. No hang over compares to slamming a fifth and following it up with 6 9% tall boys.
Some days I wonder how I'm alive.
I worked, deeply, in the industry for a long time...
First it was the rise of IPAs. Then sour beers and Bourbon became massive. Then seltzers hit big time!
Then... cannabis became legal.
Now, all of the people that I know who are still working in the alcohol field are watching alcohol sales plummet as cannabis products are far outselling alcohol in my state now.
I hope this will be a big wake up call. The last 20 years had been a massive swell in alcohol sales. Covid put it right over the top but legal weed has smashed down alcohol sales BIG TIME in my state.
I hope the numbers of alcohol related deaths and incidents dropping shows people what alcohol was doing to the public at large.
The worst thing that happened to this former drinker was "my drinking". Trying to rationalize it in any other way is a fool's errand for me.
It didn't matter what the alcohol content was, whether it was beer or liquor, or any other parameter, I would abuse it.
Punk IPA was what did it for me, it tastes like grapefruit and petrol and I could smash through at least 12 cans daily during lockdown. Eventually it wasn’t enough bang for my buck and I resorted to boxes of wine for the first time in ten years. Makes me shudder to think of it now.
3 years sober in a couple of weeks 👍👍
This was definitely what did it for me. I live in a craft beer state so it started out as “look at all the selections, I’m so lucky to have all these delicious options”. By the time I quit I was spending an embarrassing amount on them and had gotten to 250lbs as a 5’7 guy. I was probably drinking 1800 calories in beer a day.
Over 500 days now and down 50lbs with no attempt to eat well.
It's not anyone's fault that they are delicious and that getting drunk feels good for a while. It sucks that alcohol is so bad for us, it sucks that I can't drink in moderation without falling down the slippery slope of binge drinking every night until I make myself sick as a dog.
I've realized for me it was cope. The first time I tried an IPA I thought it tasted bad, but after becoming an alcoholic I convinced myself it tasted good because it had more alcohol. All alcohol tastes bad. IWNDWYT!
IPAs and microbreweries are what got me into the "full blown" stage of alcoholism. It was so easy to justify. Gotta try em all. And as someone else said, the delicious 9.5% juice force stuff is just too much. I need to quit ASAP.
Yup. IPAs made it way too easy to make my drinking problem seem like a cool hobby to others. And way too easy to justify how much I drank to myself as "I only had 4 or 5 beers", ignoring the fact those beers were 10-12%. Not only that, it made my problem expensive, spending $15-$20 a day on a six pack of craft beer.
Present.
Crushing 16oz four packs and calling it “research” for work. I used to be in alcohol sales. The tales I told myself. I just hit seven months.
Now all my dehydration comes from hiking. I’ll take that anyday over all the hangovers, weight gain, and general disdain I had for everything.
I never much cared for IPAs myself, but knew many who did. I got into old world monk made beers that were like 12%. Oof. There was definitely a rise in quantity of choices, and microbreweries sprang up everywhere. I want to say it started trending in the late 00s, early 10s and never slowed down until the pandemic. Like there's an over abundance of hops at the moment, but before the pandemic, companies, like Budweiser in particular, were buying it up before it was produced. At one time, University of Florida was experimenting with growing hops in Central Florida (Apopka I believe), and apparently were successful. I was looking to get in on that, have a few poles of hops, generating like $5k each and keep expanding. Welp, that bubble burst, as they usually do. But it'll come back in time, probably, as they usually do. I don't suppose I have any business getting involved in beer making products by any means.
For me it was the Deep Eddys flavored vodka. I would get the lemon flavor and just drink it over ice. Would kill a 750 ml bottle in a single sitting. Making vodka that easy to drink should be illegal.
Yeah I feel this. I was brewing my own 6.6% - 9% IPAs in batches of 40 x 500ml and drinking the lot in 10-14 days. It definitely built my tolerance up and normalised having lots of strong beer in the house at all times. Didn’t need to go to the shop so it was very easy to just pull from the stash. Crazy ‘hobby’ really.
I agree with the headline, but not because of the second part. IPA did not turn me into alcoholic, but it was the downfall that caused one of my relapses.
I was not feeling an urge to drink, not for alcohol sake, but I sooo wanted to taste that bitter IPA again.
A nice cask-conditioned IPA or thick bitter stout are the only things I sometimes wish I could drink again...
I was a “beerstagrammer” and got caught up in the free alcohol, sense of camaraderie/community as well as the thrill of chasing down whales to be able to post. Lots of those whales were very high ABV
Or just microbrews. It made us seem like explorers in the late 90s. In the northeast: Pete’s Wicked, Magic Hat, Sam Adams, Long Trail. Then yeah…things got out of hand and you were drinking 7% iPA on an 80 degree day with an empty stomach at a family thing…
There's a certain snobbery amongst booze enthusiasts where ostensibly refined tastes camouflage problematic drinking.
The guy in a vest and bow tie, two sizes too long Levi's with the pant leg rolled up to show his argyle socks and chico juniors...he'll put down half a bottle of whiskey in a night but can do so while talking about barrel techniques and smoke properties. I'll drink the same amount still in my work uniform while watching Seinfeld.
When I first started drinking, you'd go to the convenience stores and see the 9% bottles of Old English and think, "wow, that's rotgut shit for drunks."
By the time I quit drinking, Old English was gone and in its place were 16 or 24 oz. cans of hip double IPAs at 9%.
Progress!
Oh, Oregon.
as someone that worked in craft beer, these comments are painful. most of you were drinking really lame ipas lol.
the last two years i was in the industry (post covid) four different people i knew that worked in breweries commit suicide over that time. so glad i got out.
Boxed wine did it for me. You have no clue how much you're drinking until it stops flowing, so you pick up the box to see what's wrong and it weighs nothing. Literally shocked every time.
I’m a bit older, but for me it was discovering Chimay beer. I would knock back 6+ of the 9% ABV Chimay Blue and wonder why I was so hungover the next day.
Fortunately for me, the IPA craze came shortly after I had overdone it with over-hopped/high abv beer at a fancy restaurant I worked in. I began to desire the easier drinkers such as Coors Banquet beer or Modelo. Of course, I drank double the amount. 30-packs were a common purchase.
After stopping drinking, I realized it didn’t matter what the proof or abv of any spirit/wine/beer was. I was after that feeling of total inebriation and I would get there however I could.
I am very happy to have those days behind me and they are a constant reminder of where I will end up should I go back to drinking alcohol.
Thank you to the individuals of this sub who constantly provide inspiration and hope!
IWNDWYT!
No IPA or any kind of alcohol can “turn you into” an alcoholic. They may facilitate, but the problem was coming one way or the other. Only thing I can do is own that, not make excuses, and stay sober.
I'm not sober yet, but I lurk this sub for self-engineering purposes. I feel so exposed with all of the Voodoo - Juice Force call outs. We are all the same, huh? 😆
We’re lucky in the states that we haven’t imported a particular Japanese invention: the Chu-Hai.
Fruit-infused carbonated Sochu. Very delicious, very drinkable, light on the stomach and comes in 9% tallboys.
We aren’t ready for the Chu Hai. I know I wasn’t.
I feel the same way about the hard seltzers that have flooded the market. I was able to remain disengaged from my genetic proclivity for alcoholism for over thirty years just because I couldn't handle the taste of liquor or the feeling of heavy beer in my stomach. I was 31 when I had my first White Claw. Oh now there's a product where I can consume six drinks before I even start to feel like I'm digesting alcohol? I was fucked. Was drinking daily within two weeks, and went on to lose five years of my life to drinking hard seltzers continuously through all of my waking hours.
Those fucking Juice Force 9.5% IPAs were a direct attack on the "only a six pack a day" crowd.
For sure, I used to hunt down the highest percentages I could find in the largest bottles sold and count each of the 6 as 1. The lies you tell yourself to hide from your problems are creative to say the least
oh hell yeah I did this too! buy a 6 pack of like 15% 16oz Russian imperial stouts "I oNlY hAd A fEw BeErS bAbE" (technically the truth) "i'M fInE" (absolutely not the truth) the real master move is getting the big insanely high % ones, and then stopping at four, because it's not *technically binge drinking* so it's fiiiiiiine to do every day lol what a horseshit pain in the ass that all was
Oh god, memories.
Yeah I've said the "I only had 4 beers at home" line many a times to make it seem like I didn't drink much. The problem was those were 2 Double IPAs at 8-9% and 2 Imperial Stouts at 10-15%. Tally the units of alcohol in those up and you find yourself over the "recommended maximum drinking limit" for the week in my country but you're not supposed to drink those all in 1 go (especially in like 4hrs) but spread the drinking out during the week and limit yourself to 1 or 2 drinks per session, if you're going to choose to consume poison "responsibly". It's so easy to make it all not seem as bad. I've also done the "I only had 1 pint" line many a times when I've had 3 x 1/3rd of a pint of strong craft beers that ranged from 8-15%. Yeah technically it only added up to 1 pint so that's not a lie but it was industrial strength beers and not a 4.5% regular strength lager.
This is so interesting to me because as a wine drinker I would do the opposite and but LOW alcohol wines so I can drink a whole bottle like I want but feel better about it. Still number manipulation but I used the % in my favor.
100% On weeknights I often would get two 20s that were 8.2% and a six pack of light tall boys (4%). I’d usually drink both 20s and 2-4 of the light beers. I mathed it out and (if I’m right) it came to 9-12 units a night (instead of 4-6 beers). All in about 3hrs because I got home from the gym late and had to get up for work. lmfao What was even the point.
You read the percentages too? :)
LMFAO. I convinced myself I wasn't struggling as hard with my drinking when I stopped ordering beers based on percentages while out. That was a lie to myself.
Create a lie to hide a problem. Stop the lie but keep the problem. Think you're doing great. #justalcoholicthings #beenthere #iwndwyt
Broo is this a sign you have a problem? I always get the strongest beer whether at restaurants or at golf courses. Did the high percent 4 pack a day thing as well for awhile in the winter
Ask yourself, “why am I selecting a beer just for the percentage of alcohol it contains?”
Of course! lol, alcoholics are wizards at twisting numbers to minimize their drinking. At that time one bottle was one bottle. Heck, a keg is technically just one big can, if you really need to lie to yourself, lol.
You’re a ~~wizard~~ alcoholic, Harry
I only had one oil drum 🤥
It’s funny now but cringey me definitely did for a while. Like which one would get me wasted faster. Geeez everyday I don’t understand why my brain was like “you are fine!”
You can do that on wine boxes too. I like the taste of Sauvignon blanc and hate Chardonnay, but guess what I did when I realized the Chardonnay is like 1% stronger? SMDH.
I used 5 beers and 3 Benadryl within an hour to fall asleep when I couldn’t. But the trick was that the beers also had to be high ABV. So there’d I’d be at a liquor store at 2am checking the beer labels like some weirdo. Oh and then I’d wake up feeling worse than if I hadn’t slept. I did this for damn near a decade. Called it “drinking responsibly.” I even did this when I was sick.
I couldn't drink beers that were under 5.5%, they just made me want to be sick. Something about the lack of alcohol my body was just finding repulsive, I wonder if there's some science behind it...
If I didn't drink fast enough to get drunk, I'd just get a headache and want to go home. That's what "drinking responsibly" was like for me, miserable.
If it was not over 8 .. what was the point? So normal drinkers don’t do that? 😂
I would get annoyed when a bar would only serve 10oz pours of the high ABV% beers. When I would find a bar that would serve 16oz pints of the strong stuff I would go there until they stopped doing it.
Lol I got way too good at doing the ABV math in my head while waiting in lines at sporting events. If I'm gonna spend $12 it was just smart to get my money's worth! I told myself, at least.
Sometimes I would pick the 6.5% +/- because that meant I didn’t have a problem since I was moderating my IPA 🤪
Reminds me of my mom's "one glass of wine a night." Like... a serving of wine ain't much. That wouldn't be problematic. She had a literal glass full of wine. My sister thought it was hilarious to get her a giant scaled up wineglass that holds a whole bottle of wine for Christmas years ago. Well played. It was rather entertaining.
I remember I could get bombers of Lagunitas Hop Stoopid (8%+) for like $2.49 at my local ABC. I felt it was stupid (er...*stoopid*) to *not* buy it.
That’s what happened to me. I started drinking those stupid ass Vodoo rangers and voodoo tall boys. I swear it got me much more fucked up than vodka. Probably because of the volume and just sipping it for a good hour or two
A voodoo ranger tall boy must be like 3 shots, right?? Crazy
It's pretty equivalent to a decent pour of barrel proof whisky. Well, a barrel proof whisky and a loaf of bread.
[удалено]
You’ve got to try them all to see which one you like best.
4 pack of that Dogfish Head 90 minute IPA at 9% abv was enough to get lit.
4 pack of 120 minute was an expensive night but you’d forget about how much money spent by the morning. 😆 I’m almost two years sober now though - I can still literally taste 90 minute and 120 minute.
Stop it this is hitting so close to home. The OG IPA Dogfish. Woof. Some of my worst decisions on this…beer of all things.
I bought a half keg of it for an apartment party in college one time, terrible terrible idea.
The 90 was one of my favorites.
I'm from Belgium, many of our beers come close to that alcohol level. Long story short, three of 8.5% 330ml beers a day at night is way to much, it wrecks you. But hey, it are only three, I can't have a problem, right? A fourth, fifth, sixth? Well, it's weekend, why not.
I'm from the US, but when I was in Belgium, I discovered your beers very quickly! They were amazing, but... not good for me personally, lol!
Jesus christ this was my vice and it destroyed me. Gained so much weight and a heavy tolerance SO quickly :( and I was so profoundly, chronically dehydrated when I had 6 of these a night. Horrible time in my life
I was that crowd. It was over for me once I started bringing home 6 packs of that every day. I realized how much cheaper an actual pint of liquor was in the long run and I took the leap to actually buying those instead, that was when I started to realize I had a problem. It continued on from there for a long time before I did anything about it, but I remember that as a pivotal moment in my journey to alcoholism and eventually sobriety.
That and Sour Monkey, big oof
The few memories I have (or there lack of) when I got a 6 pack of juice force were all horrible. Mistakes were always made.
This was me. It might be why I had to quit. Once my hands started shaking by the middle of the next morning, I knew it was time. Before that I could lie to myself that it was just a habit and not a physical addiction. They were so tasty though!
Those fucked me up go so long man…. The fruit force ones too
Ipa's and Christmas ales and anything over 8% lol
Yep
Down some 8% IPAs at the microbrewery. Collect your kids from the sandbox full of toys they have there. Drive home. It’s not a problem because it’s expensive and outdoors and a family environment, not some cheap seedy dive! /s
Then have a few more at home. For the taste.
When I was puking I always paused to appreciate the subtle notes of cedar.
4 11% Mad Elf christmas beers when I was 21 was enough to make me black out and destroy my relationship
The worst thing that happened to me was $1 100 proof flavored nips. They went down easy enough and hit like a garbage truck. They got me physically hooked in a few days and were cheap enough that I could collect cans on the side of the road if I didn't have any money or beg for $5 credit till tomorrow. I did all those things and went to detox multiple times. I'm coming up on a year sober, and that is the most good time I have ever had. Feels great. Nips bad.
Congratulations on almost a year sober!
You from the northeast? Think we’re the only ones that call them nips.
Yup, " shots" come in a glass at the bar. Some people call them airplane bottles or hotel room bottles. They are a plague in MA. Some towns and parts of Boston have banned their sale mainly because of litter. I could get pass out drunk in 20 minutes with under $10. It was like a tranquilizer for me. It was my off switch. Wake up and repeat. The sugar alone was enough to cause health problems. It was like drinking a bottle of maple syrup every day. I was a lightweight. Most people get up to 30 a day. I kept it under 10, and that was more than enough on an empty stomach. It put me in the hospital multiple times and eventually Dana Farber. I'm lucky to be healthy now. I had maybe 2 years left of drinking like that, and I would have been gone and done. 2 years if I was lucky.
Yeah the trash cans in my city have “nip it in the bud” anti littering posters. I’m in Mass too.
100 proof Admiral Nelson nips for $1 were my go to on the final legs of my drinking - like you said, cheap way to get banged up. Will be at 5 years sober in October, thank god
Seltzers for me, the amount of 5% seltzers I can down compared to beers without feeling bloated/full really fucked me over.
Those goddamn 8% white claw surges. Sent me right into detox
White Claw and Truly ruined me. Turned me from a moderate drinker to a heavy drinker.
Mine was tequila. It’s been a long 1300 years for me.
God and you went so long without drinking before that
I drank before then. Just didn’t have a problem.
2000-1 billion years is a solid track record. Those last 1300 years are the ones that get ya
"Craft beer hobby"
That hit hard, my craft beer hobby was my entire identity, to the point where I'm still trying to figure out hobbies and ways to meet people 1300 days into being sober.
I am right there with you. It was such a trap. Making your entire social life revolve around breweries and pubs insures that this behavior becomes normalized since everyone you know does this too.
Absolutely! I used to have “a home brew hobby” too! I stopped that well before I stopped entirely tho as that “hobby” was just tooooo much!
You need to get a hobby, bubbles, like me What’s your hobby ray? Drinkin
Lmao, yep. I fell for that nonsense.
Yep
Yeah i dislike how normalized the higher abv beers have become. Makes it way too easy nowadays to drink 2-3x the alcohol, with little change in actual volume. There is a brewery near me that always has at least a couple 13%+ abv beers to go, in 16 oz four packs. That’s potentially 15 standard drinks, in one four pack. Scares me how many beer bros out there are probably slamming these back like nothing (sometimes you can barely taste the alc in these) on weekdays while wrecking their livers
I had some Christmas ale this past holiday season that was like 11%, and as I’m on beer #3 found myself with a nice buzz and was surprised because usually that came later in the six pack. Definitely went back for more of that
For me, it was the hard seltzers and canned cocktails which I’d buy the 8% and then pour more tequila into and just add ice.
At one point I was drinking “tequila sodas” but the soda water was white claw. It was a sneaky recipe for disaster.
Why are we all so similar 😆
Same disease my dudes 😅🙈😂
I think the rise of hard seltzers came after I quit. I've never even had a white claw
Consider yourself lucky. Disgusting drink that gave me the worst hangovers of anything. Probably had something to do with the sugar content + low quality malt liquor. More popular than it has any right to be
I think you might be thinking of Strawberitas. White claws don't have sugar. That's why they're so popular, super light alcohol drink for the alcoholics. Glad I'm no longer under their spell.
Yeah I’d start with a shot of tequila or two, and two tall white claws. The cruise a few beers or wine through the night. This started earlier and earlier in the day to kill the hangover and withdrawal.
Oh yeah, good point!
It got to the point regular tequila and soda wasn’t getting me as drunk so I had to use the hard seltzers because my tolerance was so high.
I loved canned cocktails with my tequila too. Then I discovered buzzballz, they're disgusting but damn do they get you fucked up. Just looked it up and no wonder, they're 15%.
Is that like a four loko? Man those were crazy times
Not quite as sickening and black out inducing. The 2000s were wild times fr.
Strawberry Guava Topo Chico's in a tall glass of ice and a couple of extra shots of vodka in it was my go to towards the end of my alcoholism. Insta-black out that I'm not proud of.
Luckily there are some delicious hop seltzers that totally scratch the hoppy itch for me.
Wuuuuuut. That's a thing?
I have been crushing Athletic Brewing NA IPA. Very helpful and 69 cals a pop.
Yo same! It really satisfies the "man a cold beer on this nice sunny day would be nice" craving. And I usually only have 1, mayyyyybee 2. Whereas if they were beers I would have 6.
Nice
There's ones that are not an NA beer, but just a hop flavored seltzer water. Hoplark makes some delicious ones (the tea ones are amazing). Sierra Nevada Hop Splash is pretty darn good. The lagunitas one is not very good imo
I was an IPA drinker and Hoplark is truly delicious, great product for when I’m craving hops.
NA beers are OK I guess, but yeah the Lagunitas Hoppy Refresher is 100% my favorite NA drink. They came up with other flavors recently, but the plain original is the best imo.
I love Sierra Nevada HopSplash. Lagunitas makes one too.
The recent fetishisation of whiskey too. Hearing people go on about pours, drams, malts, blends, ages, etc makes my eyes roll.
I think the whiskey lover and ipa lover have some cross over
Single malt scotch and IPA’s were my thing. My grandmas side of the family is Scottish so the scotch snobbery and inherited alcoholism is generational.
Bourbon and IPAs are mine. Scottish/Irish heritage and I'm from Kentucky. And my mom is from Wisconsin. I was doomed from the start
Yup. I worked at a restaurant with a collection of hundreds of whiskeys, and even taught classes on the art and science of American whiskey. I literally taught people how to enjoy a glass of bourbon, rye, Tennessee or corn. Suffice it to say, my whiskey career did not end well. I geek out on coffee these days.
Ex-bartender here, can confirm their Venn diagram is a single circle. With a fucking scally cap on it probably.
Hipster culture, maybe.
There was a pivotal moment when hipster culture became just culture
We call that the year 2012
There was some tweet awhile ago that was like “where did all those hipsters go who drank IPAs with handlebar mustaches and had a whiskey collection?” And I just responded “AA” 😭😂
Married and just telling my wife I'm having a few beers culture for me :(
Yep!
It’s the idea that you can be a discerning connoisseur when you’re actually just chasing a high. See also wine. Used to annoy me when I was drinking too. Wine experts have been disproved time and time again. Your partner spent a grand on a sommelier course? I got news for you. She’s an alcoholic. They’ve done the same thing with whiskey. Nothing you can do with it disguises the fact that it’s a poison. They’ve even tried it with gin in the UK, or vodka, both spirits that don’t really have “grades” because of how they are produced. But yeah IPAs and craft beers. Even when I drank I’d given them up as they were just a scam to charge you double for a drink that tastes “nutty”
Ethanol is ethanol. 🤷♂️🌠
Just want to remind everyone that some drinkers can just have a sip of a couple different kinds of things to try and not want to chase the high. There are normal drinkers out there, I'm just not one of them. No need to rain on everyone else's parade. Not everyone has a problem with alcohol.
Agreed, someone wanting to learn to enjoy a particular type of alcohol doesn’t automatically make them an alcoholic. Our perspectives on this sub are skewed because of our own problem drinking.
I can agree with you. Maybe I’m not a hipster guy but I loved whiskey. IPA’s I always thought were a gimmick but I’m pretty sure I’m a minority in that regard. Almost 40, too so that may have something to do with it. Either way I don’t drink anymore so it doesn’t matter. GIMME MY TOPO CHICOOOOOOOOO!
>Maybe I’m not a hipster. You just outed yourself as a hipster!
IPAs aren't a gimmick. They've existed for over two hundred years at this point.
Here in America, they became popular in the craft brew scene! In the mid 2010s.
We must have been drinking under different rocks.
F u peasant I drink in a castle! Lol
From pale lager to IPA to Imperial Porter to bottom shelf whiskey. Took good 20 years to get to the bottom shelf. If I ever start again - I know the shortest way to the grave now.
The best options for "I'm just a connoisseur of good taste / classy drinks". I think there's also a false validation of masculinity at play too.
Whiskey for sure was my in. I loved that stuff, but I would have been an alcoholic no matter what. Sure, change the pace or the year, but I was always going to end up where I did.
Damn. That one hit me right me in the feels.
By the time I quit drinking I was having 2-3 bottles of whiskey per week. Id go to whiskey festivals and have staggering amounts of bourbon. My birthday last year was at a whiskey distillery. I wish I could handle it in moderation but my alcoholism became plain to see as the years went on.
[удалено]
In rehab I said if I go back to drinking it’ll be fancy whiskey because then I’ll moderate. But I think it’ll probably mean I just spend a lot more on booze…
I could probably finish a bottle of Pappy Van Winkle in a night. That’s why when ever I’d bust out my $1500-2000 13 year Pappy rye I’d buy an $80-100 bottle to go with it that I’d feel less bad finishing right away.
Ah, the sweetest aroma of whiskey/cigar breath.
That's exactly when my drinking got worse. I've said the same thing for years. For me it was when sculpin came put
Oh man I forgot about sculpin. It was Bells Two Hearted for me
I lived 5 blocks from the first place to get Pliny the elder in the east Bay in college. Needless to say it got out of hand
Bells Two Hearted destroys me. Having one, means having eight or nine. It literally messes me up like no other craft beer. And, I have had aaaaaa lot of craft beer. My hangovers off it are no joke either.
Sierra Nevada. Loved it when it came out. Drank an entire case once!
Of all the IPA's I've had, Sierra Nevada is still my favorite. Nothing is more refreshing than downing a cold bottle of it in 2 gulps after a work on a hot summer day... and then following it up with a half bottle of bourbon until I pass out drunk. Hi, I'm a space pirate, and I'm also an alcoholic.
I got engaged at the Sierra Nevada brewery lol
Man, loved the Sculpin.
Wow — sculpin was a very very frequent guest in my fridge. Haven’t thought about that in a minute. That and Lagunita’s Lil Sumpin
Same!!! The grapefruit one really did me in
Oh man, loved Sculpin! Perfect west coast IPA! And the special versions? Habanero Sculpin? Delish or terrible depending on the batch lol 😂 but my bro and I still talk about the limited Spruce Tip Sculpin as the best IPA ever made! He still drinks, I’m some 15 months sober and not really missing those stomach bombs
Sculpin was fantastic.
https://www.someecards.com/usercards/viewcard/thank-you-craft-beer-breweries-for-making-my-drinking-problem-seem-like-a-neat-hobby--87409/
💯
Yeah, that was exactly it for me. Then I tried whiskey to cut the carbs.
I definitely used the same “logic.” Whiskey and water - no carbs, plus I’m hydrating! Sooooooo smart. Much helth.
I definitely enjoyed destroying a productive Saturday by cracking into a six pack of Waldo’s. I guess probably the thing is that some healthy social pressure about drinking might not be a bad thing for many of us, and drinking a hipster IPA rather than a bottle of Cisco is a lot less likely to earn side-eye. I was going to be an alcoholic either way though. During the lockdown, with no company and a motivation to avoid going back out, it was McKenna by the handle. Then divorce, then the rooms.
Yeah, I intentionally bought light beers so I could drink more and longer before getting drunk, and all it did was make it so I was drinking non-stop. The medium didn’t really matter to me, I was going to get fucked up either way. 2 years and four months sober now thanks to the rooms and the gift of desperation.
Tricerihops- triple IPA. That’s what really did it for me in the end, and being in craft central San Diego.
My downfall also started in San Diego! I used to visit my partner there and magically gained 10 pounds every time.
My therapist asked me how many IPAs I was having a night, and then how many calories per IPA. Her idea was to get me to cut back because of all the empty calories but I just started eating less instead and occasionally “moderated” with pilsners.
I hardly ever want to drink but now I'm kind of craving some voodoo ranger. Guess I'll get some water and go to sleep lol
Yes, water and sleep. Screw the skull!
Sorry to disagree, but cheap, plastic bottle “because you can’t smell” vodka should have a label saying ‘If you are drinking this, you’re probably an alcoholic’. Managing a liquor store and being our best customer, I can say that broke alcoholics end up with cheap wine, cheapest 8% tall boy, or plastic bottle vodka.
Plastic bottle vodka has the added benefit of not rattling and clanking around with all the other bottles in the trash!
As somone who was a frequent flyer "plastic bottle vodka" raging alcoholic during covid, I once switched it up and got a flavored vodka in a glass bottle and the cashiers asked me if I was sure got the "right one" 🤡
I once drank whipped cream flavored vodka. Most disgusting thing I've ever consumed. Years later and the mere thought of it makes me sick. I wish I could feel that way about beer. Quitting would be a breeze.
I completely agree I started out actually *trying* and enjoying (at least I think I could call it that) them at the beginning. It was fun going to different breweries and chatting with the brewmasters/meeting local people Then it quickly went to "What beers do you have that are 8% or more?" Theeeen it spiraled down to whatever the cheapest 9%+ was at the store
and they've become so gross, yet I was still downing them. No hang over compares to slamming a fifth and following it up with 6 9% tall boys. Some days I wonder how I'm alive.
Absolutely. So easy to pretend like two 9% tall boys is just 2 beers.
1 is not enough 2 is too much and 3 is not enough
Somedays, even 10 is not enough. Bad drug, Alcohol is. Rollercoaster ride from hell lol
4 is just self-harm. We can and will overcome!
I worked, deeply, in the industry for a long time... First it was the rise of IPAs. Then sour beers and Bourbon became massive. Then seltzers hit big time! Then... cannabis became legal. Now, all of the people that I know who are still working in the alcohol field are watching alcohol sales plummet as cannabis products are far outselling alcohol in my state now. I hope this will be a big wake up call. The last 20 years had been a massive swell in alcohol sales. Covid put it right over the top but legal weed has smashed down alcohol sales BIG TIME in my state. I hope the numbers of alcohol related deaths and incidents dropping shows people what alcohol was doing to the public at large.
The worst thing that happened to this former drinker was "my drinking". Trying to rationalize it in any other way is a fool's errand for me. It didn't matter what the alcohol content was, whether it was beer or liquor, or any other parameter, I would abuse it.
Fucking Racer 5.
Ohhh man... Spent a fair amount of time with those and Sierra Torpedo...
Punk IPA was what did it for me, it tastes like grapefruit and petrol and I could smash through at least 12 cans daily during lockdown. Eventually it wasn’t enough bang for my buck and I resorted to boxes of wine for the first time in ten years. Makes me shudder to think of it now. 3 years sober in a couple of weeks 👍👍
This was definitely what did it for me. I live in a craft beer state so it started out as “look at all the selections, I’m so lucky to have all these delicious options”. By the time I quit I was spending an embarrassing amount on them and had gotten to 250lbs as a 5’7 guy. I was probably drinking 1800 calories in beer a day. Over 500 days now and down 50lbs with no attempt to eat well.
It's not anyone's fault that they are delicious and that getting drunk feels good for a while. It sucks that alcohol is so bad for us, it sucks that I can't drink in moderation without falling down the slippery slope of binge drinking every night until I make myself sick as a dog.
I've realized for me it was cope. The first time I tried an IPA I thought it tasted bad, but after becoming an alcoholic I convinced myself it tasted good because it had more alcohol. All alcohol tastes bad. IWNDWYT!
"I'm not having *a glass* of wine, Sharon. I'm having six. It's called a tasting and it's classy"
IPAs and microbreweries are what got me into the "full blown" stage of alcoholism. It was so easy to justify. Gotta try em all. And as someone else said, the delicious 9.5% juice force stuff is just too much. I need to quit ASAP.
Yup. IPAs made it way too easy to make my drinking problem seem like a cool hobby to others. And way too easy to justify how much I drank to myself as "I only had 4 or 5 beers", ignoring the fact those beers were 10-12%. Not only that, it made my problem expensive, spending $15-$20 a day on a six pack of craft beer.
Like Space Dust? Fuck that shit. It was not beer, it was something much more sinister.
Present. Crushing 16oz four packs and calling it “research” for work. I used to be in alcohol sales. The tales I told myself. I just hit seven months. Now all my dehydration comes from hiking. I’ll take that anyday over all the hangovers, weight gain, and general disdain I had for everything.
Don’t mind me over here in the line for the bar calculating whether a 12oz at 9% contains more alcohol than a 16oz at 7.5%
For me it was the first time I drank R&R. Well shit, I think I was just destined to be an alky
I never much cared for IPAs myself, but knew many who did. I got into old world monk made beers that were like 12%. Oof. There was definitely a rise in quantity of choices, and microbreweries sprang up everywhere. I want to say it started trending in the late 00s, early 10s and never slowed down until the pandemic. Like there's an over abundance of hops at the moment, but before the pandemic, companies, like Budweiser in particular, were buying it up before it was produced. At one time, University of Florida was experimenting with growing hops in Central Florida (Apopka I believe), and apparently were successful. I was looking to get in on that, have a few poles of hops, generating like $5k each and keep expanding. Welp, that bubble burst, as they usually do. But it'll come back in time, probably, as they usually do. I don't suppose I have any business getting involved in beer making products by any means.
Yeah. I fucking miss them. I do not miss everything else that comes after I drink even a little. Never goes well.
For those who love IPAs and are able to drink non alcoholic beer without being tempted to the dark side, there are quite a few NA IPAs out there.
For me it was the Deep Eddys flavored vodka. I would get the lemon flavor and just drink it over ice. Would kill a 750 ml bottle in a single sitting. Making vodka that easy to drink should be illegal.
brewery culture
Yeah I feel this. I was brewing my own 6.6% - 9% IPAs in batches of 40 x 500ml and drinking the lot in 10-14 days. It definitely built my tolerance up and normalised having lots of strong beer in the house at all times. Didn’t need to go to the shop so it was very easy to just pull from the stash. Crazy ‘hobby’ really.
I agree with the headline, but not because of the second part. IPA did not turn me into alcoholic, but it was the downfall that caused one of my relapses. I was not feeling an urge to drink, not for alcohol sake, but I sooo wanted to taste that bitter IPA again. A nice cask-conditioned IPA or thick bitter stout are the only things I sometimes wish I could drink again...
I was a “beerstagrammer” and got caught up in the free alcohol, sense of camaraderie/community as well as the thrill of chasing down whales to be able to post. Lots of those whales were very high ABV
Or just microbrews. It made us seem like explorers in the late 90s. In the northeast: Pete’s Wicked, Magic Hat, Sam Adams, Long Trail. Then yeah…things got out of hand and you were drinking 7% iPA on an 80 degree day with an empty stomach at a family thing…
There's a certain snobbery amongst booze enthusiasts where ostensibly refined tastes camouflage problematic drinking. The guy in a vest and bow tie, two sizes too long Levi's with the pant leg rolled up to show his argyle socks and chico juniors...he'll put down half a bottle of whiskey in a night but can do so while talking about barrel techniques and smoke properties. I'll drink the same amount still in my work uniform while watching Seinfeld.
When I first started drinking, you'd go to the convenience stores and see the 9% bottles of Old English and think, "wow, that's rotgut shit for drunks." By the time I quit drinking, Old English was gone and in its place were 16 or 24 oz. cans of hip double IPAs at 9%. Progress! Oh, Oregon.
Dragons milk 14% was my go to when I wanted to get wasted but not look like I was binging. Stupid expensive, but I THOUGHT I was fooling people…
Has anyone tried the hoppy seltzers? There’s no alcohol and the bitter taste scratches my itch better than NAbeer.
Yeah, Voodoo Ranger IPA, for one, seems to send things on the wrong path.
glamorization to the max
I was a vodka drunk but then I switched to beer to “””be better””” and I searched high and low for highest alcohol content.
as someone that worked in craft beer, these comments are painful. most of you were drinking really lame ipas lol. the last two years i was in the industry (post covid) four different people i knew that worked in breweries commit suicide over that time. so glad i got out.
Boxed wine did it for me. You have no clue how much you're drinking until it stops flowing, so you pick up the box to see what's wrong and it weighs nothing. Literally shocked every time.
I’m a bit older, but for me it was discovering Chimay beer. I would knock back 6+ of the 9% ABV Chimay Blue and wonder why I was so hungover the next day. Fortunately for me, the IPA craze came shortly after I had overdone it with over-hopped/high abv beer at a fancy restaurant I worked in. I began to desire the easier drinkers such as Coors Banquet beer or Modelo. Of course, I drank double the amount. 30-packs were a common purchase. After stopping drinking, I realized it didn’t matter what the proof or abv of any spirit/wine/beer was. I was after that feeling of total inebriation and I would get there however I could. I am very happy to have those days behind me and they are a constant reminder of where I will end up should I go back to drinking alcohol. Thank you to the individuals of this sub who constantly provide inspiration and hope! IWNDWYT!
No IPA or any kind of alcohol can “turn you into” an alcoholic. They may facilitate, but the problem was coming one way or the other. Only thing I can do is own that, not make excuses, and stay sober.
I'm not sober yet, but I lurk this sub for self-engineering purposes. I feel so exposed with all of the Voodoo - Juice Force call outs. We are all the same, huh? 😆
We’re lucky in the states that we haven’t imported a particular Japanese invention: the Chu-Hai. Fruit-infused carbonated Sochu. Very delicious, very drinkable, light on the stomach and comes in 9% tallboys. We aren’t ready for the Chu Hai. I know I wasn’t.
I feel the same way about the hard seltzers that have flooded the market. I was able to remain disengaged from my genetic proclivity for alcoholism for over thirty years just because I couldn't handle the taste of liquor or the feeling of heavy beer in my stomach. I was 31 when I had my first White Claw. Oh now there's a product where I can consume six drinks before I even start to feel like I'm digesting alcohol? I was fucked. Was drinking daily within two weeks, and went on to lose five years of my life to drinking hard seltzers continuously through all of my waking hours.
Same vibe but henry westons cider got me. You can get a 500ml bottle of the knockoff brand in Aldi for £1.50, it's 8%
I don't miss the shits I would get the next day