Hoping on the wagon - giving the liver a rest- sage advice requested

[Caucasian Asian]

I qualify as an alcoholic.

While I don't get smashed or show up to work smelling like liquor, I would have 2-4 drinks(usually beer) a night. Didn't day drink very often, and most were started at dinner time. I lived that way for about 12 years. Drinking happened about 350 days a year.
Before that, I went through a drunk spell. Depressed, I drank heavily several days a week. Black outs were common, as well as a lot of driving under the influence. I was in a bad space. I got lucky and no one got hurt. That phase lasted about 6-8 months.
Then I cut back my drinking, and transitioned into my daily routine. Moving helped that.

Since I met my wife, her drinking habits increased to meet mine. I was not proud of that. So recently, I made the conscious effort to really cut back our drinking. Two or three a day has become two or three a week. No more "work lunches". No more beers after work before going home. Sure I miss it, but it really wasn't that hard to decline a beer for lunch. I just told people the truth. Nobody has judged me.

[4matic]

If you need a crutch get a medical bracelet. Doctors orders-it sucks. That's what I suggest to my colleagues that visit Asia and don't want to eat raw snake or some other mystery food. Special diet. Sorry.

[Name Redacted]

Timely thread. My current occupation makes it even more difficult to quit or even cut down but I've always gone through various phases of cutting down. Quit for two months a few years ago and went to the gym every day. Mainly to avoid depression while living in the midwest. It wasn't that hard then, but now it is just too damn accessible.

However, the wife and I are quitting for two weeks starting today. We'll see how that goes....

ETA the only beer in the fridge right now is a can of Rocky Mountain Oyster Stout that I found under the seat of my truck at the end of the summer. If I am desperate enough to crack that open I will know I have a problem and will immediately check into rehab.

[LHutz Esq]

Thanks for all the advices

I think the social friends and colleague issues will be minor. They won't have a problem - it will be more of my pablovian, habituated response to certain situations. I really, really, really enjoy my Friday scotch. I start craving around 3. So I think I will just have to find something to occupy my hands - like one of those de-alcoholized monstrosities 'Xer was talking about.

Client, work dinners will be a bit different. It is somewhat expected and it is an area where weakness (perceived or real) isn't universally accepted. I think this is changing but not quickly.

I think my overall strategy will be to follow X'ers plan - there is a 100k mtn bike race in August. I am going to start training for it. Get on the wagon as part of all the things I usually do to prepare for an event. I am also going to calculate my usual monthly alcohol spending - this amount is going to new gear at the end.

I really do appreciate the advice.

Also:
hoping vs hopping - I like the unintentional pun.
Getting Baked - many a friend tell me they can operate whilst they partake - I am not one of these people
Complete avoidance - I don't think my partners at work will let me get rid of the scotch collection just yet - and I am not liquidating (ha another one) the wine cellar just yet. It occurs that I have a lot of booze at my disposal.

Cheers All

[XXX-er]

Thanks for all the advices

I think the social friends and colleague issues will be minor. They won't have a problem - it will be more of my pablovian, habituated response to certain situations. I really, really, really enjoy my Friday scotch. I start craving around 3. So I think I will just have to find something to occupy my hands - like one of those de-alcoholized monstrosities 'Xer was talking about.

Client, work dinners will be a bit different. It is somewhat expected and it is an area where weakness (perceived or real) isn't universally accepted. I think this is changing but not quickly.



Cheers All

it really IS a pavlovian thing having that drink in yer hand and people will be expecting you to have something in your hand so just drink something/anything and the becks is really not so bad

I am pretty sure for a good tip the waiters at the 6 restaurants in this town will slide you alcohol free drinks on the sly

i undersand the environment and you really don't strike me as a problem drinker, but in any case not doing something you enjoy (like drinking good booze ) is such a downer a negative, its much more positive to go on to achieve something

good puns in there counselor!

[Cruiser]

If anybody asks why you're not having a glass at dinner then just casually tell them that you got all knackered last month and pulled some full on American psycho shit on an undeserving young lady scaring her for the rest of her life, so severely that her own mother sent you a letter in which she made a fairly compelling case for you being the devil incarnate and that you've decided to scale things back a touch in order to clear your mind enough to determine whether or not you were, in fact, adopted by the parents who raised your as their own.

[babybear]

If anybody asks why you're not having a glass at dinner then just casually tell them

that you are pregnant

[BmillsSkier]

If anybody asks why you're not having a glass at dinner then just casually tell them that you got all knackered last month and pulled some full on American psycho shit on an undeserving young lady scaring her for the rest of her life, so severely that her own mother sent you a letter in which she made a fairly compelling case for you being the devil incarnate and that you've decided to scale things back a touch in order to clear your mind enough to determine whether or not you were, in fact, adopted by the parents who raised your as their own.

That's some real Rev Floater quality shit. Bravo.

[RShea]

Is .5% alcohol allowed? If, no then select other things like soda pop, OJ and Club soda or tea. if yes, then there are some good Non-Alcohol beers out there (in my opinion though not O'Douls which was one of the first and seems to always be carried- but then I never liked many of the Bud products taste either).

[shafty85]

Just be honest - if people judge you, you probably don't need them in your life anyway.

joined a crossfit gym

Plus, you get to tell everyone you do crossfit.

[Cruiser]

That's some real Rev Floater quality shit. Bravo.

Right?

And then, when everyone at the table is sort of giving you that awkward deadpan stare, you seamlessly switch conversation topics by gently opening the top button on your suit jacket, removing the end of your tie from it, and beginning a brief discourse on the exceptionally high quality of the silk and purity of the design, remarking that the profusion of cheap generic polyester ties in, dare you say it, department stores is creating a society in which people who take things like premium, handmade neckties serious are no longer in the majority in our society. A sad commentary, you'll say with a solemn tone and a forlorn expression on your face, about the extent to which our society has fallen so far from the lofty heights it achieved back when bespoke suits and hand laid paper business cards were the rule and not the exception.

Seems unlikely, to me at least, that anyone'll give you too hard a time about not tipping a glass with them after that.

[Flounder]

If anyone questions why you aren't drinking the appropriate response is "I'm training for Alaska"

Good luck, I've totally changed my drinking due to medication. For the first couple of years I rarely had a drink. Now 10 years in I'll have a drink 2-3 times a week, but I'm also on half the meds that I was. Rarely do I have more than two drinks and I haven't been drunk in a decade. It's pretty easy when your life is on the line, and I couldn't care less what other what other people think. My friends completely understand and if anyone asks I usually just saying I'm trying to lose weight. Totally plausible in my case.

[LHutz Esq]

Right?

And then, when everyone at the table is sort of giving you that awkward deadpan stare, you seamlessly switch conversation topics by gently opening the top button on your suit jacket, removing the end of your tie from it, and beginning a brief discourse on the exceptionally high quality of the silk and purity of the design, remarking that the profusion of cheap generic polyester ties in, dare you say it, department stores is creating a society in which people who take things like premium, handmade neckties serious are no longer in the majority in our society. A sad commentary, you'll say with a solemn tone and a forlorn expression on your face, about the extent to which our society has fallen so far from the lofty heights it achieved back when bespoke suits and hand laid paper business cards were the rule and not the exception.

Seems unlikely, to me at least, that anyone'll give you too hard a time about not tipping a glass with them after that.

I like the way you think... and I am not sure I like that about myself.

[LHutz Esq]

Just be honest - if people judge you, you probably don't need them in your life anyway.



Plus, you get to tell everyone you do crossfit.

Unfortunately, I do need clients in my life as they help keep me in the lifestyle I wish to be accustomed to. The vast majority are amazing human beings - but if I discriminated based on douchiness I may have a much better work life - but I would be much poorer.

There is no way I am admitting to doing crossfit - I still have my dignity.

[LHutz Esq]

Is .5% alcohol allowed? If, no then select other things like soda pop, OJ and Club soda or tea. if yes, then there are some good Non-Alcohol beers out there (in my opinion though not O'Douls which was one of the first and seems to always be carried- but then I never liked many of the Bud products taste either).

I heard Becks was good - any recommendations?

[Cruiser]

My NA customers overwhelmingly prefer Clausthaler (sp?) to the other available options. That being said, you can't drink NA beer with a clean conscious. Nobody can. It's like fucking with all your clothes on man. You're unlikely to ever get off and if you do, by the grace of God, it's gonna be messy.

[abraham]

My NA customers overwhelmingly prefer Clausthaler (sp?) to the other available options. That being said, you can't drink NA beer with a clean conscious. Nobody can. It's like fucking with all your clothes on man. You're unlikely to ever get off and if you do, by the grace of God, it's gonna be messy.

When I was in Sweden and Denmark the mikkeller bars had some beers called Drinking in the snow/ drinking in the sun. 0.3% beers for designated drivers to have the taste without the booze. They were good too. Especially between sampling varieties of >12% stouts

[rather ripped]

"I'm allergic to it... I drink, I break out in handcuffs"

[RShea]

I heard Becks was good - any recommendations?

Buckler (Heineken), Molson Excel, Kaliber (Guinness), Labatts Blue, and surprisingly Genesee NA all taste pretty good to me. I guess it also depends on what type of regular beers taste good to you. If you like sweeter or more bitter or what.

And there are a few that are .05 percent or lower (Beck's Blue) and a few even .0% alcohol- Kirin Free (Japan) but doubt that you would run into the latter regularly out at a bar or restaurant (I never have that I can remember). Many bars will have 1 or 2 in my experience to offer and if it is 2 then 1 of them many times is O'Doul's.

[RShea]

When I was in Sweden and Denmark the mikkeller bars had some beers called Drinking in the snow/ drinking in the sun. 0.3% beers for designated drivers to have the taste without the booze. They were good too. Especially between sampling varieties of >12% stouts

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/style/5/ has a pretty complete listing of offerings world wide. One" Drinking in the Snow" on the list is .3%, many with "Sun" in their name- but many are 3% not .3%.

[abraham]

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/style/5/ has a pretty complete listing of offerings world wide. One" Drinking in the Snow" on the list, many with "Sun" in their name- but many are 3% not .3%.

This one? http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/13307/104692/

Says .3% but I could be wrong

[RShea]

This one? http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/13307/104692/

Says .3% but I could be wrong

No - there are a few with Sun in their name that are 3% and one with Snow is .3% that one has Snow in the name, like this "Sun" Euro brew http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/24299/98674/... So more like Utah beers of the past or other states that had Near Beers or "light" beers under the 5%

[FatKidFromFL]

I heard Becks was good - any recommendations?

St Pauli Girl N/A. It placed highly in a blind beer-tasting-party we had.

N/A Beer, or as my great-grandpa called it "Near-beer" (pronounced through the teeth, so as to prevent one's dentures from falling out).

[ghosthop]

Good luck, I took a month detox this January after binging for 3 weeks over the holidaze and realizing I needed to do something about my lifestyle. I was always open about the fact that I stopped because I thought I drank too much and was always supported by those around me. While I thought I had a good handle on things, the daily cravings certainly caught me off guard and didn't get better for about two weeks.

I had no problem going to bars and not drinking. To me, if I want to get drunk I can do that just as well and for cheaper at home, bars are for socializing. If I wanted to be social I would still go out, I never had a bar tender that wasn't happy to give me a water or club soda.

When going to parties or the like I would take a carton of grapefruit juice and drink out of a cup like everyone else, no one was ever the wiser. Plus it helps to make friends because it's such a great mixer.

IMO stopping drinking is something you do for yourself, it sounds like you're a successful dude and I would imagine have some perseverance, the rest should follow.