Do you drink?

[Jamisjockey]

Yep.  I enjoy a good beer (Microbrews usually).  I also enjoy the occasional Margarita or Hurricane.  And once in a great while (usually while fishing), its Rum &Dr. Pepper or on the rocks.

[bedlamite]

Once in a while I'll have a beer or two. Years ago on the way home from the bars I'm told I laid down on the sidewalk and asked campus cops to draw a chalk outline.

[glockfan.45]

Oh boy do I   , as far as I am concerned its always noon somewhere in the world. Dirty vodka martinis are my fave. I find Chopin vodka to be the best IMO nothing like real Polish potato vodka. I also enjoy a good glass of scotch from time to time either Johnnie Gold label or Blue label does it for me. If I am just loafing around the house any beer except for Busch or PBR works well enough. Hell I will drink anything except for Southern Comfort. When I was 15 me and some friends stole a fith of the 100 proof SoCo and I must have drank a third of the bottle to myself. Projectile vomited, passed out, and woke up every 15 minutes or so to puke. Once everything I had in me was spilled onto the ground I spent the rest of the night dry heaving. I tried SoCo mixed in a drink a few years later and about had an alergic reaction to it, even the smell of it to this day makes me nauseous.

Now days I stop drinking once I reach a good buzz. I no longer have any desire to get totally wasted when I go out. Laying in bed trying to stop the room from spinning just isnt fun anymore. Guess I'm just old now   .

[Cromlech]

Looking back it was blatently obvious that I was underage, but I was a paying customer. Still, I didn't get ID'd until I went to Edinburgh with a mate who looked about 15, I was 23 at the time.

When we got turned away from a pub, we would just go back to the gentleman's bar at the local comunity centre, where all the old dudes would hang out, and drink Murphy's, Whiskey, some Lager, and British Ales. We were both members at the club, even though we were 15/16. I just put my date of birth as 1982 on the form, rather than 1985.

[Mabs2]

Nope, not interested.
Every time I see someone drinking, even small amounts, I see things I don't want to go through.
Plus everything that has alcohol in it fscking stinks.

[Dannyboy]

I love beer.  Especially good beer.

[HankB]

My first experience with alcohol was at about age 4 - I was "helping" my father clean up the attic when the phone rang - he went down to answer it, and I discovered that his beer tasted much better than my soda, so I finished it.

I slept most of that afternoon.

Around 7th or 8th grade, my buddy and I made a still - the apple brandy we turned out was pretty good, but the potato vodka was terrible. We sold it to his older brother, who in turn sold it out of his locker to other guys at his (Catholic) high school. (His dad was a Chicago cop. )

High school brought the occasional beer - my buddy knew all the bars in Chicagoland that would serve minors, so we made the rounds of quite a few watering holes. More than once the rest of us ended up literally carrying him out of a bar or party. (BTW, he's now a commercial airline pilot.)

College was, well, college . . . but I can honestly say I never drove while drunk.

Nowadays, it's just an occasional beer or vodka & tonic or Southern Comfort . . . I don't have a real high tolerance for alcohol, and if I drink too much, I don't have to wait for the hangover until the next morning, I get it right away. 

(BTW, I never tried any "recreational" drugs other than alcohol. Period.)

[Ex-MA Hole]

I used to in large quantities.  Not any longer.  That said, I did consume enough during that time frame to cover me for my lifetime! 

[auschip]

I enjoy social drinking, and drinking while eating.  A beer and a burger on the weekend.  A good bourbon and a cigar in the evening.  A glass of wine complimenting a nice steak.  A nice bottle of wine on the back porch while reading a book on a spring day.  A Sauterne with seared fois gras. 

[mtnbkr]

I used to drink on a regular basis.  Not as a problem, just a beer here, wine there, etc.  I'd probably have 10 drinks a month.  When I went camping for a weekend, I'd take a 12pack or maybe even a case if it was going to be warm.  Nowadays, I drink very little, I go a month or more without a single drink.  I still take beer on my camping trips, but it's more like a 6pack for a weekend.  The only booze I have in the house right now is earmarked for recipes.

I started cutting back when I found out how much alcohol made my triglycerides go up.  Diabetes is a problem in my family and alcohol doesn't help that either.  My drinking was never to the point where it would contribute to health issues, but it was an easy thing to cut out, so I did.

Chris

[Laurent du Var]

I enjoy social drinking, and drinking while eating.  A beer and a burger on the weekend.  A good bourbon and a cigar in the evening.  A glass of wine complimenting a nice steak.  A nice bottle of wine on the back porch while reading a book on a spring day.  A Sauterne with seared fois gras. 

Where in France do you live ?

Sunday lunch in the South of France, same as in Italy, lasts three hours, starts with an apperitif, Pastis for men and a Martini for the Ladies, continues with different wines for the different plates there will be stinky cheese with Bordeaux of course,then on any given sunday there will be coffee (espresso) followed with  cognac ar armagnac and a little cigar and on special occasions there will be champagne with dessert before the liquor, and it is frowned upon to appear drunk after that because it is only lunch.

Most of the time I'm just happy to go straight to the beach afterwards or better have my wife who doesn't drink drive me there.
I tend to drink too much, but I think spending time with your family for three hours around a table is a good thing.

I changed my line of work two years ago but before that for ten years drinking belonged to my job on a daily basis     

I'm settled now and done with the chicas, but if it wasn't for drinking I think I would have to die alone since  not once during
my younger years I managed to, well, getting over the awkward
conversation  into the merging. I just couldn't do it, so I drank a lot and I scored some....  

[El Tejon]

I'm a Hoosier, beer is just liquid bread.

Too long in the tooth to drink.  Funny how responsibilities can limit your fun!  At 37, I think I average a beer a month.  I believe I had maybe 3 or 4 glasses of wine at nice dinners last year.

Have not hard any hard liquor since my 10 year high school reunion--Vodka Collins with Finlandia vodka was my drink.

I have a excellent selection of hard liquor and wine at my home.  It sits there and looks nice in the dining room.  

[Ezekiel]

I live walking distance from a micro-brewery in Kansas City.

I've walked home many times.

"Do the math." 

[280plus]

yes, there's nothing better than a bar that's within stumbling distance of home. 

That said, I rarely touch a drop these days. My wife's whole family likes to tip them back. They eye me suspiciously when I turn down all the shots and beers. They think I may be some kind of subversive. 

[RadioFreeSeaLab]

I drink, but not a lot.  I don't enjoy being drunk.

[RevDisk]

I'm drinking Momokawa sake right now, actually.

What variety?  I've tried the Diamond, but an really partial to the Pearl.

Great minds do drink alike, as they say.  Yep, it's Pearl.

If you like sake, I HIGHLY recommend Rihaku Dreamy Clouds Nigori. Best. Sake. EVER. Incredibly complex, too, it just makes everyone I've  given it to smile after a few sips really bring out the flavor. It's like liquid silk. Best served mildly chilled.

http://www.esake.com/Store/bin/US-lineup/Rihaku-Nigori-USA/rihaku-nigori-usa.html

Other than that, I occasionally enjoy a craft-brewed beer like a traditionally-made porter, oatmeal stout, or dark ale, especially the "caramel porter" varieties. None of the corn-adulterated cheap, evil-smelling domestic swill, ever. The smell of that stuff makes me ill.

Hrm.  Rihaku Nigori, eh?  I'll give it a try.  I'm sure a APS'er would never lead me astray when it comes to good sake.

Wines, only if they're sulfite-free, otherwise it gives me a pounding headache.

Bah, you mean some people do drink sulfite laced "wine"?

[valencia]

I've been drunk only once- but it lasted three days. We would get drunk in the evening, wake up drunk and just as it was wearing off by the next evening we would drink some more. At one point, I decided that i would have to go home eventually (this was in high school at a friend's house during a long weekend and i believe a "snow day"), which involved a drive, so i stopped. that was the one and only time i've been drunk (though i've been tipsy a few times), and it was enough for me. Kind of difficult to enjoy drinking when one is responsible for the lives of others 24/7.

[thebaldguy]

As I got older, the hangovers got worse. It sort of curbed my binge drinking very well.

[Sindawe]

As I got older, the hangovers got worse. It sort of curbed my binge drinking very well.

Ain't that the truth.  When I was in High School and early college, I could drink like a fish and the only ill effect the next morning would be slightly sore joints.  Now?  Forget about it.

Rihaku Dreamy Clouds Nigori.  I tried that one, but was not overly impressed.  Not bad, but not worth the price I paid for the bottle.  Nice color on the bottle though.

[Brad Johnson]

It sort of curbed my binge drinking very well.

I passed "sort of" years ago! 

It's no longer "Dude, I can do this all night!".  Now it's "Have a second one and call it quits."  I got stupid at my brother's b-day last year.  Never got out of control but I was definitely on the other side of the "tipsy" line.  Problem is we were there all afternoon and most of the night.  I ended up consuming more beer than any human has a right to. 2 beers an hour doesn't sound like much until you realize it's three in the morning.  And you got there at noon the day before.

It took three days to start feeling normal again.  That's enough for me, thanks.

Brad

[Lee]

Yes, but not to excess anymore...just can't handle the after-effects.  I have a beer, or sip a small tumbler of liquor, almost every night.  I love red wine to, but my stomach doesn't...so I rarely drink the the stuff. I have to admit, I do enjoy getting tipsy when my work and family schedules allow for it. 

My Favorite Jimmy Buffet song

God's Own Drunk
By: Lord Buckley
1974
"Well, like I explained to y'all before I ain't no drinkin' man. I tried it once, and it got me highly irregular and I swore I'd never do it again. But I promised my brother-in-law that I'd go up and watch his still while he went into town to vote.

It was up there on the mountain where the map said it would be. Friends let me tell you one thing though, it wadn't no ordinary still. It stood up that mountainside like... like a huge golden opal.

God's yellar moon was a' shinin' on the cool clear evenin', God's little lanterns just a' twinklin' on and off in the heavens and, like I explained to you once before, I ain't no drinkin' man, But, temptation got the best of me, and I took a slash... (wshew!... woah...) That yellar whiskey runnin' down my throat like honeydew vine water, and I took another slash. Took another and another and another. 'fore you knew it I'd downed one whole jug o' that *expletive deleted*it and commenced to get hot flashes.

Goosepimples was runnin' up and down my body and a feelin' came over me like, somethin' I'd never experienced before, It's like, like I was in love,

("why don't we have a little love Mike [Utley]")

In love for the first time, with anything that moved... animate, in-animate it didn't matter. It's like there's a great neon sign flashin' on and off in my brain sayin, "Jimmy Buffett there' a great day a comin'..." 'Cause I was drunk.

Now I wadn't, uh, knee-crawlin', slip-slidin', reggy-youngin', commode-huggin' drunk, I was God's own drunk, and a fearless man; And that's when I first saw the bear.

He was a Kodiak lookin' fella 'bout 19 feet tall he rambled up over the hill 'spectin' me to do one of two things: flip or fly, I didn't do either one. It hung him up. He starts sniffin' 'round my body tryin' to smell fear, but he ain't gonna smell no fear, 'cause I'm God's own drunk and a fearless man. It hung him up. He looked me right in my eyes and my eyes was a lot redder than his was. It hung him up.

So I approached him and I said, "Mr. Bear, I love every hair on your 27 acre body. I know you got a lotta friends over there on the other side of the hill. There's ole' Rear Bear, Tall Bear, Freddy Bear, Kelly Jair, Relly Bear, Smelly the Bear, Smokey the Bear, Pokey the Bear; I want you to go back over there tonight and tell 'em I'm feelin' right. You tell 'em I love each and every one of 'em like a brother and a sister; but if they give me any trouble tonight, I'm gonna run every Goddamned one of 'em off the hill."

He took two steps backwards and didn't know what to think. Neither did I, but, being charitable and cautious, well hell, I approached him again. I said, "Mr. Bear, you know in the eyes of the Lord, we're both beasts when it comes right down to it. So I want you to be my buddy, 'Buddy Bear.'" So I took ole' Buddy Bear by his island sized paw and I led him over to the still. Now he's a' sniffin' around that thing 'cause he's smellin' somethin' good. I gave him one of them jugs of honeydew vine water, he downed it upright, (looked like one of them damn bears in the circus sippin' sasparilly in the moonlight.) I gave him another and another and another 'fore I knew it, he'd downed eight of 'em and commenced to do the "bear dance." Two sniffs, a snort, a fly, a turn and a grunt; and it was so simple like the jitterbug it plumb evaded me.

And we worked ourselves into a tumultuous uproar and I's awful tired, went over to the hillside, and I laid down, went to sleep, slept for four hours, and dreamt me some tremulous dreams And when I woke up, Oh, there was God's yellar moon a' shinin' on the clear cool evenin'. And God's little lanterns just a' twinklin' on and off in the heavens, And my buddy the bear was a' missin'... yeah, you want to know somethin' else friends and neighbors, so was that still.

-- Spoken:
"That's a take. Wait, could uh.....you missed it?"

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

Many of my high school friends were of German Lutheran ancestry.  Man, those guys could drink.  The kids, the parents, the siblings, the elderly infirm grandparents, ALL of 'em drank like fishes.  "Milk and cookies", they'd say.  "Milk" meant anything brewed, and "cookies" meant anything distilled.  I never drank much myself, and they thought that was freakish.  Nevermind that I was 16 or 18 at the time, as were their own children.

[Matthew Carberry]

I'm not a drunk, I just drink all this liquor to wash down the Vicodin.

[cosine]

I don't drink. I had the occasional taste of beer or wine from my dad or grandpa when I was a kid, but never found the taste of alcohol appealing. When I turn 21 I'll probably try a few drinks, just to see if age changes one's perception in any way.

[Gewehr98]

I used to have one every now and then, but it consisted of some of the finer things, like single malt or pure pot still (Red Breast) whiskey, neat, and usually just one shot glass at home before bedtime.

I lost a brother to a drunk driver.

I have a 110lb stepson who cannot understand that he doesn't need to down 4 MGD or Rolling Rocks each weeknight, and then give his mom $hit because she's trying to get him up and dressed for work by 7:30 AM. He also camps out at the local watering hole, then calls us at midnight:30, two hours after we've called it a night, because he's totally $hitfaced and wants us to pick him up, the cabs quit running at 11:00 PM.  I about burst a vein in my forehead a week ago when it was 17 below zero ambient and he called at 1:00 AM.  I almost wanted him to try walking home.

He drove home drunk a couple months ago, showed no remorse when his mother and I caught him, and at that point I basically wrote him out of my will.

Kinda ruins the whole "having a drink" experience, so I just plain don't do it. I can live without it, compared to others.