Alcohol

[Dougfirtree]

What are your preferred kinds?

I just buy the Athletic brewery ones. I’m unsure of the names, but I’ve had the blue, orange and yellow packages; all good!

 

[MTelkHuntress]

I have a few family members who died due to alcohol and quite a few who have made extremely poor choices while drinking.
I was drilled from an early age to stay away from alcohol and I guess that could have gone either way but I don't drink. It is terribly sad to watch family that I care for deeply struggle with alcohol.

 

[Deleted member 52098]

I just buy the Athletic brewery ones. I’m unsure of the names, but I’ve had the blue, orange and yellow packages; all good!

Yellow (Golden) is my favorite. The orange (IPA) is good too. Can’t remember what the blue one is

 

[Nicoli7153]

Question for those with it in the family without creating a sequel to trading places do you think it is genetic or enviromental?? I have my opinion but am curious to what others think.

I believe there is a propensity or vulnerability to it and think it may very well be genetic. Very complicated issue

 

[Nick87]

I still love alcohol. Gosh i love whiskey. I love nothing more than sitting around a table with my family in a restaurant or at home having drinks and awaiting dinner. Truly one of my absolute greatest pleasures.

I think like a lot of things there is an element of family and upbringing that can help determine if alcohol is going to ruin your life or not. It can still happen to anybody, no doubt. But I think the statistics would point back towards certain family dynamics to some degree

I agree 110% with both of these paragraphs.

 

[Art Vandeley]

I have switched to mostly whiskey water as beer gives me a worse hangover nowadays

 

[rtraverdavis]

Question for those with it in the family without creating a sequel to trading places do you think it is genetic or enviromental?? I have my opinion but am curious to what others think.

Most definitely genetic. All the men on my dad’s side of the family are/were alcoholics. And now, all either sober or dead. My dad quit drinking before I was born, so I didn’t grow up with it in the house, but still found my way to it anyway. There are also epigenetic/environmental factors that can certainly play into it (think generational poverty) but just using my family as an example, my brother and I had a great, safe childhood yet alcoholism was still very much in both of us.

 

[Schaaf]

I’m named after my dad’s best friend that died in a drunk driving accident during their senior year. My grandpa was the Ambulance driver and an EMT in Wibaux at the time and was the one that pulled his son’s best friends body off the barbed wire fence after being ejected.

While I grew up with a dad that drank my entire life, I never once saw him have too many. That is a stance I have taken with my own children.

 

[Southern Elk]

I have a cousin who is 40 and has been on the liver transplant list for 3 years. I never knew you could drink yourself to death so young.

 

[Nick87]

my brother and I had a great, safe childhood yet alcoholism was still very much in both of us.

I feel ya, no harm but come 4 o'clock everyday. The household shutdown for beer thirty usually with x amount of people stopping by my dad's shop at the house anywhere from 2 to 10 people every night. It becomes normal. I'm the only child from mybdads first marriage where on my moms side It was nothing like that, they drank but only weekends/ special occasion and never much in front of us. It's funny because when I bring It up with my brother it's always "I'm having a couple beers" but its really not its 15 to 20 and its every night. It's funny when you grow up around that people who don't drink every night you think of as strange. I'm not bitching I had a great childhood and awesome parents. It's just funny how things become normal in your upbringing. If it weren't for having two families growing up I'd probably never question it..so silver lining in everything I guess. Sorry for the long wind phew.

 

[SAJ-99]

Yes, however, this isn’t a reality for many people—and it’s not a matter of willpower. When I was drinking, I had no off-switch, despite very much wanting to have one. Countless mornings I’d wake up, wondering what the hell happened and what had I done and I would swear to myself and God that I’d never do it again. Later that afternoon I’d be back at it. I couldn’t live with it, and I couldn’t live without it, and it was destroying my relationships, life, and soul.

There was a time when alcohol was fun. It cut out all the self-consciousness noise I constantly had buzzing inside of me. That was part of the attraction initially. But that phase didn’t last long, and l soon found I had a hard time doing anything without it, despite the turmoil it was creating. I tried moderating or quitting on my own many, many times, but always went back to it and it only got worse.

Then I joined a little secret society and, with the help of a higher power and a hell of a lot of painful work, I finally got (and have been able to stay) sober. If I keep doing what I’ve been doing, it’ll be 11 years in April. I can honestly say that it is the best decision I’ve ever made. All the good things in my life can directly attributed to sobriety.

Many people can moderate, but for those who cannot, there is a way out. It won’t be easy, but it’ll be worth it.

Thanks for the poignant thread, @Nameless Range.

I get it. Glad you were able to escape it. Just curious, have you found there are other things that you can't moderate on as well?

 

[Nick87]

I have switched to mostly whiskey water as beer gives me a worse hangover nowadays

Man, when I'm trying to lose weight whiskey and water gives me 10x the hangover as beer.

 

[FairWeather]

Ive always liked a good beer, typically the German styles. BUT, I’m finding I have an intolerance to most grains, though. 2 weeks ago my doctor ordered me to adopt a keto diet for the rest of my life to avoid the awful cramps/diarrhea, plus I’m increasingly becoming insulin resistant and therefore likely to become diabetic in the next few years if I keep consuming carbs (has happened to much of my family).

So, I have to leave beer behind. I can manage 1-2 light beers, but beyond that it’s trouble for me. These hard seltzers aren’t awful, but it’s also not the same. Guess my body’s telling me the time to party is over.

 

[hank4elk]

My dad drank. He dealt with his PTSD from WWII with it I would say.
I started down a dark path 5 years after getting back from Nam. I could drink and get up before sunrise and work and after drink...I quit in the spring of 1989. Cold.
Don't miss it a bit. Glad I made it.

 

[DWarcher]

What are your preferred kinds?

Athletic Brewing

 

[Ben Lamb]

Quit August 1st, 2019. Admitted to the hospital with alcohol-induced pancreatitis. My paternal grandfather crawled into a bottle after WW 2 to forget what he had seen & did. Dad was a heavy drinker as a younger guy and starting to go down that road as well, but mom pulled him out and he didn't drink much other than the odd glass of wine or a bottle of beer with the paving crew if it was a hot day and the work was done.

I've lost friends to it, I almost lost myself to it. Luckily I didn't have dependency issues but 35 years of hard living finally caught up to me. I used to pour a pint glass of bourbon after a day at the legislature. Weekends it was 5-6 double vodka tonics/bourbons in an evening. It was turning me into someone I really didn't like.

It took a year to be around alcohol again and not feel the pull or the sting of not being part of the party but now, I don't miss it at all. Even after 2 months in the capitol. Liquor is a wonderful gift to humanity. It tests our will, gives us pleasure and can be our downfall. I failed the test, so I'm dry. Happy for those who can keep it in check and zero judgement.

Thank god for heroin though.

 

[Nick87]

I get it. Glad you were able to escape it. Just curious, have you found there are other things that you can't moderate on as well?

Not directed at me but from a family of the same I totally do. Tobacco, alchohol, drugs (ive never used any type of drugs but definitely a family trend, certain foods, hunting (sounds dumb but I don't moderate much of anything it's either an obsession or a dead issue). Addictive personality.

 

[BackofBeyond]

Question for those with it in the family without creating a sequel to trading places do you think it is genetic or enviromental?? I have my opinion but am curious to what others think.

The answer is yes.

There’s elements of both that go along with it.

 

[338win]

I never knew how hard some people go when I was younger. When I got “bad” I was a 6 pack a day for a few months. I have military buddies who will drink a bottle of wild turkey or Tito’s every 1-2 days and I have watched them age 15-20 years in 10 years. Some people don’t know how to moderate it. Whiskey destroyed my cousin. Pills and heroin got the most where I’m from.

 

[SAJ-99]

I used to pour a pint glass of bourbon after a day at the legislature.

This is understandable.