Alcohol

My youngest son (28) died January 2021. It was from taking fentanyl. My wife and I have struggled with why. I'm glad that you posted this, as it helps make some sense of it all.
I always used to think of people with alcohol and drug problems as being people who were struggling in life, people who turned to drugs. I was wrong.
Brendan was the youngest of 4 boys. He was always different from the others, he was more outgoing, more self confident. He was very athletic, very intelligent, really fun to be around. The kind of person who believed he could do anything, and that his family and friends could do anything too. My father and I used to say that he was the son that would survive anything, no need to ever worry about him.
So what is it that makes people turn to drugs and alcohol? I just think that some of us are lucky, and others have these genes, traits, that make us susceptible.
I'm sorry for your loss and thank you for posting this. I don't drink much but as someone who's tying to model my behavior for my 10 year old son and 13 year old daughter I should just quit.
 
Just something to ponder:
How many poor souls are in prison or dead due to alcohol?
How many murders, rapes, thefts, manslaughters, wife abuses, infidelities, and assaults would not have happened if not for alcohol?
In comparison to the prohibition Era? I kid but not really.
 
Not particularly hunting related, but I graduated 8th grade with about 20 other boys. I graduated high school with about the same. Of guys in my class who I went to K-12th grade with, which were all mostly the same folks, 5 are dead. When I think about all the ones who came and went, it really pans out to be about 15-20% of the boys I went to grade/high school with, are gone. 4 of the 5 of those deaths related to alcohol. Other's I grew up with are still here, but have had relationships collapse due to the drug. I am not even 40.

Got the news today that another one of my friends who I hadn’t seen in a few years is in the ICU with organ failure.

Alcohol is strange. For many, me included, it is part of the lighter times in my life. It’s absolutely a part of fishing and hunting camp. It’s never been a problem beyond self-induced misery. But for others, it tears worlds apart, and even ends worlds, and 20 years ago I would’ve never predicted for whom this would be the case.

Obviously, society has seen that prohibition causes more harm than good, and I wouldn’t want it. But I could see myself 100 years ago in the 19-teens, without the foreknowledge of what prohibition would bring, thinking that the world would be a better place without alcohol.

I know it’s not really hunting related, but venues to anonymously muse on things with likeminded people are lacking, and HuntTalk is that place for me.
Thank you for bringing this up. I'm glad to see so many supportive folks here that have questioned their use of alcohol. I decided to do "Dry January" and Oh My Goodness what a difference it has made. It's now the end of February and I still haven't had a beer or glass of wine. I realize now how addictive it really is, though I never considered myself an alcoholic (maybe falsely). I sleep better, I no longer have leg cramps, I can ski further and feel stronger. I lost weight and save lots of $$$. I have a longer attention span (I think) and find satisfaction in a lot more of life in general. I do love beer though, so thanks everyone for recommendations on NA beer (if I can find it). Thanks again Nameless!
 
My youngest son (28) died January 2021. It was from taking fentanyl. My wife and I have struggled with why. I'm glad that you posted this, as it helps make some sense of it all.
I always used to think of people with alcohol and drug problems as being people who were struggling in life, people who turned to drugs. I was wrong.
Brendan was the youngest of 4 boys. He was always different from the others, he was more outgoing, more self confident. He was very athletic, very intelligent, really fun to be around. The kind of person who believed he could do anything, and that his family and friends could do anything too. My father and I used to say that he was the son that would survive anything, no need to ever worry about him.
So what is it that makes people turn to drugs and alcohol? I just think that some of us are lucky, and others have these genes, traits, that make us susceptible.
I believe the loss of a child is the most severe loss. My deepest condolences.
 
Here’s another of my NA alternatives. This one is really good, only downside is a 6 pack is pricey. Damn Wisconsinites

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I'm sorry for your loss and thank you for posting this. I don't drink much but as someone who's tying to model my behavior for my 10 year old son and 13 year old daughter I should just quit.
Good for you. As I said, after our first child my wife developed epilepsy and had to quit alcohol so I pretty much did too. Fast forward about a dozen years. We were over at her girlfriend's for Christmas dinner and I had a couple of beers. On the way home my late autistic son, our second kid, started crying in the back seat. "What's wrong, Wes?" "Dad is drunk and driving. I don't wanna get hurt." Of course I was far from drunk but the even moderately changed behavior was alien and alarming to him. Wife turned and with a smirk and a wink waved her finger at me. Naughty boy! I said nothing, pulled over, and let her drive. What could I say? Incidentally, a few Christmases later I was surprised when no booze was offered up at their dinner. Ward went dry and as far as I know he's still sober. If anyone ever needed to quit it was him. Glad he got out of the bottle before the worst. I suspect he was caught driving. Loss of license would have meant his job and that could have ended the marriage.
 
Its interesting how many still like the taste of beer even if it does not have alcohol.


How about another fermented drink.

Do any of you all drink kombucha? Have you tried hard kombucha?
 
Its interesting how many still like the taste of beer even if it does not have alcohol.


How about another fermented drink.

Do any of you all drink kombucha? Have you tried hard kombucha?
I like Kombucha. Good for occasional sips. Wouldn't recommend drinking mass quantities in a sitting, for certain you'll be behaving like a goose.🤣
 
It’s pretty wild how much it effects my sleep, even one beer a couple hours before bed screws up my sleep.
The sleep thing is very real for me as well. I either have to get wasted or not drink at all if I want to fall asleep easily. I mostly adhere to the latter but still allow the prior a few times a year.
 
I used to like to drink just about anything. I was young then. I even got drunk a few times, but not that often. I liked rum, whiskey (Jack Daniels) and scotch, Johnnie Walker Black. I never had a taste for scotch until one hot night in Guantanamo Bay Cuba when one of my buddies said “tonight you are going to learn to drink scotch “. It was 1968 and the Navy frowned on booze in the barracks, but there were twenty of us cooks in one little barracks, and we behaved and the base police looked the other way, so to speak. Some extra steak from the galley to them, helped our cause.
So Dave pulled a bottle of the old Black and White scotch with the two Scotty dogs on the label, out of his locker. We sat in his cubicle and he filled a glass with ice and scotch to the top and he said, “just sip this, for a while”. That night I learned to drink scotch.
I have a bottle of Johnnie Walker Black in my liquor cabinet, along with some other stuff. I have Budweiser in the refrigerator but only drink a few cans occasionally.
It appears that through the years that I have been lucky. The booze never got to me. I rarely ever in my 78 years ever really “needed“ a drink. I have had plenty of disease and sickness long time and short time in my life. I really feel sorry for those who need alcohol so much. I guess I’m lucky, now I really don’t miss it. What I miss more is all the good friends that I made in the Navy. We had good times.
 
Its interesting how many still like the taste of beer even if it does not have alcohol.


How about another fermented drink.

Do any of you all drink kombucha? Have you tried hard kombucha?

Yes to both, but my favorite ones are the ones with low alcohol content.
Dean’s Zesty Booch in Bozeman is top notch.
 
Yes to both, but my favorite ones are the ones with low alcohol content.
Dean’s Zesty Booch in Bozeman is top notch.
Nice.

I got hooked on it from a company from Ft Collins "Lifes a Booch" who comes up for the farmers market. They have "Boucha Babe" shirts and are quite attractive. So naturally I had to go investigate.

Feels good to drink something that is good for your digestive system.
 
I had a huge problem long ago and stopped drinking in 1996. I haven't had a drink since. I started drinking when I was 10 years old. The neighbors were classic Italians right from the old country and they had kids the same age as me and my brother as well as quite a few more. So we would go down and spend the day there and have lunch, well lunch always consisted of a small glass of wine. I liked it immensely.. I started drinking heavily in High school and continued on throughout my young adult life.

When my wife and I had our third son i had an epiphany that drinking a 6 pk and a pint of whiskey every day after work wasn't normal. There was some divine intervention in the midst of all of this and I was able to quit and even lose any desire to have a drink again since then.. I've seen how alcohol affected my family over the years in the storms of other lives. My maternal grandfather had drank him self to death at the ripe age of 44 and my maternal grandmother followed 2 years later at the ripe age of 41. It destroyed my mother and her siblings as they never really recovered from the trauma of that hole in their lives. Half became alcoholics themselves and the others became unbearable in their desire to try and control every aspect of their lives and those around them. Alcohol destroyed 2 generations of my family and very well could have destroyed mine. I have no desire to go back down that road.

Now I work with those who struggle with addictions giving hope and a path out of the affliction of dependency. Unfortunately it's a narrow path and far to many don't succeed in walking it well. However for those who do it's a path out of darkness. Life can and was meant to be lived without adulteration without the mask that many chose to wear.
 
Tennessee Whiskey and Shine are my drinks of choice. I have seen a lot of people go prompt stupid from not understanding moderation and fun. Most of them end up in a ditch or rolling down a steep mountain side. You can warn people all you want, they're gonna do what they want.

PS. Drunk ladies (chicks) tumbling down a 40 degree grass slope is hilarious...
 
Glad I’m not the only one who can’t sleep for sh*t after having even just a couple beers.

Starting to enjoy a good nights rest more than catching a buzz.

“I can still party” I tell my wife as I crack the second LaCroix of the evening. “Sure you can dear, sure you can.”
 
Glad I’m not the only one who can’t sleep for sh*t after having even just a couple beers.

Starting to enjoy a good nights rest more than catching a buzz.

“I can still party” I tell my wife as I crack the second LaCroix of the evening. “Sure you can dear, sure you can.”
I'm in the same boat. It used to frustrate me but I'm now confident it's a good thing. It's a lot easier to stay away from it when it causes such a problem. I see how much faster the guys that could "sleep it off" and keep hitting it are aging, its' not good.
 
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