Why do we drink ?

[gyro]

Alcohol, I mean.

Personally, I enjoy drinking and getting drunk. I'm not bad tempered or aggressive when pissed; quite the reverse. I like the social side of it, and the buzz it gives. I also enjoy a drink at home too.

Thing is, there are many people that look down at drinking and getting a little more than tipsy, and they are not always teetotal. Those that state they "don't like the feeling of not being in control", will enjoy a glass or two of something alcohol.

Thing is, why ? What does it do that any other nice flavoured, non-alcoholic drink doesn't ? There is the commonly held view that a drink can relax you, and I think to a reasonable extent this is true, but when you actually REALLY look at it, I can't find too many reasons why a lot of people drink alcohol compared to anything else.

(obviously, I'm not talking about those that are addicted, or simnply drink themselves to oblivion regularly. That is something - or many things - completely different)

[Deleted]

I don't drink at all. I don't like the taste of it, or how it makes me feel. But if someone else wants to drink that's up to them.

[hwinpp]

I drink for all the same reasons as you, Gyro.

One reason the people here drink, not found that much in the West, is competitiveness. It unnerves me a bit when I'm invited to a wedding and all the male guests are completely pissed by 10pm. Or I arrive at a party a bit later and half the hard booze is gone.

[bixaorellana]

Interesting questions posed in the OP. I admit I like going to a party and feeling the psychologically loosening effect of a couple of beers or more. But I can also see how the opportunity to drink some every day could turn into a unhealthy habit for me.

Putting aside the issue of actual addiction, another question is when alcohol becomes enough of a habit that it might create changes in personality. I think sometimes these changes are so gradual that the casual drinker doesn't realize he's being affected. It could be something like irritability or anxiety when he can't have a drink. I hope someone who knows more about this than I can expound on this some more. Drinking is so much a part of most cultures that you have to wonder how many personality traits might be effects of drinking, or being deprived of a habitual drink.

[gyro]

Deyana; it's not a judegmental question, because aside from 'preaching', I don't care what people prefer to do in that respect. It just strikes me that those there doesn't seem a valid 'reason' (for want of a better word) for those who have the occasional drink, or only ever a small amount. It's not going to affect them hardly at all, so I just wonder WHY choose alcohol ?

[Deleted]

I have come across maybe 4 people in my life who have a completely different personality when they are drunk -- an absolute Jekyll and Hyde transformation. That makes me wonder why they drink -- do they wish to be a totally different person?

[gyro]

Yes; it's a mystery to me too. Also, there are some that change like that ONLY when they drink say, for example, whisky. If that were me it would be VERY simple : I wouldn't drink whisky.

I would also say that - and I'm sure you'll think me paranoid or something - that a person who drinks a beer or two EVERY night would be regarded in a more negative 'regular drinker' way (that term being used in a 'problem' sort of attitude) than somebody that drinks the same number of wines every night. Culturally speaking, people all too often regard wine as more 'sophisticated' than anything else and are less quick to make ridiculous assumptive judgements in that way.

[bixaorellana]

Yeah -- good point about the wine, that somehow it's more civilized or something. Actually, if I remember correctly from driver's tests, there is more alcohol in a 4 ounce glass of wine than in a 12 ounce bottle of beer.

But do you think that two beers maximum or two glasses of wine every night, presumably over a period of at least a couple of hours, would generally be seen as over-consumption of alchohol?

[Deleted]

There are parts of France, like Alsace and Lorraine, or the Calais-Lille area, that often prefer beer to wine. I don't think there is any difference about how people look upon one or the other. The main thing that I have noticed is that French women NOT from northeast France automatically say "I don't like beer" even if they have never tasted it. If they are from northeast France, they'll have a beer just like the menfolk.

(Note: my origins are from northeast France also, and I probably drink more beer than wine.)

[gyro]

What term is used for the vino equivalent of a lager lout then ?

[bixaorellana]

lager lout = someone who gets drunk on beer all the time?

In the US, skid row derelicts are called winos. Is that the same in the UK?

[gyro]

No, wino is more a description of a down and out / bum / tramp pisshead sort of thing.

A lager lout is somebody that gets pissed on beer (lager, obv.) and causes trouble, or acts like an idiot. My point was that I have not heard of an applicable term for somebody that does it on wine, and there are PLENTY (many of them in suits...)

[bixaorellana]

It seems to me that all of the people I've ever known whose habitual drunkeness was based on wine were women. Maybe women start out with wine because it seems more socially acceptable and is served in pretty glasses, so not something to be swilled.

[bjd]

I'm not much of a drinker in general. I don't like the taste of most hard liquors. I do drink wine with meals in a restaurant or in company, and just sometimes at home, but mostly not. And I do drink beer in the summer, or with certain dishes.

In general French beer is not very good, but I drank beer in Eastern Europe or Belgium. I buy Belgian beer for at home.

[gyro]

Yes, the French should stick to wine. Aside from Kronenbourg, although I think they would prefer to be called Alsatians .. ?

So, in summary, thus far, nobody can answer the OP. As I thought; 'tis a tricky one.

[Deleted]

Kronenbourg is now British owned. Actually, until Heineken bought breweries all over Europe and started flooding the market with that stuff, Kronenbourg was the biggest selling beer in Europe, precisely because the French are NOT big beer drinkers -- they don't really care what it tastes like. France only has a few big beer brands, whereas the 'beer countries' had a lot more variety but smaller sales of each one. Globalization is now changing everything.

[gyro]

"the 'beer countries' had a lot more variety but smaller sales of each one"

Best way. Anyway, back to the OP .....

[Deleted]

[gyro]

Best thing you've ever said .....

[Deleted]

Gyro, the main reason I don't drink is because I lose all my inhibitions, some I like to keep in control of. I've done some crazy things in the past because I had been drinking and regret them now. And the other thing is it only takes a drink or maybe two to get me drunk, which is not good.

I have no problem with others drinking, whether at home to relax or when out. Actually one of the worst drinkers I ever came across was a doctor, how he functioned the next day I shall never know.

Why do people drink? I think sometimes because they are naturally shy and it helps them to relax and be more outgoing. Out of stress, to forget their problems. Or maybe so they can feel they belong, if out with other people. For other social reasons. That's excluding those who are addicted to alcohol, who drink because they can't stop for whatever reason. And if they do ever stop, they can't ever take that first drink again...

[gyro]

What about people like myself ? I rarely go out down the pub these days, and so socially, my only drink with others is watching a football game round a friends. But most evenings I'll have a couple of beers after my boy has gone to bed. Personally, I enjoy the taste, and often trying new beers, but ask me if I'd do it if it wasn't alcoholic, and I'd probably say no.

[Deleted]

I guess you would probably come under just drinking to relax perhaps? Why do you think you like to drink?

The taste thing gets me every time, I've heard so many people (mostly men) who say they just like the taste. Personally I can hardly swallow the stuff, it tastes awful to me. But I realize that that is not always the case with other people.

[gyro]

I don't know why, D, that's why I'm posing the question. The taste thing SURELY isn't the answer though. If they brewed a beer that tasted EXACTLY the same as the one somebody likes but was 0% alcohol, you think people would buy that instead ?

[Deleted]

May 18, 2009 4:29:36 GMT kerouac2 said:

I have come across maybe 4 people in my life who have a completely different personality when they are drunk -- an absolute Jekyll and Hyde transformation. That makes me wonder why they drink -- do they wish to be a totally different person?

Good question K. I've seen the same thing. I've seen the most uptight people become someone unrecognizable when drunk. It's kind of strange to see. Question is, who is the real them? Are they 'acting' in their every day lives because they find it hard to be themselves without the drink? I've seen the toughest men break down and cry when drunk, something they wouldn't dream of doing when sober. It seems that alcohol can can highlight our emotions, whatever they may be at the time. Whether that's anger, frustration, happiness, sadness or whatever. And eventually, when drunk enough, make us numb to them.

[Deleted]

Gyro, doesn't nonalcoholic beer taste the same as normal beer? I'm just wondering, as I don't have a clue.

I doubt that people who like to drink (and so like the affect it gives them), would buy beer with no alcohol at all.

[bixaorellana]

When I did not drink at all, I would still drink non-alcoholic beer because I love the taste of beer so much. Besides, there are some foods that really call out to be accompanied by beer.

[Deleted]

Non-alcoholic beer does not taste the same, but I could easily get used to it if nothing else were available. The bitterness and the hops or whatever are still in there somewhere.

[Deleted]

Arrh....so it does taste different. That makes sense. I've never had non-alcoholic beer before.

[gyro]

It definitely tastes different. Less flavour, and mostly somewhat soapy. Whenever I've been in the situation where I can't drink much (driving etc.) I opt for a soft drink rather than shite or a single beer.

Ironically, yesterday I had some beer watching football that was only 2%. It was Carling lager, which is hardly tasty when normal, but as a substitute it was bearable.

[lagatta]

A lot of women who like beer but are pregnant, for example, are happy to drink non-alcoholic beer. Idem people on medication etc. (It is NOT recommended for people with a drinking problem who want to sober up). It is also widely consumed among people driving a car who are having a beer with others.

I'm not very fond of beer (beer is probably drunk more than wine here overall, although much wine is also drunk in Québec, but family background on one side involves wine, and not as a snob or upscale beverage, just a normal everyday one). I don't dislike the taste of good beer, but find it very heavy to digest.

I was sipping on a very good craft beer yesterday evening, chatting with friends before we ate supper (and drank wines from Southwestern France, and Spain - we were chez des gens du Midi, d'origine espagnole). But that might happen 2 or 3 times a year.

I almost never drink hard liquor.

I'm very fond of wine - the taste and the slight relaxation/exiliration. But indeed I've known people who drank it into oblivion. The worst case was a refugee and former torture victim from Chile - a wine country - who actually managed to drink himself to death, despite his strong constitution. That was certainly not "girly", as per bixa's cases. On the contrary, it was sort of a macho refusal to seek out the help he needed for his post-traumatic stress. Very sad story.

Wasn't "Kro" also closely associated with French military service, when there was a draft? That would certainly have boosted sales, given the numbers sous le khaki and the ingestion capacity of young men.