That’s a lot regardless of what way you look at it. However, the UK doesn’t seem to have the same craft beer craze that the US does. So those likely are not the heavy hitters you’ll find in your local American brewery.
Even at 4.5-5%, which would be fairly standard, 25 beers is a lot. It may not be a lot for the seasoned daily drinker, but 25/week is definitely too much.
Far from an expert, but I’d expect most people will have some sort of withdrawal symptoms if they go dry from what Dan drinks.
April 17th, 2023 my wife and I started the 75 Hard challenge: 75 HARD: The Rules
If you scroll down a bit in that link, the rules are outlined (and very rigid). One of the requirements was not drinking any alcohol for the 75 days. Several years of work stress and crazy hours (800-1000 hours OT annually) got me in a pretty bad loop. I still ate good, lifted weights hard, and ran a fair amount. I was drinking around 5 nights a week, and most nights was either a couple mixed drinks (old fashions or margaritas at home) or a couple beers. My mixed drinks had 2-3 shots a piece and my beers were usually 9%. Sure do miss my voodoo rangers.
Even after finishing the challenge, I still haven’t drank. I’m not vehemently against it, I just haven’t found a way I’d want to reintroduce it, with very solid boundaries around it. I feel like without the right boundaries I could fall back into that loop again.
During the challenge you’re required to take daily progress pictures. I didn’t expect a whole lot of visible progress but after 75 days, I was pleasantly surprised.
It’s “ok” as long as you recognize that there are health consequences even from moderate drinking, and understand that it can be difficult to respect the power of something that is both highly addictive and also clouds your judgment.
Far be it from me to judge what anyone else does, but if you really step back and think about it, other than the fact that it’s socially acceptable (ie there’s a trillion dollar industry marketing it to us) , it’s hard to come up with a reason to drink.
It’s delicious! I’ll be heading into London for London Cocktail Week tomorrow and I’m really looking forward to trying some incredibly creative drinks out.
Would be just as happy to drink alcohol free cocktails, but sadly there tends to be a massive gulf in quality between that and their alcoholic counterparts.
Will be visiting this alcohol free venue though: Club Soda - London Cocktail Week
I could be wrong, but my hunch is that if you did a blind taste test with someone who hasn’t been exposed to alcohol, he would prefer the taste of the mocktails.
Not to be too literal, but it’s a bit of an ahistorical view to focus on marketing as the main driver of consumption. Humans have a looong relationship with alcohol, and it’s no accident that many of the oldest recipes that have been discovered are for beer or wine. From the Wikipedia:
The first written records of brewing come from Mesopotamia (ancient Iraq).[16] These include early evidence of beer in the 3,900-year-old Sumerian poem honoring Ninkasi, the patron goddess of brewing, which contains the oldest surviving beer recipe, describing the production of beer from barley via bread.[17]
“Ninkasi, you are the one who pours out the filtered beer of the collector vat… It is [like] the onrush of Tigris and Euphrates.”[18]
People sometimes don’t enjoy their first drink, but that’s true for trying pretty much anything new. There are plenty of reasons not to drink (and I barely do now for the reasons that come up, primarily sleep and recovery), but people drink because it’s generally an enjoyable experience. And looking back up at the wiki, it’s also no accident that most, if not all, ancient religions had gods/goddesses of beer/wine. Dionysus didn’t come from nowhere.
Probably true, but lots of things we enjoy in life are learned/acquired tastes. I bet most people wouldn’t enjoy the physical sensation of riding their bike as hard as they can for hours on end without some amount of familiarity, either!
Alas, most of them are made far too sweet, so it would automatically exclude a ton of people. If you want cocktail bitters in there anywhere, they’re almost always coming with an alcohol base.
But yeah, I’d wager if you’re putting a fruit juice up against a Martini then anyone who doesn’t have a palate for cocktails is going to pick the former!
Definitely, but again taking a step back - does it make sense to acquire a taste for something that is harmful and addictive?
Well, I’m on a dry adventure myself.
I “retired” from racing earlier this year for a number of reasons, first and foremost the training that I was doing in order to race at the level I wanted to - in my opinion - is not the best idea for longevity and wellness. I’m 47, never going pro 
and I wasn’t enjoying the anxiety and cyclical process of racing any longer for myself. As a coach, it’s wonderful to live vicariously through my athletes. I am also the type that’s not going to go “just participate” in various cycling/endurance events without wanting to dive in headlong and try to show out.
That’s the background for… since I stopped riding 12-15 hours a week, I gained about 8lbs. Some of it is muscle because I’ve been doing strength training again and started on creatine (no longer concerned about excess weight, good for my golf game and brain!), but there are the formations of a spare tire as well. When I add fat, it starts at the hips and low back and meanders its way to the front.
Not a fan.
I recognized that my drinking habit had become just that. I was pouring a glass of wine or a beer with dinner probably 5-6 nights a week, and most often the wine would become a second or third glass. I never kept track, but I would estimate I was drinking 10-14 drinks per week, never more than 3 on any given day, and drinking 5-6 nights per week. That’s a lot of excess calories, in addition to all the well-documented issues that alcohol causes with stress hormones, metabolism, cancer, etc.
More alarming was that I found I was wanting a drink more and more. I am predisposed to alcoholism (among other OCD-related addictive tendencies), and so I am usually sensitive to that kind of feeling.
Those two reasons - the insidious growth of my habit and the insidious growth of my waistline - led me to going dry after our recent vacation. I’ve had one beer since returning last week, with my Friday pizza, so I guess four consecutive days totally dry and 7 of the last 8.
I do not wish to give up alcohol for ever and ever, but I am becoming much, much more inclined to drink red wine a few times a month with dinner.
I found it important to share this with my wife, who does drink, but not as much as I would, because then together we can make conscious decisions on our alcohol consumption. She is much better about that than I, so I have told her I am planning to kind of follow her lead.
I firmly believe there’s no real “good” dose of alcohol for me, much like pepperoni on my pizza, it’s just not something I want to give up entirely. But I recognize that I am one of those people who cannot be a “moderate” drinker in the way that most Americans consider “moderate” drinking (7-12 or so drinks per week, not in binge fashion). That’s not going to work for me. I need to do much less if I am interested in avoiding addiction and being healthy.
Kudos to everyone on their journeys, just tossing my hat in the ring as someone who is on one of his own!
Tell that to all my broken bones from mountain biking… 
Jesus mate you went from Stud to Stud (lol I’m so far off I honestly couldn’t tell the difference between your 2 pix)
Almost 7 years since my last drink. Feel fantastic most of the time and never really think about drink or the fact I’m tea total.
Tea total was the only way for me. After years of cutting back to 4 or 5 a week after a never again moment I would inevitably end up back at 15-20 drinks, rinse and repeat.
I’ve had some great times and awful moments with alcohol, so grateful to be free from that drug.
Physically I lost 4-5 kg and kept it off. Watts pretty much the same so definitely positive impact on cycling.
100% can relate. For some of us moderation is impossible.
Yeah, same here. It’s so much easier to say ‘no more’ and be done with it. After a while the thought of drinking poison seems ridiculous.
If you need help with the process then AA can provide a lovely community of people to support your journey with humour and love.
So here’s an interesting N=1 data point for you. I got a new Garmin watch over the summer, previous one tracked sleep duration but didn’t give a quality score, this one gives a sleep score out of 100 plus has HRV, body battery, etc.
What I’ve noticed is that when I have one drink I seem to consistently get my best sleep scores. First few times I noticed this I thought it was weird and just put it down to coincidence and not very accurate tracking. But it’s enough of a trend that I went back and looked at all my sleep scores over the last few months and every single one of the top 10 scores correlates with an evening where I had 1 drink. Those are all scores over 90, couple of 98s and 99s, haven’t managed to crack 100 yet. My normal range without a drink is ~80-90. 2 drinks seems to put sleep score into that 80-90 range. On the few occasions since getting the watch where I’ve had more drinks then the sleep score goes rapidly downhill beyond 3 as you’d expect. Body battery, HRV and how I feel are all fairly consistent with the sleep scores overall - I couldn’t honestly tell the difference the next morning between a 90 sleep and a 99 sleep, but certainly the nights where the sleep score is low (whether caused by alcohol or something else including sometimes just being very restless) correspond with being flat the next day.
I’m not going to claim that one drink is actually good for me, but seems reasonable to conclude that if I feel like having 1 or even 2 drinks then I should just enjoy them and not feel guilty or worry about what it’s doing to my training. Especially as in my case it’s normally fairly early in the evening, with food and with company, all of which I think adds to the relaxation aspect and means it’s far enough from bedtime that it’s not hitting my bloodstream right as I’m trying to get to sleep. More than 2 is bad but I’ve always known that, maybe being able to quantify it will enable me to cut them back even more or eliminate them altogether. I also know people who find it easier to have none than to have one and I get that. I seem to be reasonably good at moderation though.
Also possible of course that Garmin sleep tracking is just bad and some side effect of having a small amount of alcohol in me is somehow fooling the sensors!
Got to the end of this thread only to see the top new post title was ‘Which beer are you enjoying’
These days, two beers gives me a buzz, after three I need to go home and lie down. Dad power … 
Great topic. I’ve struggled with alcohol but not in the “traditional” way. I went from pretty heavy drinker to a few every now and again but couldn’t bring myself to stop because socially it helped me loosen up. I would feel so guilty after even just a couple because I don’t drink my calories otherwise. I tried to loosen up and make myself ok with a couple but I’d get that nagging feeling the day after of some guilt or feeling gross. If this were food I’d be concerned about that reaction but since it’s alcohol I’m not as much.
Have you guys noticed a difference socially? Ideally if you surround yourself with the right people no one will care but for introverts do you find it harder to loosen up?