The news here was that in California and the UK that drinking had increased dramatically since the stay at home orders came out.
So, how are you coping? How much do you drink, and has it gone up or down since COVID-19. If find it interesting, but I understand if you don’t want to reply, this can be a very personal thing.
I don’t drink
Less than before
No change
More than before
A lot more than before
0voters
And
No alcohol passes my lips, my body is my temple!
One glass a month or less
A couple glasses a month
A glass a week
A glass a day
Several glasses a day
0voters
I’ve left the polls as anonymous, it won’t show who voted for what. (Feel free to consider a bottle/can of beer a glass).
Personally, we haven’t changed our drinking habits. We had a glass of beer together last weekend and we might drink another this month, but we only drink when we are in the mood Although it is sometimes a nice bottle of wine that will be consumed. Once a year or so, a couple of friends and I get together for a whisky tasting, but that is outside of our normal consumption.
For my wife and me, “drinking” means having more or less one glass of red or white alongside a cooked meal (which commonly also was prepared using part of the bottle of wine). More just makes me tired and, interestingly, the first glass simply tastes the best while the latter ones taste more dull to me. In the past two to three weeks when we felt a bit under the weather, we did not really feel the fun in wine, so we were happy to keep it closer to water. Interesting to realize and maybe logical that if not 100% well, we prefer to stay away from alcohol. We both don’t have a taste for beer, never had. Whisky is fun - had it once in my life for two days (bachelor party trip of my brother-in-law in Edinburgh) which made me advance very quickly from very light to close-to-Diesel stuff and back again. Like a trip for the tastebuds past the distillery. But never had any after that, can do without. Was fun though.
On the non-alcoholic drinking side of things, a suspicion grew in me that if you have an easily irritable throat (like many do after a long, pretty dry winter), the roasty quality of coffee may make you cough more easily than tea which is more soothing.
Yes, we drink a lot of tea. I drink coffee first thing in the morning, usually make a can of coffee, then drink one mug at home and put the second in a thermo mug (Emsa), which I take to work. When that has gone, I drink either Rotbusch tea or water at work.
In the evenings I drink Fenchel, Anis, Kümmel (fennel, aniseed, kummel., or to wind up my wife, “Ananas Krümel Tee”), tea or camomile tea, water or weak Apfelschorle (around 10% apple juice and we tend to drink it without gas).
While working from home, I seem to be drinking far less coffee. Maybe because I don’t have to wake up so early to travel into the office, so not needing that “kick” in the morning. I am drinking a lot more green tea though.
Alcohol-wise, I rarely drink; only socially really.
I don’t drink anyway. I joke when I say that I QUIT drinking when I was 18, but that’s the truth. I drank a little at age 17, but I’ve never gotten drunk in my life. I took strong asthma medicine as a teen, and I was always told by the doctors it would not be a good idea to get intoxicated. I stopped after a while, and then when I was 19, my best friend died from drinking and driving (he was 18) 3 days before Christmas.
I’ve never really felt like drinking since then. And, I like to be in control of myself at all times. So, that’s never been my thing…
For the past several years nearly all my drinking has been weekly with dinner at restaurants. With no restaurant dine in available since March 15th I’ve not had any drinks.
I am drinking about the same as I was pre-pandemic. I average 7 drinks a week. Some days I have 2, some days I have none, most days I have one. Beer and whisky are my standard drinks.
On the news they keep harping on the fact that liquor store sales are way up.
But with restaurants and bars being closed this doesn’t mean people are drinking more. The small amount of inside information I have from a local craft brewer is that while sales to individuals are up, they don’t come close to replacing the sales lost to restaurants and bars
I like expensive rums and so it limits my ability to replace it often, hence I just imbibe on a whim or when I fancy raising a toast to something or someone.
The death of Stirling Moss for me is one of those occasions.
A question I’d like to ask your expertise with: in the past weeks, I went shopping for my in-laws. Among other things they wished for a bottle of rum for cooking (to flambé, I believe). So I was standing in front of the sizeable liquor rack at our supermarket and found dozens and dozens of different rums, but only exactly one that was 54% vol. Few were higher (Strohhut, 80%), most were between 30 and 40, I believe. They told me that the ones below 50 would not burn, and the ones above 60 don’t taste well.
Maybe you have some thoughts / experiences on my questions:
I gave up drink when I was diagnosed with narcolepsy and put on a med not compatible with booze, I was already a very light drinker maybe 2 glasses every other month if that, so it was a no brainer to go teetotaler.
Generally exported rum is around 40% alcohol, this is due to legal limits in some countries, and common sense !
In the UK 44% is the limit allowed for normal sale in pubs, but sometimes you can find the 77% version of Green Chartreuse (liqueur)
I have had a couple of over-proof rums, and they were very different.
Goslings Black Seal is the rum many copy to make these new black rums (but cheat and just add caramel).
I will drink the regular one neat, but the over-proof badboy needed a mixer because it is a rich flavoured rum anyway.
Other fine pale rums tend not to be as full flavoured so the higher % tends to be more a case of “can you drink aviation fuel ?” as the issue, though many are weirdly smooth.
Ultimately the volatility of the liquid is what will make it burnable, as well as how much alchohol is in the liquid
Some regular grade spirit will burn if you hold a flame to it long enough because; 1) it is more volatile 2) warming it makes it more volatile.
I can’t think of a good recommendation for one to burn, but if you want one to impress and blow peoples mind you should buy a bottle of Diplomatico
That brings back bad memories, far too many hangovers between age 18 & 22 due to 151 & Coke. The last 38 years have been only Beer, Wine & occasionally Gin.
Yes I am personally no fan of rum what-so-ever because my first ever drinking experience (under-aged by a year or so) was drinking rum straight out of the bottle followed by cola chaser. (I am not going to try and defend those actions–kids can be idiots ) This was followed the next day by the expected vomiting and other un-fun results. In any case, to this day, the smell of rum can turn my stomach, so I stick to rye.
I have a cup of coffee before the gym, Monday thru Saturday. I have English Breakfast tea or Earl Grey at night and once or twice a week I have a Guinness Stout, a Modelo Especial Lager or a Sierra Nevada IPA - very occasionally we have wine with meals, and I have a fully stocked liquor bar (VO Canadian, Johnny Walker Scotch, Jameson’s Irish, Maker’s Mark Bourbon, Jim Beam Bourbon, Bacardi Rum, Metaxa Ouzo, Jose Cuervo Tequila) which I don’t drink from often, mostly when I have guests
The last 38 years have been only Beer, Wine & occasionally Gin.