What is a typical night?

[BrewerMatty]

Let me start by saying I am originally from Wisconsin, so a few drinks a night is the social norm. I'm curious what a typical Monday-Friday night looks like for you guys/gals?

I'll usually have a pint after dinner and the ponder which bourbon pour to have as a follow up.

Share your post work/evening/?morning? Rituals..

[ebo]

I usually have a beer when I get home from work. Then, I eat dinner and walk my dogs. After that, I take a shower and pour a glass of Bourbon/Scotch/Irish.... and, as of late, Tequila. :grin: I usually have a couple pours during an evening.... sometimes more. :cool:

There are nights I don't drink at all, though.

[bigtoys]

a few nights a week a glass of wine or a beer with dinner.

a few nights a week a little whisky.

often more on the weekend. more likely to have a martini or, in the summer, a margarita

[sob0728]

Mon/Tues: I will do a 1/2 oz tasting pour usually.

Weds/Thurs: nothing.

Fri/Sat: I usually will have a cocktail or two or a healthy pour on the rocks with a twist of lemon after the kids are in bed.

Sunday: nothing.

About once or twice a month I make it over to fellow member Max Power's house and we do some serious bourbon and/or tequila sampling. Those are good nights!

[SMOWK]

I'll usually have a pint after dinner and the ponder which bourbon pour to have as a follow up.

I too have about a pint of bourbon each evening. I usually start before dinner though.

[hectic1]

I too have about a pint of bourbon each evening. I usually start before dinner though.

:slappin: Nice work Sky...I knew your response wouldn't let me down! I typically will have a couple 1oz pours 3 nights a week and on the weekends I may have 4oz or so. Not quite yet to Sky's consumption levels but I'm working towards it!

[ethangsmith]

One or two 2 oz. shots each night. Maybe a beer once a week.

[Brisko]

Between 1 and 4 oz nightly. Usually 3oz but occasionally more or less. I usually pour 1 oz at a time because I like variety.

A beer once or twice a week if I have any in the fridge.

[Max Power]

Mon/Tues: I will do a 1/2 oz tasting pour usually.

Weds/Thurs: nothing.

Fri/Sat: I usually will have a cocktail or two or a healthy pour on the rocks with a twist of lemon after the kids are in bed.

Sunday: nothing.

About once or twice a month I make it over to fellow member Max Power's house and we do some serious bourbon and/or tequila sampling. Those are good nights!

Those are indeed good nights. The tequila collection is overwhelming, but the bourbon stash is growing...and now we're buying more scotch. Life is good.

A few nights a week, I'll have a drink after the kids go to bed. One night, I'll do 3-4 1/2 ounce tastings of tequila to make notes and write reviews. One weekend night is reserved for drinking whatever I feel like and not thinking too much about it...AKA the nights that sob stops by. Generally I'll share with the wife if she's awake and not drink anything if she's not. That determines the schedule.

[Enoch]

Those are indeed good nights. The tequila collection is overwhelming, but the bourbon stash is growing...and now we're buying more scotch. Life is good.

A few nights a week, I'll have a drink after the kids go to bed. One night, I'll do 3-4 1/2 ounce tastings of tequila to make notes and write reviews. One weekend night is reserved for drinking whatever I feel like and not thinking too much about it...AKA the nights that sob stops by. Generally I'll share with the wife if she's awake and not drink anything if she's not. That determines the schedule.

We'll have to get together and discuss tequila. My next-door neighbor runs the anti-smoking campaign for Mexico and goes down 6 - 8 times a year. He often brings back some of the most amazing tequila at half the cost of buying it in the US, often the label is not in English. As a result I have developed a taste and stash of quality tequila.

As for nightly I usually do a theme flight of four and follow up with one of my house bourbons. Sometimes get my wife to pick them out and I try to identify. Very humbling!

[Max Power]

We'll have to get together and discuss tequila. My next-door neighbor runs the anti-smoking campaign for Mexico and goes down 6 - 8 times a year. He often brings back some of the most amazing tequila at half the cost of buying it in the US, often the label is not in English. As a result I have developed a taste and stash of quality tequila.

As for nightly I usually do a theme flight of four and follow up with one of my house bourbons. Sometimes get my wife to pick them out and I try to identify. Very humbling!

Online ordering from stores in southern California grants access to a lot of agave not available in MN. Hunting online for something new and the best price is part of the fun.

I might have join a chat night some for folks who want to talk tequila and bourbon.

[SMOWK]

:slappin: Nice work Sky...I knew your response wouldn't let me down! I typically will have a couple 1oz pours 3 nights a week and on the weekends I may have 4oz or so. Not quite yet to Sky's consumption levels but I'm working towards it!

I took it easy during the sampler, so I had no reason to come home and "recover", whatever that is....

Since leaving the sampler....Sunday night Rita's father and I killed an entire bottle of Pappy 15. Monday we took it easy with just a few beers and a few pours of WTRye 101. Tuesday I finally made it back to my house and killed a half bottle of Mellow Corn BIB. And then last night it was the last 8 or 10 ounces of an OGDBIB handle that was leftover from prior to the Sampler.

Tonight we are headed out to eat something at SpringFest in Ocean City, and after that I plan on finishing the Mellow Corn BIB.

[Flyfish]

My wife and I like themes to what we call cocktail hour. (We call it that even though we don't drink cocktails, just bourbon neat and/or with just a drop of water.) I like the genealogy theme--two or three or four bourbons from the same family or same mash bill:

OGD BIB, 114, Basil Hayden

AAA, BT, ETL, Blanton's

OWA, Weller 12

EC 12 & 18

EWSB from different vintages

Sometimes, we do a "blind" tasting as in the one pouring gets to pick and the pouree gets to guess.

Sometimes I'm just in the mood for a KC or VOB or it's been a while since Old Ezra 101.

I guess the only thing "typical" is that virtually every day has some bourbon in it. I'm a very lucky man.

[GreggJ]

Interesting answers.

For me. I will typically have a healthy glass of red wine with dinner. Hang out for a while. Get the kiddos ready for bed then have a 1.5-2oz pour watching TV or reading a book.

This is my routine 3-4 nights during the week.

On the weekends, I am usually outside doing yardwork and end up with a beer or three in my hand and end up slowly migrating to a couple fingers of something good.

[camduncan]

I don't drink much Monday thru Thursday - maybe 1 or 2 standard (30ml) pours, and that would be the exception, not the norm. Usually I don't drink on those days unless it's been a really stressfull day or we are entertaining.

Friday to Sunday I usually enjoy 2-3 standard pours per day/evening. Unfortunately in the last few years I've started getting migrains the next day if I exceed 4 or 5 standard drinks in a night

[MarkEdwards]

Let me start by saying I am originally from Wisconsin, so a few drinks a night is the social norm. I'm curious what a typical Monday-Friday night looks like for you guys/gals?

I'll have a couple of ales with lunch about three times a week, and normally have a couple of shots of whatever two bottles I have open for the month.

[Ejmharris]

There really is no typical evening for me. Some months I drink almost nothing during the week as Friday or Saturday will have 3-4 drinks (with the occasional bender thrown in there). Some weeks I drink at least one pour or beer every night. The later tends to be during the summer when kids are out of school and neighbors come out of the woodwork.

[mosugoji64]

Thanks, guys. This thread has made me feel much better. I was afraid my 1-2 per day average had me pointed toward AA. Now I know that I'm just a candyass. :bowdown:

[spinningrecords]

Thanks, guys. This thread has made me feel much better. I was afraid my 1-2 per day average had me pointed toward AA. Now I know that I'm just a candyass. :bowdown:

Something to think about is chemical dependence versus addiction.

If I drink every night then I tend to get into habit of having a drink every night. Of course the same would be true of a bowl of ice cream every night too. Anything I have regularly I'll tend to end up craving regularly. This is common and natural but can lead to an undesirable outcome. I prefer to do something electively rather than by craving. I'd like a drink because I want a pour and not from habit. I think it's fair to say if your are drinking often and in quantiy you'll end up dependent to some extent. I don't find this desirable personally. But my understanding is you have control when dependent and can stop when you want. You can break the dependence with sufficient time away. I think the real problem becomes when you lose the electiveness of it. When you can't really stop. That's a problem and could be the start of addictiveness. My understanding is once your addicted that's bad news. Your soon to be done with this as a hobby or lifestyle and on your way to real trouble. There's no going back to casual drinking for addicts in nearly all cases. An outcome to avoid to be sure.

I'd enjoy other perspectives.

[CoMobourbon]

I would actually take your conclusions one step further. I think we run into trouble when we try to draw an arbitrary lines in the sand between moderate / OK dependence and immoderate / not OK dependence. I agree that not being able to stop is a bad sign, but generally drawing good / bad divides only serves to justify yourself. Simply put, it becomes really easy to find a way to put yourself on the OK side no matter what. Really, I would suggest that it works better on a gradient of dependency. Then, the challenge is not so much proving to yourself that you are not on the dark side as is it trying to enjoy as much bourbon as possible while at the same time trying to minimize any movement down the gradient toward more dependency.

I guess I would also add one more distinction. For me, it's all about how much it does or does not affect my plans and/or preconceptions for the night. While I enjoy ice cream a lot, I never really look forward to it for more than twenty minutes or so, and I would definitely not structure the evening around it. Sometimes with alcohol, though, it becomes a centerpiece of my plans for the whole evening - as if drinking it was a totally self-sufficient point of the night (and not relaxation, or unwinding, or socializing, etc.). (Of course, you have to be careful about scheduling drinking for driving purposes, but still.)

[Young Blacksmith]

I strive to not have a typical night.

I usually, but not always, have something alcoholic in an evening, be it a beer, cocktail, or straight bourbon. I don't drink soda unless I'm mixing, and water gets a bit tiring by the end of the day. This week I didn't have anything alcoholic until Wed, and that was just a beer. Last night I had a beer and 3 pours. Tonight I'll be out of town so who knows, but you can bet I'll be bringing a little something with me just in case.

[AaronWF]

If I drink every night then I tend to get into habit of having a drink every night. Of course the same would be true of a bowl of ice cream every night too. Anything I have regularly I'll tend to end up craving regularly. ... I think it's fair to say if your are drinking often and in quantiy you'll end up dependent to some extent.

I agree that not being able to stop is a bad sign, but generally drawing good / bad divides only serves to justify yourself.

I guess I would also add one more distinction. For me, it's all about how much it does or does not affect my plans and/or preconceptions for the night. While I enjoy ice cream a lot, I never really look forward to it for more than twenty minutes or so, and I would definitely not structure the evening around it. Sometimes with alcohol, though, it becomes a centerpiece of my plans for the whole evening - as if drinking it was a totally self-sufficient point of the night (and not relaxation, or unwinding, or socializing, etc.).

I strive to not have a typical night.

I usually, but not always, have something alcoholic in an evening, be it a beer, cocktail, or straight bourbon. I don't drink soda unless I'm mixing, and water gets a bit tiring by the end of the day. This week I didn't have anything alcoholic until Wed, and that was just a beer. Last night I had a beer and 3 pours. Tonight I'll be out of town so who knows, but you can bet I'll be bringing a little something with me just in case.

I'm glad someone brought up the dark side of booze, because I can't help but think about it when I consider how much I drink. Like Young Blacksmith, I try not to think of it in terms of having a typical night. I probably drink more than I should, but that's mostly an intellectual judgement rather than a conclusion based upon behavioral or health problems; I'm still relatively young.

I've been on guard about the seductive downward spiral of alcoholism since my early-20's (I'm 34 now). Ideally, I would have no alcohol Monday-Wednesday, a tipple or two on Thursday, open the flood-gates Friday and Saturday and taper down on Sunday. I experience psychological effects of 'dependence' or addiction much more than physical ones. I know of no history of alcoholism in my family, but I imagine that physical dependence would be more of an issue if alcoholism ran in my family.

I love thoughtful tasting, and I will relish every sip I have, but I also enjoy the buzzing momentum of going many drinks into an evening. One of the profound pleasures of whiskey is that taste and effect come hand in hand.

So, I go through phases. I'm much better at beginning healthy habits than I am at ending unhealthy ones. When I'm working out regularly, I drink less, mostly because I have less time to drink. A typical evening for me over the last few months has probably been to get a two-finger pour in before dinner, beer or a glass or two of wine with dinner, then up to three or four more 2-finger pours after dinner. That's living loose, and I don't consider it particularly healthy for me.

My understanding is once your addicted that's bad news. Your soon to be done with this as a hobby or lifestyle and on your way to real trouble. There's no going back to casual drinking for addicts in nearly all cases. An outcome to avoid to be sure.

I will fight for my right to continue to enjoy drinking. That means using whatever will I have to correct unhealthy habits before they get the better of me, because I agree, once you become a slave to the bottle, your days of drinking are done. The deeper we get into the appreciation of whiskey, the more we have to lose should we allow it to wreak havoc on our lives.

[Trey Manthey]

If I'm in the mood, I'll have a 1 to 1.5 oz taste about 3 nights a week, or I fix a cocktail. Weekends, I like to have folks over, and if there is a guy or gal who appreciates whiskey, I'll do a little mini-tasting with my nicer stuff. I think I get as much enjoyment from sharing my premium juice as I do drinking it myself.

[luther.r]

I worry about my consumption patterns sometimes, having a sibling who's in AA. I find that drinking always causes me to need more sleep, so I do my best to not drink Sunday through Thursday nights, though I allow myself a 1-drink exception here and there. Friday and Saturday nights I let myself drink as much as I want, which is some nights 2-3 drinks and other nights a few more than that.

My main rule I've set for myself is to only drink when I'm generally happy/content. If I'm stressed or down about something, I don't let myself drink so as not to start associating alcohol with medicating problems.

[bgageus]

Over the last 6 months my consumption has been limited because my wife is pregnant. And in support of her I only drink behind her back. I feel its just rude to rub it in that I can drink and she cant. So I am down to 2-3 nights having 1-2 drinks