Advice on how to enjoy homebrewing over the years without becoming an alcoholic.

[bwible]

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The toughest part of this sort of conversation is recognizing that the vast majority of us (active homebrewers) are in the top third of population for alcohol use, and it's nearly zero by comparison for the remaining two thirds.

So every conversation lumps an otherwise responsible 6-pack a day person with the twice divorced fella with a couple DUIs under their belt. Medically speaking, it's all the same.

 

[sibelman]

manager school

Most line supervisors never went to any management school. Being good at a job doesn't mean being good at supervising those who do that job. Reading Dilbert and watching Office Space might be valuable to clueless bosses. Or maybe they can't be awakened from their dreams of power.

 

[sibelman]

as long as you’re able to get up for work in the morning, your drinking is not getting you into fights or getting you arrested or landing you in the hospital, not interfering with your life, etc then you don’t have a problem

This is consistent with at least one definition of alcoholism. But, obviously...

Even if some of us can drink plenty without becoming addicted, we may be adversely affecting our health in exchange for the pleasure of drinking. alcoholic beverages. That is its own kind of problem.

 

[OakIslandBrewery]

We enjoy lots of hobbies that aren't good for our health, but we need to realize that and make adjustments.

 

[corkybstewart]

As a guy who worked his way from the lowest level to the president of the company I learned this. If you ever wonder why your boss is such an a**hole become a boss and you will understand. The income doesn't necessarily match the stress. As the company president, dealing with 120 employees, the owners and countless clients made drinking too much the easiest path.

 

[corkybstewart]

Man, I was hoping this thread would start addressing cheese addiction next.

Don't get me started on my cheese addiction. Tonight was a moderate night until I pulled the cheese plate out and was forced to open a bottle of wine more suitable for the cheese we had.

 

[balrog]

Don't get me started on my cheese addiction. Tonight was a moderate night until I pulled the cheese plate out and was forced to open a bottle of wine more suitable for the cheese we had.

I hate when that happens.

 

[MaxStout]

 

[jrgtr42]

Office Space is not supposed to be a documentary.

The longer I spend in cube-farmdom, that movie becomes both funnier and more sad...

But to the question at hand, there is a lot more to alcoholism than just drinking a lot. Some folks can drink like fish and by those markers - having it affecting them in various ways - don't quaalify as such. THen others drink comparatively small amounts, but it's still affecting them. Of course, to other people, having one drink makes one a complete lush.
Myself, I enjoy a beer or 2 many evenings. I do normally hold off until the kiddo is in bed before opening one. But almost as often as not, by the time that happens, and dinner is done (I work a weird schedule - we're eating dinner most of the time after he's in bed) and things are cleaned up, I don't feel like going down to the beer fridge / cellar to get one.
Same thing with my homebrewing, I don't have a kegerator, so I limit it to one tapped at a time. I usually plan to have one on deck for when that one kicks, and it takes a while to knock off a full keg. I do have a couple recipes that I still bottle, though those are as much out of sight, out of mind.

 

[corkybstewart]

The longer I spend in cube-farmdom, that movie becomes both funnier and more sad...

But to the question at hand, there is a lot more to alcoholism than just drinking a lot. Some folks can drink like fish and by those markers - having it affecting them in various ways - don't quaalify as such. THen others drink comparatively small amounts, but it's still affecting them. Of course, to other people, having one drink makes one a complete lush.
Myself, I enjoy a beer or 2 many evenings. I do normally hold off until the kiddo is in bed before opening one. But almost as often as not, by the time that happens, and dinner is done (I work a weird schedule - we're eating dinner most of the time after he's in bed) and things are cleaned up, I don't feel like going down to the beer fridge / cellar to get one.
Same thing with my homebrewing, I don't have a kegerator, so I limit it to one tapped at a time. I usually plab to have one on deck for when that one kicks, and it takes a while to knock off a full keg. I do have a couple recipes that I still bottle, though those are as much out of sight, out of mind.

When I first converted our fridge to a back porch kegerator I couldn't walk past it without pulling a small beer, at least for the first couple of months. After that I settled into a more suitable pattern of consumption-2 or 3 glasses each evening if it was just my wife and I. If friends or neighbors stopped by all bets were off. Now we live out in the woods, no neighbors nearby and no casual friends who drink beer so a keg will now last me a month or 2 easily. I do not miss the daily drinking sessions, life is much better spent drinking less.