How much do you drink?

*Please pick how many times AND how many beers a week you drink in the poll.*

Recently, some of my fellow HBT members suggested I may have a drinking problem. It is entirely possible, but I was reading about how much others drink. I would assume that most of the people here drink more than the average person drinks, given that we brew beer in one capacity or another.


Here is a Gallup poll that I am going to show some things from:

Who Drinks?

According to the aggregated data, 63% of Americans report that they drink alcoholic beverages such as liquor, wine, or beer, while 37% totally abstain. Men are more likely than women to drink (69% vs. 58%), and adults under 50 are substantially more likely than adults over 50 to drink (70% of adults aged 18 to 49 drink alcoholic beverages, as do only 54% of those over 50).



Drinking Frequency

Occasional drinking does not necessarily indicate a drinking problem, but even small amounts of alcohol can cause slurred speech, slowed reaction times, or impaired judgment. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines "excessive drinking" as an average of more than one drink per day for women, and an average of more than two drinks per day for men.

So how much do American drinkers drink? According to the Gallup data, the mean number of drinks that male drinkers consume in a week is 6.6 (about one per day), compared with 2.9 for female drinkers (less than half a drink per day). Seven percent of female drinkers report having eight or more drinks in the past seven days -- the CDC standard for "excessive drinking" among women. Twenty-one percent of male drinkers report consuming 10 or more drinks in the last seven days, including 9% who said they drank 20 or more -- well over the "excessive drinking" limit for men.



Self-Assessments of Excessive Drinking

Objective measures of how many drinks one has in a week can only go so far in defining problems with alcohol. Regardless of how much a person drinks, alcohol consumption is a problem if it negatively affects the way the person thinks, feels, or interacts with others.

Gallup asked the respondents themselves if they ever drink more alcohol than they should. Nearly a quarter (23%) of drinkers said they sometimes drink more than they should. Again, men outnumber women in this response, and younger drinkers are far more likely than older drinkers to say they drink too much.




*Results are based on telephone interviews with 3,016 national adults, aged 18 and older, conducted in July 2002, July 2003, and July 2004.

I'd be interesting in hearing percentages from different countries. Also it's hard for me to believe surveys to a point, especially if your answers can suggest you have a problem. Meaning I think respondents have difficulty telling the truth out of fear of being labeled an alcoholic.

I love beer, I drink it, and I drink more than 10-12 drinks a week. I drink non alcoholic beer just for the taste. I in no way believe I have a problem.

I do not believe I have a problem.

On average I have 1 drink a night with dinner or after dinner. That makes 7 drinks per week (Mon-Sun).
On the weekend sometimes I have 1 with lunch or 1 extra after dinner. That puts me in the 7-10 per week category.

Edit: Define 1 drink? 12oz, 8oz, 6oz...22oz?

1 or less each week night. 3-5 on Friday-Sunday depending on schedule. I would say an average of 10-15 per week. Of course it can deviate drastically. Well above or considerably below. The "problem" label fits when it effects daily life. Family. Work. Etc. or when any instance of 1 consistently and unintentionally becomes several. Another symptom of a problem is guilt associated with consumption.

most people will tell you they only drink 2 per night, i sometimes think most people here drink more than that

I wasn't suggesting a certain level of drinking means you have a problem. I drink once a week on average, between 6-10 beers over the course of the evening(4-5 hours).

I was just curious because so many people considered my drinking an extreme amount of beer.

I have never felt guilty about my beer consumption.

What NA beer tastes good? I haven't tried a lot of different kinds. Maybe O'douls, sharps, and St Pauli. I honestly don't enjoy and will rarely take a Budweiser, Corona, Heineken, or the like that is offered to me. I drink tonic water when I am in the mood for non alcoholic drinks usually. Gotta keep the malaria away

That is why I didn't make the poll public, I figured I would get a more honest response.

When I say drinks, I mean 5% 12oz serving.... though when I buy Optimator or something I usually have 4-5 of em if I don't finish the 6 pack. I don't think someone would be very honest saying they have 1 beer if it is a 15% barley wine in a 20oz glass.

njporter said:

most people will tell you they only drink 2 per night, i sometimes think most people here drink more than that

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I know, could you imagine having your beer buddies over and saying
"I'd love to try that Russian Imperial stout you brought but I already had a glass of homebrew.Sorry, but thanks for the offer".Say what you will but this just does'nt happen, not in real life anyway.

20 - 30 a week

It is my experience when I had 3 or 4 things on tap that I drank at least 6 beers. I rarely drink the same thing twice. This was a part of why I sold my kegs. Sitting in my theater watching movies with the kegerator one step away made it entirely too convenient. Watching movies was a pretty regular occurrence at the time, mostly out of laziness

4 times per week on average, 4-7 drinks per week.

I think there's a big difference between someone who has 12 drinks a week and has 2 drinks every day, and 12 drinks per week on Friday and Saturday night... the former is moderate drinking, the latter is binge drinking and quite a bit more dangerous. You can't average it out over the entire week if you do that.

My drinking varies a lot, but at the maximum it is 5 times per week, and 10-12 drinks per week. Sometimes I'll go a month or two without any alcohol at all. Right now I'm trying to build up my supply of 22oz bottles so its on the higher end!

It's really hard t osay, cause sometiems I'll go a whole month without drinking adn sometimes I'll drink every weekend, since last Sunday (I've been on a roller coaster of events so Ican't seprate otherwise) I've had 8 drinks. But I may not have another drink for several weeks. I usually dont' drink to get drunk, but I often have weeks where I really enjoy drinking and others where it feels forced.

"The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines "excessive drinking" as an average of more than one drink per day for women, and an average of more than two drinks per day for men."

The temperance movement is obviously still alive and well in this country.

I too would like to see some numbers from the less tightly wound countries of the world for comparison.

I also wonder how the 200 gal/yr production limit for home beer and wine making was decided?
A bit more than a glass or two of 5% beer/day, especially considering many home brews and most wines contain 2-4 times this much alcohol.

njporter said:

most people will tell you they only drink 2 per night, i sometimes think most people here drink more than that

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I do.

Like junk food, if you have a plethora laying around your house, you are going to drink it. This is the case for me at least.

Before my homebrewing ventures, I would drink 4-5 beers once every week or 2.

Now that I have a keen interest in homebrew, I find myself drinking more than typical. I have increased to at least 4-5 beers on friday & sat and an occasional beer or 2 during the week. I don't consider this an issue yet. When I start drink a sixer 3 or more nights a week I will be concerned.

If you are questioning whether or not you have a problem, in all likelihood, you do.

here's some food for thought
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/27/britain-drinking-study_n_2775985.html

My liver speaks of Deutschland!

Eh. These categories overlap. Nitpicking.

I drink 1-3 drinks per week.
I drink 4-7 drinks per week.
I drink 7-10 drinks per week.
I drink 10-12 drinks per week.
I drink 12 or more drinks per week.

I have a spreadsheet that breaks down each house recipe by "demand". I originally thought the numbers would be much higher, until I broke it down into 12 oz servings. In a household of 3 adults, our household consumption averages just under four 12 oz beers per day, ~5%. (Edit: these numbers account for giving away bottles to neighbors and friends that come over to drink occasionally).

It's pretty steady so far, even with the four-tap keezer. Consumption used to be higher before when beer prices at the market were an economic factor, spurring the splitting of a 40 to conserve cash. Blech. Nunca mas!

I work 12 hour long shifts on a panama schedule. My employer has a zero tolerance, 12-hour "bottle-to-throttle" policy and my shifts are, you guessed it, exactly 12 hours apart. This means I can't drink between shifts, even if I wanted to. Random drug and alcohol screenings are extremely common at my location (I've pissed twice so far the last year) and there are police stationed at each entrance, so it's not like they won't find out if you try to be sneaky.

Thanks for pointing that out. Originally, I had the beers in 2 beer groups 1-2, 3-4, 4-5, 6-7, 8+ - but I decided to add to them so they would cover more ground. I rewrote the poll questions and I guess I missed that I overlapped them the second time. There isn't any way to fix it though, unfortunately, unless there is a mod who has the ability to do so.

My company says no coming to work under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Over the more than 10 years I have worked there I don't recall ever having an issue drinking the night before, and I have never missed a day due to hangover or anything like that. I don't really drink on work days though.


Is that just for pilots or do the pilot rules apply to everyone who has to do with planes?

I'm not on the poll. I don't drink anything for a few weeks/months then get a few days off to go camping or something, then drink all weekend.

I would normally have 1 drink a night during the week and maybe a couple on the weekend, but I also have a kegerator and rarely pour a full glass. So my drinks are probably more like 8-10 ounces and right now my beers are probably 3-5% ABV.

Also, you have to consider that drinking X amount of alcohol a week is different if you drink them spread out, or all in one sitting, as they affect the body in different ways. Part of it is how much alcohol is in your body at one time and how your body reacts to that alcohol.

I usually drink one or two a night, and other nights I do not have any. 12 drinks a week seems really low even just two beers a day is 14 beers a week and that wont get you drunk. I drink often but i do not get drunk only on rare pub craws and tours on weekends. The beer does not effect my personal/work/family so i do not have a problem. I definitely cutting back because i want to loose this gut I have with excerise and house work. Going to start making some low alcohol beers for everyday. I got a mild 3.8% and a IIPA at 10.1%. I'm planning to make low alcohol sours and i want a low abv ipa too for every day and save the monsters for special occations.

I think if you have to justify your drinking by creating this poll, then you might have a problem. Just my two cents.

There's only two reasons I will have a beer:
1. I just got home from work.
2. I just finished a beer.

Two reasons doesn't seem like too many.

EDIT:
Make that 3 reasons:
3. I didn't go to work today.

RealFloopyGuy said:

Is that just for pilots or do the pilot rules apply to everyone who has to do with planes?

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In short, it's complicated. I'm a private pilot, but I don't fly for the military so military flight rules don't apply to me.

Those on Flying Status or Personnel Reliability Program (which I am not on either) have their own distinct, separate, and more stringent rules. PRP personnel would be like long-distance sentinel radar operators or nuclear reactor technicians. My military job is in Cyber System Operations, which roughly translates to Server and Workstation Administration. Normally that's not a very impactful job (honestly) so mostly the basic AFI 1-1, 44-120, etc apply.

AFI 1-1 said:

2.7. Alcohol Abuse.

Air Force policy is to prevent alcohol abuse and alcoholism among its
personnel and their dependents; to assist Air Force personnel in resolving alcohol-related problems; and to ensure humane management and administrative disposition of those who are unable or unwilling to be restored to full, effective functioning. Alcohol abuse, such as driving while intoxicated, can also lead to disciplinary action, including criminal prosecution under the UCMJ and local and state criminal laws. You are responsible for exercising good judgment in the use of alcohol. State and foreign country drinking age laws, including those in a deployed environment, must be obeyed both on and off-duty. Your use of alcohol must not adversely affect your duty performance or your conduct on or off-duty, to include your ability to be recalled, if specifically required, (e.g., when serving in an on-call status) to your duty station during scheduled off-duty time.

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So, if you're in the off-duty time and they issue a recall to the base, you have to go in uniform. Been drinking enough that you can't legally drive? You're !@#$ed. Hopefully you have a buddy nearby that can drive you in. If he's non-military and they've raised the Force Protection conditions at the gate, you'll have to walk onto the base from the gate. For most bases, that's not a problem. At my base, we're super rural, and all 5 gates are at least a 5 mile walk from my office. You are typically given two hours from the time of recall notification to be present before **** gets serious.

To make matters even more complicated, I work for an intelligence agency, so I have to not only follow the rules of the Major Command that owns the base and the Host Wing that operates the base, but also the intelligence agency that funds my position.

Overall, the strictest part is maintaining a clearance. It's no joke to say they've interviewed my neighbors from 10 years previous, the friends and neighbors of my girlfriend (before I made her my wife), every personal reference that they made me list, etc. I would not be surprised if they called my college professors or previous supervisors that they made me list. It makes the head spin how much money they must spend to snoop that hard. Every person they ask the same questions, and that always includes alcohol and drug abuse questions. A single yes answer can end up getting your package rejected if the administrator has a hair up his ass that day. They're even worse when they think your finances aren't in order.

Before we get back on topic, a little story to bring this full circle.

They started my clearance paperwork in Basic Military Training, and nobody told me to prepare for it. About a third of the guys in my flight were in the same boat. So ~10 of us are made to walk into this sterile room with no knowledge they're investigating us, and made to fill out the whole 140-page questionairre that asks everything from previous crimes to alcohol use to relationships to foreign travel and contacts to offshore holdings to terrorist ties. We're all just completely shocked that we're given 4 hours to complete it.

For every job you've ever held in the past 10 years or place you've lived in the past 10 years, you need exact dates, addresses, phone numbers, position titles, etc... and a contact that knew you there, to include all of THEIR addresses, phone numbers, position titles, etc. This isn't hard for a kid straight out of high school ("I lived with Mom, I've never held a job"), but for those of us that went to college, moved a lot, and worked our asses off at crappy short-term entry-level jobs, it really sucks.

It wouldn't be so bad if somebody had told me to prepare and bring a little black book ahead of time, but we have to do this all off of memory. If we need help, fine, here's a 12-digit long distance code to use the corded phone booths in the back of the room. There's 4 phones and 30 of us in the room. You're also given a computer, but any account you log into is fair game to be recorded what you pull up. I'm freaking out because my packet is insanely long. How the hell am I to remember the name of my supervisor at the campus Burger King I worked at for 3 weeks Freshman year seven years ago? AND you want their information too?

The kid sitting ext to me we'd nicknamed "Mayo" because he'd get nervous and start sweating profusely, which would make his face all shiny under the fluorescent lights so that it looked like he'd lathered himself up with mayonnaise. He's in his mid-20's just like me and can't get any information because the University of Kentucky or some crap is closed for an admin day. So he does the best he can using contacts he has saved in his Google account.

Two weeks later, they call several of us into the "shark pit" (Senior Non-Commissioned Officers' and Commanders' officers in the basement of the building). Most of us just have to sign our paperwork, but Mayo's getting all mayo-like again. It happens constantly with this guy. They call him in, he reports, then they tell him to shut the door. We can hear the screaming right through the walls. Turns out one of his contacts joked with the investigator (falsely) that they'd gone crossed the border to Mexico in El Paso to get some tacos and cerveza. The investigator took it seriously and said Mayo had made a false official statement when he said he'd never left the US. He eventually got the kid to recant, but Mayo spent the next six months fighting a stack of paperwork they threw at him before he got his clearance to start his job. Those were some of the most bitter, memorable Facebook posts ever, and kept me going when I was still the newest guy in the shop and had no idea how to do my job.

RealFloopyGuy said:

I wasn't suggesting a certain level of drinking means you have a problem. I drink once a week on average, between 6-10 beers over the course of the evening(4-5 hours).

I was just curious because so many people considered my drinking an extreme amount of beer.

I have never felt guilty about my beer consumption.

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I'm at the same level as you. I usually drink on Friday after work and average 6-10 beers over the course of the evening. Sometimes I drink even more than that, but on average it's 6-10 beers. Occasionally I'll drink during the week but it's never more than 2 beers so I can be clear headed in the morning for work (unless I have the next day off, then it's on!). That being said, in my younger days I drank much, much more. I drank 6-10 beers almost every night, but back then the hangovers weren't nearly as bad. I didn't think I had a problem back then and I most certainly don't think I have a problem now. My drinking does not affect my finances, my job, or my family life. Fortunately for me my wife likes to drink beer too. Right now she's pregnant so I do feel kind of bad that has to just sit and watch me drink, but the most she's ever said about it is that she wishes she could have one too! I just made up a batch of root beer for her and my son so at least they can enjoy the kegerator as much as I do.

I also don't think you have a problem. The results from the poll are showing most people drink as much or more than you do.

wbyrd01 said:

I also don't think you have a problem. The results from the poll are showing most people drink as much or more than you do.

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Most people on a beer-making forum. Not arguing against you, but that qualifier is needed.

We are not indicative of a representative sample of the general popular. We're specifically here for beer. :rockin:

I'd expect members of a sewing forum to sew more than the average person, or members of a dirt biking forum to dirt bike more than the average person, or members of a Ranger forum to jump out of aircraft more than the average person.

My brother was 3d Bn. Mad respect for you.

m_c_zero said:

I think if you have to justify your drinking by creating this poll, then you might have a problem. Just my two cents.

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I don't have to justify myself to anyone - ever. That isn't the point of the poll. My drinking doesn't cause me problems, but I was shocked to hear so many people saying they never drink more than 2 beers at a forum entirely devoted to beer.

Sorry, justify was maybe the wrong word. If it doesn't cause you/others problems, then I was mistaken of the purpose of this thread.

Thadius, that is why I made the poll. It really floored me that beer making forum people wouldn't drink a decent amount. I have one friend that only has a beer or two because he is half drunk after that(granted, I have him drinking Imperial Stouts at the Cigar City brewery or Ybor Brewing Company.)I tend to drink at the same pace when I am with him.

I don't think I have a problem either, but I felt like Ron Jeremy when he read the average penis size was 5 inches or so when people said they only drink a couple beers a week. "Seriously....? That's all?"

m_c_zero said:

Sorry, justify was maybe the wrong word. If it doesn't cause you/others problems, then I was mistaken of the purpose of this thread.

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No worries The suggestion that I had a problem at my drinking level (once a week 6-10 beers.) was my reason for doing the poll. It wasn't to justify anything though. It was because it seemed pretty weird that people thought 6 beers was a mass quantity of beer or that brewers would never knock back 10 beers in a day.

thadius856 said:

Most people on a beer-making forum. Not arguing against you, but that qualifier is needed.

We are not indicative of a representative sample of the general popular. We're specifically here for beer. :rockin:

.

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Very true. But then just about everyone I hang out with drinks at least as much as I do, if not more. So when you surround yourself with drinkers, everyone drinks!

That's what I learned being a Ranger. How to drink, cuss, and fight. 15 years later and I'm still good at two of them!

RealFloopyGuy said:

Thadius, that is why I made the poll.

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Huh? Did usernames get mixed up here?

wbyrd01 said:

Very true. But then just about everyone I hang out with drinks at least as much as I do, if not more. So when you surround yourself with drinkers, everyone drinks!

That's what I learned being a Ranger. How to drink, cuss, and fight. 15 years later and I'm still good at two of them!

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...and still a Ranger?

I usually average 2 (1-3 is common) a night during the week, more like 4-6 during the day/night on weekends.

thadius856 said:

...and still a Ranger?

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15 years since I've been a Ranger. I got out in '97. Shoot, I guess that makes it 16 years!

I only have one or two beers, but when I come home my screen door keeps getting stuck, then when I force it open, my key won't work, then I release I'm at the wrong house. I always feel bad when I see a scared family looking at me. This happens when I drink, but I only have one or two beers.

I drink two beers Monday - thursday and three Friday - sunday.
thats 17 pints per week. 2.125 gallons per week.

I for sure do not have a problem. Its an arrangement my wife and I both think works.