A Year from Beer....Could you do it?

A year with no beer (or wine, liquor, mead, etc.) ...could you do it?

Yes.

A year without ALL of them? or just one?
The question is grammatically ambiguous.

If I had to, yes. Would I want to? No.

all of them...at once.

you didnt have to do it, but you commited to it just to do it, do you think could you last the whole year?

molsonG said:

A year with no beer (or wine, liquor, mead, etc.) ...could you do it?

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I could, but I wouldn't want to... I only drink beer and wine anyways, reserving the wine I like to drink right now since I can't afford to replace it. IF I only had mead running at this time, I would be looking at 9-12 months before drinking it anyway. Thankfully, I have beer to hold me over...

Not to mention, beer is GOOD FOR YOU!! They knew this back in colonial days. People who didn't drink paid a higher premium on life insurance, and were probably more miserable to boot...

"Alewives in Colonial America brewed a special high-proof "groaning ale" for pregnant women to drink during labor. In fact, during the Colonial period, alcohol abstainers had to pay a certain life insurance company premiums that were 10% higher than that of drinkers. "

Full write-up is here

A brewer (home or otherwise) that doesn't drink (at all) is like a vegetarian lion... Sure, it can survive, but it will be a pathetic shadow of what it could be.

BTW, how do you take into account religious ceremonies? Where wine, especially, is an integral part of it...

Yes.. I did it for 15 years...

but I missed it..

a lot...

No way

Maybe before I ever started, it was no problem. But back then I was a stoner. Now I guess I could if I HAD to. But I would not by choice. I'd sooner quit food.

ksbrain said:

I'd sooner quit food.

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Hmmmmmm, think you might be onto something here... Regular food only when at work, otherwise, all nutrition is via home brew. :rockin:

Would be very funny, and somehow poetic, if we all lost significant weight this way...

Sure...did it the first 16 years of my life. Ha.

But I'd probably never go back to beer if I did.

Yes.

I dry out for one month every year, just to do it. I don't like it and the first few days are a bit tough, as are the last couple days waiting for the drinking date. Of course after a month of not drinking, two usually gets me pretty hammered. Could I do it? Yes. Would I want to for any reason? For a year? F*** no.

I could do it....

But I won't likely ever do it....

No one is getting out of this shi* alive so why not enjoy it while we are here?, and beer and wine are somethings I enjoy

yes and no. I could do it, but I never would do it for the reason you mention.(just to prove it to myself?) But I know I could cause I've quit smoking cold turkey twice no problem If the doc said its over and the second doc said its over and the fifth doc said its over and the wife said its over, i guess i'd quit.

I'm not about to find out.

No. There are 2 things that I don't ever want to give up. Beer and sailing. Too bad homebrew isn't any good in a swell.

You are only going to have so many drinks in your life. Some people have all the drinks they should have by the time they're 25 or 30. I'd like to make sure that I don't hit that magic number until I'm a very old man.

I certainly wouldn't want to...

I have drank once in the past 2 months, which is saying something for me!

I decided to lay off a bit to get myself back in shape and to just take a break. Now that I have not been drinking I don't feel like it.... scary!

so, yes I could go a year if I wanted to. Not sure if i really want to push it out that far, but gonna wait at least until i drop another 10lbs.

No.

Is it considered drinking if you just have a beer or two with dinner? If so, not sure if I could go a whole year.

If we're talking "drinking" as in getting so loaded that you pass out on your buddy's kitchen counter, with your feet in the sink, then sure that's easy.

If I quit drinking for a year, I'd definitely lose a good 20lbs or more.

I believe any amount of consumption is considered drinking in this particular thread... Not just to incredible excess

Well I went dry for about 7 months last year when i was in Iraq. I missed beer, but I wasn't 'hurting'. And while I missed the drinking of delicious homebrew, I also missed the hobby itself. Suffice to say my brew schedule is planned out for the rest of the year.

When I left, I stopped in Qatar for a night and was allowed to get 2 drinks. I got a Guinness and a Leffe Blonde. I was so upset, they tasted absolutely horrid to me. I was worried my pallette lost the love for beer because these are two beers I have enjoyed in the past. But not to fear, I got home and made up a batch of my house ale. I have to say, it was like tasting my first homebrew all over again. Glorious.

So could I do it? Yes. But like others, I would never choose to give it up.

my willpower is strong enough, that I don't have to torture myself like that just to find out.

'course, after I'm incarcerated for disorderly manslaughter (tm), when someone steals my beer, then YES, I can.

Nope, ain't gonna happen.

I'd rather give up work...

Seems like you would have better lucky asking people to go without oxygen for a year... Or maybe to not use any kind of deodorant for a full year... :cross:

let's compromise, I'll see if I can go without BUYING beer for a year.

(close enough?)

brewmonk said:

let's compromise, I'll see if I can go without BUYING beer for a year.

(close enough?)

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Sounds like a decent compromise to me... Also means that if someone else is buying, you can drink whatever... :rockin:

Just to prove to myself I could, then NO, I would not do it. However, I have gone without it for over a year before due to medical reasons. Didn't like it but.....

molsonG said:

A year with no beer (or wine, liquor, mead, etc.) ...could you do it?

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No soup for you!

molsonG said:

A year with no beer (or wine, liquor, mead, etc.) ...could you do it?

Click to expand...

If I was dead.

Yes and I did it, volunteeringly. I went 419 days without alcohol. The first few weeks were the hardest. And that was just because you have to find something different to drink. I drank alot of juice.
I discovered that 1) drunk people are annoying and 2) people don't carry alot of non-alcoholic beverages in the fridge other than water. I found myself bringing my own beverage when I visited friends. It really gave me a different perspective on society's relationship with alcohol. Would I do it again? Anything is possible.

Just an observation, I found the posts that said, "Yes, but I wouldn't do it," amusing. I kind of equate that to "I can run a marathon but I wouldn't do it or I can climb Mt. Everest but I wouldn't do it." I could become the President but I don't feel like it.

Do hydrometer samples count?

EdMerican said:

I dry out for one month every year, just to do it. I don't like it and the first few days are a bit tough, as are the last couple days waiting for the drinking date. Of course after a month of not drinking, two usually gets me pretty hammered. Could I do it? Yes. Would I want to for any reason? For a year? F*** no.

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Seeing as I'm broke, the stout I legged today wont be good to go until after summer (bourbon oak imperial stout) and the pilsner is just now starting to lager, I think I'll try to go dry until the English IPA (brewing this week) is ready.

I give up beer for lent every year, 40 days of no beer..... I have a rough couple days at first but it is no big deal after that, I just brew a lot more during those 40 days to keep me occupied. I think I could go a year without beer no sweat, but why would I??

To much beer in my garage to commit to anything right now. I'll let you know when I run out.

The way I see it, there's thousands if not millions of different beers out there to try and very little time to do so. Taking a year off would just waste time. So no, I wouldn't quit drinking for a year.

Sujeto said:

Just an observation, I found the posts that said, "Yes, but I wouldn't do it," amusing. I kind of equate that to "I can run a marathon but I wouldn't do it or I can climb Mt. Everest but I wouldn't do it." I could become the President but I don't feel like it.

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thats not the same. those are asking you to do some laborious task. this post is talking about not doing something. and yeah anyone could do it, (or not do it i guess) but for what? that idea makes me sad. no beer? other than for health (like if its gonna kill you) family(if they are gonna kill you) or religion, there's not really a good reason to not do things you like. also if its your religion then you probably weren't drinkin already so you didnt really give it up

I stopped drinking/making beer for a full year when I started College (kinda weird ehh) but did well in school for that year and then went back to the brews hard...A little too hard, now I've found a good balance.
I wish I could stop agian for another period of time to lose some damned weight tho...I just dont have the will-power to do it right now.

Forcing yourself to not drink for anything other than a medical reason is a bit masochistic IMO... Personally I don't drink enough to talk about. There have been times where it's taken me more than a month to go through a 6-pack... Since home brewing, I've had times where I go for weeks without (mostly due to waiting for bottles to be carbonated)... I've had a cold for the past week and a half, so I've refrained from any alcohol. Personally choice in doing that, and more to do with how I was brought up. I probably could have had one the other day, but I decided not to... 100% personal choice.

Sujeto said:

I discovered that 1) drunk people are annoying and 2) people don't carry alot of non-alcoholic beverages in the fridge other than water.

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Maybe YOUR friends are annoying drunken a$$holes... Some people are annoying/a$$holes sober or drunk. If you didn't tell them you're not drinking and they didnt' bother to have ANYTHING else to drink other than water, they probably aren't all that good of friends. Probably not too healthy either. Everyone I know have plenty of things to drink without alcohol in them. The vast majority of the time when I go over to someone's house, I don't have a beer when there. It used to be that I wanted to be sure I would be safe to drive when leaving. Now, it's more to do with wanting home brew over commercial brew.

As for the comment you made about marathons and climbing mountains... There are plenty of people that do those for the actual physical challenge (and part of the mental challenge)... Going X months without alcohol is pretty much all mental. Unless you're an actual alcoholic that has no desire to change, you CAN go for an extended period without drinking. It's just a matter of wanting to do so.

I do have to wonder why you posted 'I went 419 days without alcohol.' Says, to me, that it either wasn't really voluntary, or there was something else going on that really forced you to go that long... Remembering the exact day count as well seems a bit odd to me too... A bit too proud of that IMO...

I don't think you'll get any sympathy on these boards either...