are you an alcoholic?

are you an alcoholic?

i am kind of scared of getting deeper into this so called addicting hobby cause i might be drinking all the time...

convince me to stay otherwise...


are you an alcoholic

When I was younger, I took a few "are you an alcoholic?" tests. I felt that they were absurd. I took one that basically stated anybody who ever drinks before noon is an alcoholic. It was a little check box test.. nowhere for you to provide justification... such as the fact that I was working third shift at the time and getting off at 10am. I mean, do they really think I'd be less of an alcoholic if I start drinking at 10pm right before work?

Another test deemed me an alcoholic because I had more than 5 drinks in a sitting... without considering that I was drinking for 5-6 hours with friends and never got really drunk.

And so on. Bottom line, the tests I've seen have been ridiculously biased, but that isn't to say that there couldn't be a valid test somewhere. On the other hand, the bottom line is, if you think you may have a problem.. then maybe you do.

Nope!












...wait a minute. What do you mean denial is the first sign...?

Being an alcoholic is much more than just drinking a lot. I remember back in high school the DARE program tried to convince my class that if you drink everyday you're an alcoholic. The implication of this was they basically accused everyone's parents of being an alcoholic because many of the student's parents enjoyed a glass of wine or beer with dinner. That didn't go over well.

I think the more rigorous definition of an alcoholic would be "a dependency on alcohol that significantly disrupts your life." So for example, if you're addicted, and it's causing you to end up in jail every week on DUI charges, then you're an alcoholic. But if instead you drink everyday, but can do so responsibly, then you're by no means an alcoholic. In fact, you may even be addicted to alcohol, but if it doesn't disrupt your life, I don't see how that could be a problem.

I am a drunk, alcoholics go to meetings. Now I would admit I do have a drinking problem, two hands and only one mouth.

On a more serious note some people are predispositioned to becoming an alcoholic, it is said to be genetic. If you have a history of it in your family then you might become on but it is not certian. The question is do you know when to stop.

beala said:

But if instead you drink everyday, but can do so responsibly, then you're by no means an alcoholic. In fact, you may even be addicted to alcohol, but if it doesn't disrupt your life, I don't see how that could be a problem.

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Very good point there. It's one thing to be addicted. Hey, it's not a badge of honor, but how many folks are addicted to cigarettes or coffee or whatever? You want to live your life that way, I don't think people have ANY justification for telling you you're wrong. HOWEVER, if it starts to impact your life... if you need to bring a beer to coach your kid's little league game or need to sneak a little sip before church, then you've got a problem. If parents start pointing at you as the dude who's always had a few too many, then maybe you need to reevaluate your life.

I won't tell anyone how they ought to live their life, but when it reaches a point that it starts to affect others around you, then there's a situation that needs to be rectified.

I'm a manager at work. There's a girl who always smokes in the bathroom, pretty much knowing she won't get caught because the male managers aren't going in after her. To top it off, nobody has actually seen her smoking in there, but plenty of girls have complained, shortly after she's returned to her desk, that the bathroom wreaks of smoke. We've almost got her... correlating every time she takes a break to the bathroom wreaking.. to the point that it can't possibly be anyone else. See? That there is a problem. This dumb biotch is about to lose her job over cigarettes. She has a problem that is just as bad as alcoholism. She's letting her life be controlled by her need for a fix.. to the point that she can't do her job. Most people can be responsible about it...

simple test:

If I told you that if you drink one more beer, I'm going to take your kids, your wife, your money, your house, and your dog away, and you'll never see them again..... would you be able to not drink it? If the honest answer is yes, you're not an alcoholic.

shafferpilot said:

simple test:

If I told you that if you drink one more beer, I'm going to take your kids, your wife, your money, your house, and your dog away, and you'll never see them again..... would you be able to not drink it? If the honest answer is yes, you're not an alcoholic.

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so maybe i'll just drink 3/4 of a beer for my next beer then

"are you an alcoholic? "

Only on the weekend.

I work midnight mon-fri and i'm not going to drink before work and i go to bed after work.

Sure we all talk about this addicting hobby, but I think you'd be hard pressed to be serious about 'needing some beer to tide me over or I'll get the shakes'. There's been many a few times where I've had to say to myself "Oh man I can't wait to brew again.... but WTF am I going to do with all this beer I have now?? I can't possibly drink it all myself!" A lot of the addiction (heh) is the process of making it, and enjoying the fruits of our labors and letting, sometimes forcing, others to enjoy it as well.

It's really easy to make your own booze if you're a true alcoholic. Sugar, water and bread yeast. That's all it takes.

When I was younger, I was an alcoholic. By my definition anyway..

2 rules for me in regards to alcoholism:

#1 You can't have a good time without drinking

#2 your life is disrupted by your consumption.

I didn't realise I had a problem until I got DUI #2 and went to jail for 30 days, then I though.. "Hmmmm, this alcohol is BULLSH!T!" and gave it up for a couple of years.

Now I drink every day, sometimes too much, sometimes not enough, but I do drink pretty much every day. But you know what? I is not causing me ANY grief and I know I could stop again for a couple of years if I wanted to.

I don't drink and drive
I don't drink enough to get abusive to my family
I don't drink enough to cause health concerns

I drink enough to enjoy myself and to make other people interesting.

By some foolish measures, I am an alcoholic, but when reality comes into play, I think I have a pretty good grap on it, rather than it on me.

Plus I live in Australia... you don't fit in unless you are a pisshead!

Not an alcoholic.

I have a tougher time controlling what I eat than the amount of alcohol I drink.

I drink a lot. I'd say I have a few pints every night. However, it doesn't affect my life (well, brewing does, but drinking doesn't), and I have never felt like I either need to drink, or wouldn't be able to not drink at any time, so I'd say no, I'm not an alcoholic.

For the last month, me and SWMBO have be having basically one bottle of something different each night between the both of us. I will rarely drink more than two beers (my average is probably like 1.2 a night). Is it a problem, nope? I just drink to relax after supper while watching TV. I'm sure SWMBO would let me know, but including the health benefits of a drink or two a night and the relieving of stress (one beer a day has shown to decrease levels of stress), I really don't believe I'm addicted. In fact, SWMBO doesn't feel like drinking every night, so I get tasted maybe once a week.

Oh and one last thing, I've drunk driven once, I hated it, and will try to never do it again, I would just rather take a taxi or sleep where I am.

I enjoy my beer (alot!) and do not like any other types of liquor, hard or wine. I will usually have 3-4 beers a night when I am off (not on the night shift) and its over the period of about 3hrs. I drink them because I enjoy the taste and trying different beer styles. It doesnt make me drunk or even tipsy, so I would say no I am not an alcoholic.

I see enough alcoholics at work and they are usually wayyyy at the end of the spectrum.

Technically in this country, YES...

Technically in many other countries, NO...

This country likes to surround drinking with guilt and shame. I don't buy into the ultra conservative, one-sided alcoholic indicators. Do what you want to do. If it starts negatively affecting the important things in your life, then its a problem. You know working too much can also negatively affect many aspects of life. You don't see that brought up too often though...

I don't think I'm an alcoholic or even a drunk. For the most part, I do my best to conserve my beer. The closest I get to partaking in drunk-like behavior is planning an evening when my friends and I can share a growler and watch some movies or play video games at home. Although I did take a growler, once, for self medication.

Really, though, I couldn't get wasted/sloshed/drunk/etc. if I wanted to. My body actually turns itself off to any desire to drink once I've consumed enough alcohol to become buzzed. Strange, but true. Personally, I think it's a great little safeguard my physical chemistry has created for me. I suppose that explains why I don't take part in the binge drinking/macro drinking crowd and instead try to enjoy what beer I can tolerate consuming.

It sounds like I'm in the same boat as a lot of folks that have responded so far. I love to drink beer, but I don't *have* to drink beer. I may always be thinking about brewing beer or what my next recipe will be or what piece of brewing gadgetry I'm going to buy next but it's pretty rare for me to actually think about drinking beer unless I have something that I'm force carbing and I can't wait to try it.

I may go a week drinking 2 or 3 pints every evening, or a may go a week and only have 1 pint. There have been times that I'll stay up playing poker online for hours and pull 8 pints from the kegerator that's right behind me, and nights that some friends might come over and I have a few too many, but I never drink and drive, I rarely have more than one if I'm not at home, and my drinking never has and never will have a negative impact on my family or my job.

Of course it's all relative. My parents, who never drink at all, think that I'm a raging alcoholic simply because I brew beer and have 8-10 cases on hand at all times. :rockin:

I do think I have been drinking more, but somebody has to empty those kegs so I can brew again!

Soulive said:

Technically in this country, YES...

Technically in many other countries, NO...

This country likes to surround drinking with guilt and shame. I don't buy into the ultra conservative, one-sided alcoholic indicators. Do what you want to do. If it starts negatively affecting the important things in your life, then its a problem. You know working too much can also negatively affect many aspects of life. You don't see that brought up too often though...

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I REALLY hate to agree with a Yankees fan, but you bring up a great point here. In this country we're taught alcohol - ooh, so bad, stay away, but work - work harder, be better, ignore your family and other important things in your life.

To me workaholism is as bad as alcoholism, and it's tolerated and even condoned in this country. I remember reading a study recently that said workoholism is almost as big of a problem - medically, emotionally and socially - as alcoholism.

Professor Frink said:

I REALLY hate to agree with a Yankees fan, but you bring up a great point here. In this country we're taught alcohol - ooh, so bad, stay away, but work - work harder, be better, ignore your family and other important things in your life.

To me workaholism is as bad as alcoholism, and it's tolerated and even condoned in this country. I remember reading a study recently that said workoholism is almost as big of a problem - medically, emotionally and socially - as alcoholism.

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Its ok, my best friend and closest family member are Mets fans

No but seriously, look at the effects of being a workoholic. You can be dangerous behind the wheel due to fatigue, the stress can hurt your health and "performance", the extra hours are time away from family & friends, you can become irritable, etc. Basically, more beer less work!

My pops was an alcoholic---technically he still is, by their measure. It contributed to f*cking up my parents' marriage and all that, and he's been sober for, what, almost 20 years now I think. His mom was also an alcoholic.

So you can see why I'm always self-aware when it comes to this stuff. Much as I love brewing and drinking beer, if I ever got to the point where it was affecting my life in a negative way, I'd make a change. But, like Soulive, I won't be shamed into teetotaling by a society consumed with phobias against various "vices".

The simple rule that I use is... do I *need* to have a beer every night? Can I go a couple nights in a row without pulling a pint? I haven't had a drink since Sunday night, and even then I only had a pint (I know, it was the Super Bowl, pathetic... )

But, I'm fine with that. I also won't allow myself to have a drink if I'm feeling depressed, I don't want that to become a crutch (and since drinking to excess just magnified whatever mood I'm already in, it doesn't make me feel any better).

So, I'm not a drunk (I don't think).

I drink, I like to drink, I like to drink with my friends, I like to drink while sitting in front of my computer playing video games, I drink with my wife(I'm teaching her to like good beer).

Yes I do drink to excess on occasion, do I drive no, do I fight no.

Do I need to....NO.

There have been a few times where I thought I was slipping that way and I just stopped for a few weeks. Made that next beer taste so good when I hadn't drank 12 of them already that week.

Being a theology student, I encounter a WIDE array of views on alcohol. Personally, I believe in moderation, as pretty much everyone else here has been saying. I probably average a beer per day, though this week contains both a Super Bowl and a UNC/Duke game, so I'll overshoot the average.
For me, it's about being brutally honest with myself. I need to know that I have control over my drinking, with no rationalization allowed. That seems to work. Also, I get hungover fairly easily and can't stand it, so that helps curb things.

I am not an alcoholic. I can go without drinking every day, but I really don't like to.
Last night, for example, I went running after the kids were put to bed. By the time I got home and showered up it was 10:00pm. I almost opened a beer, my mouth was watering for it and I really wanted one, but I passed. After I got over the initial temptation I didn't think about it again.

I normally drink one or two pints a day and I'm comfortable with that level of consumption. SWMBO is getting onto a health kick, and she claims that drinking beer every day is making her fat. I say its the 3 scoops of ice cream every night after dinner thats making her fat, and not the beer.

I do think that homebrewing makes me want to drink more. I get a thrill of enjoyment everytime I drink one of my own beers. I think to myself "Damn, I made this!". That's pride, not dependence. When I was drinking only commercial brew it was much easier to go days at a time without drinking anything at all.

I've known a fair number of alcoholics, but I don't know one who is also a homebrewer. Not saying it doesn't happen, maybe they don't go to club meetings. My alcohol consumption certainly hasn't changed by brewing myself. It's definitely lower than it was during my wine stage and much lower than when I was in the Navy.

My father's father was an alcoholic and my father was a teetotaler. I think the only alcohol to pass his lips was at communion. My brother was an alcoholic, druggie and an evangelical christian, but it was his over-eating that killed him.

I think being an alcoholic is a mind set, I was really bad a few years ago and was violent and a total ******* I would fight everyone when I got drunk, destroy the house and finally the Swmbo and kid left me. she told me to get my life straight or that was it. I enrolled in AA and quit drinking for almost 2 years, I got all my personal problems that were hindering me fixed and Started drinking once in a great while moderatley, with no problems. Then I started drinking a little more often with no problems, and now quite often. I dont ever get obnoxious anymore nor angry, and when Im in a bad mood I dont drink period, so thats why I think its a mind set and used to fix problems and it ends up leading to problems.

Society in general seems to have a negative image of homebrewers and beer lovers, but no one seems to find it equally as bad if a person has a big wine cellar. Beer is still perceived as a lower class beverage consumed by drunks and the less wealthy.

McKBrew said:

Beer is still perceived as a lower class beverage consumed by drunks and the less wealthy.

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I agree for the most part and its sad. I personally am doing my best to change that problem...

Soulive said:

I agree for the most part and its sad. I personally am doing my best to change that problem...

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As am I. I try to let BMC drinkers know what they are missing as often as I possibly can.

ohiobrewtus said:

As am I. I try to let BMC drinkers know what they are missing as often as I possibly can.

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That's automatic for me. I'm at the point now where I always try to talk to store owners / restaurant managers if I feel the selection's not good. About 3 months ago I got one of the local shops to start carrying craft. He added 2 fridges and filled them with some great stuff that I suggested!

Soulive said:

That's automatic for me. I'm at the point now where I always try to talk to store owners / restaurant managers if I feel the selection's not good. About 3 months ago I got one of the local shops to start carrying craft. He added 2 fridges and filled them with some great stuff that I suggested!

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Impressive! I may have to start doing the same.

ohiobrewtus said:

Impressive! I may have to start doing the same.

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Yeah man, that guy in particular gives me free stuff now. I'm working on a local restaurant to devote one of their taps to rotating craft. Its gonna have to be something that BMC distributes though. Shouldn't be too difficult...

i'm a functioning alcoholic...sometimes. basically i drink to my hearts content and make it to work each day. once in a while, i'll go overboard and be late for work or wind up with a massive hangover, then i usually take a little time off and settle things down a bit. it's a vicious, yet entertaining cycle.

i'm half-joking. i like the drinking more than i like getting drunk. i like to try new beers and enjoy my homebrew. but one of my problems is that i like a lot of heavy beers.

my recent solution: make flavorful small beers to have in the keg at home. then i can drink all i want without getting hammered...enjoy the big beers on the weekend.

Functional Alcoholic.

Yes I must drink (beer only).

But...

If beer tasted as good without alcohol, I'd drink it.
I don't drink if we're out driving.
I put in 60-65 hours a week at work...in a highly cerebral position.
I'm putting three kids through college right now.
I'd never think of drinking during work hours.
No drinking till my chores or other tasks around the house are done.
I spend about 10 hours a week at the gym.
I never pass out from drinking.
When my stomach is full, I stop drinking.
I’ve never forgotten the night before.

So in other words…yes. I drink every day. But it’s not all I do.

I think I drink less now that I home brew. I have always been a booze fan over beer, Tequila being my drink of choice, and only drinking enough beer to wash it down. I use to drink sometimes once a week, sometimes 4 times a week, but then I wouldn't have the desire to drink for a few weeks, or a few months. On the other hand, I drank 4-6 shots of Tequila to every beer (again only drinking beer to wash it down) and could put down .5 litters in a night. I never considered myself a alcoholic, just a binge drinker.

Also, I never get angry, or violent or anything eles when I drink. I'm lucky I guess, unlike I've heard others say, I don't have a problem drinking when I'm angry, depressed, etc. it just makes me happy and I forget all about what I'm angry about. I would drink until I'm ready for bed, or I've had so much that I start getting dizzy.

Now that I'm brewing, I drink probably 3-4 nights a week, but only 1 - 4 beers (usually 1 -2) unless it's a party or something.

So, yes I use to drink A LOT, and now I guess I still drink more than what's recommended by society, but it doesn't interfere with my life. I don't buy beer/booze when I can't afford it. I don't drink unless I'm in a safe place where I won't have to drive, and I don't skip events, or arrange my life around drinking.

I like to drink, but I never feel the need to drink. I think that is a big deciding factor. If you need to drink, chances are you have a problem

I can go weeks without drinking anything. Then again, I can enjoy a beer or two with dinner, then a couple more afterwards, or if I am BBQing, I can drink plenty. It's hard to count with a kegerator.

PeteOz77 said:

When I was younger, I was an alcoholic. By my definition anyway..

2 rules for me in regards to alcoholism:
#1 You can't have a good time without drinking
#2 your life is disrupted by your consumption.

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That pretty much sums it up there. The third rule I would add is you don't realize that you have to have a drink to have a good time and you don't know or don't care that it disrupts your life.

I was definitely drinking alcoholically in school... everything was about getting tore up. Now definitely not. I watched an alcoholic family member get run through the system, picked them up from a psych ward after an arrest, went to a couple AA meetings with them for their 365 and 1825 day* D) achievements. It really opened my eye's to whats at the end of that downward spiral. On average I probably drink bewtween 1-2 a day, but there are many days I have a great time without even thinking about having a beer. I remember when I was growing up it was always about planning an event, and making sure we had enough ice to hold us through. Now I realize thats messed up.

Maybe it would be interesting to see how many you really have... keep track of the ounces of beverage you drink in a spreadsheet. If you are really honest about it, the results could be interesting!