Body rejecting beer!!! Leaning towards low ABV (session) beers

[Denny]

My drinking consists of 1 pint of beer 2 or 3 nights during the week, either with dinner or just after, but it's on the weekends where I used to try to cut loose and unwind. This is where I would consume anywhere from 4 - 8 beers in a night only to become absolutely immobile the following day.

I have a 15 month old now and have really had to rethink everything involving drinking. It's gotten to the "its just not worth" point for me. If I can't help the one who depends on me the most the next day then I've got to make the necessary changes.

I still enjoy brewing and drinking but my beers and/or habits are going to have to change.

You, sir, are a sensible man!

 

[conpewter]

I can have issues with even 1 beer if I have it right before bed, wake up with a headache. If I have it with supper I'm good, and usually if I drink some water before bed that helps too. I still find it weird that 1 beer (even if it is a 7% one) can make me feel it so bad the next day, I'm only 31 grr

 

[heckler73]

I went to a stag in Whistler on Friday. The body is still rejecting beer (luckily only fresh beer in the bottle)

 

[eastoak]

i quit drinking for almost 10 yrs because i could not handle the ill effects but now i can drink 1 beer a night, no more.

 

[bigdaddybrew]

Are you overweight? Do you snore at night?You may have obstructive sleep apnea. I found as I got older my hangovers got worse. Alcohol makes sleep apnea much worse. Turns out I was choking in my sleep. Got a cpap mask now I don't choke and I feel much better after drinking.

 

[Piratwolf]

I can have issues with even 1 beer if I have it right before bed, wake up with a headache. If I have it with supper I'm good, and usually if I drink some water before bed that helps too. I still find it weird that 1 beer (even if it is a 7% one) can make me feel it so bad the next day, I'm only 31 grr

I went through that phase for about 3-4 years in my late 20s & early 30s. It passed though, thank goodness, and left me less interested in getting wild but still able to enjoy a good beer.

 

[rico567]

I live in the Northeast and brew twice a year, during the cooler (not winter) months. I love beer and always have but at 66 I find I can take a max of up to 3 twelve ouncers total in a day with no aftereffects. My beer usually is around the 5% ABV mark and I caertainly can feel it after a 22 ounce bottle. With that in mind I usually finish brewing at or around the start of baseball season (350 or so bottles) and then when the fall approaches I get set to refill all my empties.

This is pretty much exactly my situation, brew schedules and all. Two bottles a day is about my métier, perhaps three a day or two a week. Nothing more complicated than being in my seventh decade on this planet. Like the arthritis, I may not like it, but I've learned to live with it. Adapt or pay the penalty.

 

[AllHopAbandon]

...Hangovers and the like are caused by dehydration and vitamin depletion due to the diarrhetic effect of alcohol...

Please tell me you mean 'diuretic'...

 

[grouperdude]

pedialyte the night before with some extra water thrown in

 

[EllisTX]

This is pretty much exactly my situation, brew schedules and all. Two bottles a day is about my métier, perhaps three a day or two a week. Nothing more complicated than being in my seventh decade on this planet. Like the arthritis, I may not like it, but I've learned to live with it. Adapt or pay the penalty.

Damn Rico. You've given me something to shoot for. I hope I'm still brewing 40 years from now.

 

[DrummerBoySeth]

Another "old" guy chiming in here... I am 38, and much like many of you, I have found the hangovers getting worse with age. The best way I have found to prevent it is to take a multivitamin before a night of drinking. Even though I VERY RARELY drink enough to actually get drunk anymore. (I can't even remember the last time I drank until I was sick) I still have hangovers if I drink more than 4 homebrews in a night. (8% homebrews, that is... I have a Tripel and a R.I.S. bottled right now). However, when I remember to take the vitamins before going to bed, then I find that the headache is only a minor annoyance, and the awful jackhammer monkeys seem to stay at home.

 

[HawksBrewer]

Please tell me you mean 'diuretic'...

Thank God someone caught this, I was about to post the same thing. Thankfully, I don't suffer from diarrhetic issues.

 

[conpewter]

Are you overweight? Do you snore at night?You may have obstructive sleep apnea. I found as I got older my hangovers got worse. Alcohol makes sleep apnea much worse. Turns out I was choking in my sleep. Got a cpap mask now I don't choke and I feel much better after drinking.

Thanks for the thoughts I'm Pretty skinny actually, I don't snore (not much at least, only occasionally according to the wife).

I do know when I was a kid I would stop breathing in my sleep so mom slept next to my bed for my first 1 or 2 years of life. I'll ask my wife if she ever notices me having problems breathing while sleeping.

I also was told I'm pre-diabetic a couple years ago, (resting glucose at 102). I've changed my diet since then, but not always "on the wagon" with the low carb diet/paleo.

Hopefully this will happen

I went through that phase for about 3-4 years in my late 20s & early 30s. It passed though, thank goodness, and left me less interested in getting wild but still able to enjoy a good beer.

But until then I'll keep doing the water and an advil before bed, which seems to help a lot.

 

[Homercidal]

My hangovers can vary from none to feeling like crap and not wanting to eat or do anything until the afternoon of the next day. The amount of alcohol it takes to get a hangover can vary greatly.

Lately only a couple in the afternoon/evening before bed will make me feel lousy the next day. I'm not convinced it's dehydration. I've weighed myself and measured the amount of whizz and it's nowhere close to dehydration level. In fact, when I woke up with a lousy headache my measurements said I was just the same weight and actually got rid of less water than I took in.

I think it has to do more with what you eat and what kind of vitamins you take that can help. A few times I've gotten fairly tipsy and went to bed and woke up feeling great. Other times I've had only 2 beers and woke up feeling lousy. Again, not enough alcohol to cause dehydration.

My best preventative is to drink a 5 hour energy before drinking and one the next day. The B vitamins seem to help. I also try not to go to sleep feeling dizzy. It makes it hard for me to get a restful sleep.

 

[Indianhead_Brewer]

Glad to know other old timers (a.k.a. - 30-somethings) are feeling some of the same ill effects that I have the past 2-3 years. I can't imagine consuming as much alcohol as I did in college. If I drank the couple of 40oz. cheap Mickey's that I used to consume on a Friday night in college I would be laid up for days at my age now. Drinking today consists of a couple of pints spread out over the evening with an equal amount of water between and after. Every once in awhile I get stupid and try to do what I once did and I always end up regretting it the next day and probably the day after that too.

 

[BlueDuck]

Wow i'm lucky. As I get older (41) I'm going in the opposite direction. I can drink beer all day and all night long. Wake up the next morning and never feel like I had a drink the day before. When I was in college the next day hangovers killed me for days. Hangovers had me hating life to the point I didnt want to drink. But now I can drink beer like bottled water.

 

[EllisTX]

I wonder if the real issue is that most ~30 somethings are just growing out of the "invincible" stage of life and we're starting to realize that self preservation is necessary. Things maybe used to hurt as bad as they do now but suddenly thoughts of the future make them seem worse. Just a thought.

 

[Homercidal]

FWIW I've never had a good tolerance for alcohol...

I'm surprised sometimes by waking up feeling fine. Sometimes I'm depressed about how little it took for me to feel like crap.

 

[Jayhem]

Good to see that this is a VERY common issues as our bodies age. I'm 33 and can rarely drink more than 3-4, 6%abv homebrews in one night without feeling the ill effects the next morning. I always try to intake plenty of water after drinking and during the night afterwards but I suppose old age makes us more susceptible to the poisoning effects of alcohol. I have found the best thing to do to avoid being hungover is to stop drinking alcohol at least 3 hours before going to sleep and drink water for those last 3 hours instead. It also helps to eat during drinking to minimize the alcohol absorption.

 

[befus]

Well I guess I am in the ancient category along with a couple others. I am over 60 and drink 3-5 beers/drinks most days. I can say the comments on hangovers and age are very much true for me. Back in my youth over indulgence might lead to a severe hangover which would mitigate by noon the next day and be gone by 4:00 the next afternoon. Now, on those rare occasions I really mess up, it will take as long as two and a half days to recover from flu like symptoms and longer to feel really normal. As I am retired now I stay up later and it leads me to one or two more brews than when I had to get up at an early hour; blessing or curse, I don't know. I have heard a Powerade or Gatorade at bed time is helpful.

 

[evandena]

Here's my tip: obviously drink water throughout the night, but eat a banana before you go to bed.

 

[BBL_Brewer]

I don't usually get a hang over unless I catch a pretty good buzz. I can drink 5 or 6 pints over the course of the day and have no ill effects in the morning. But if I drink 2 or 3 in the course of a couple hours then I'll feel it the next day. I've gotten to the point where I don't like to get buzzed on alcahol. If I start to feel buzzed, I'll normally slack off or switch to water. I've also been waking up more and more often to a partially filled glass beer sitting on the end table. If I was still bottling beer instead of kegging I would probably waste a lot more.

 

[Fennis]

I am honestly amazed and confused by comments here. I don't mean to judge, but first of all to say a 30 something is old is just foolish. I am 30, and I don't even remotely feel old, tired, or like I can't do what I once used to do. I exercise, eat well, and while I do enjoy beer, I may drink 1 in a night, certainly not every night of the week, and if I am in a more social situation, after 2 or 3 I call it a night--as far as drinking is concerned. Some are making it sound like once you hit 30+ that we might as well pull out our canes and electric scooters because we cannot binge drink like we did 10 years ago in college. Sorry, but we were never meant to handle loads of alcohol in one sitting, its technically a poison to our bodies. If you are drinking multiple beers every night and are coming to the conclusion that you are tired, hung over, or just feel bad the next day--maybe you need to stop drinking so much and so often. I do not mean to judge or call people out, but seriously, complaining you cannot drink more than 2 or 3 a night just sounds like you need to step back and look at why you think you need to drink that much to begin with. Sorry to be a downer, but I greatly enjoy this hobby and anyone who embraces it, but you don't have to embrace it so much that you become an alcoholic or dependent on alcohol. I only speak up on this as I am literally watching my father-in-law kill himself over alcohol. Its tearing his family apart and it really upsets my wife. So I am just interjecting with my opinion that if you are 30+ and complaining that you cannot drink more than a few drinks in a sitting--maybe that isn't a bad thing and maybe you need to reflect on why you think you need to drink more than that.

 

[crunchydoc]

Something one of the posters mentioned earlier is the yeast. Both the fusel alcohol standpoint AND the yeast themselves. You may have developed a sensitivity (allergy) to the yeast. It could be affecting you with intestinal problems or give you the headaches and "flu like" symptoms. Does this happen only when drinking homebrew or microbrew? You can control YOUR batches a little by cold crashing your beer before bottling/kegging. It should reduce the yeast in solution and minimize it's effect.

OR, like many have mentioned here....you are just getting old.

 

[Piratwolf]

Wow i'm lucky. As I get older (41) I'm going in the opposite direction. I can drink beer all day and all night long. Wake up the next morning and never feel like I had a drink the day before. When I was in college the next day hangovers killed me for days. Hangovers had me hating life to the point I didnt want to drink. But now I can drink beer like bottled water.

This is true for me now after the rough patch I mentioned to conpewter when I was his age. I bolded the part above b/c I still find it hard to believe how bad it was. I was hungover for >48 hours once after 2 mid-ABV beers! But whatever changed, it was around 33-34 when that all went away.

@Fennis~ I'm 41 and would generally agree with your opening statement: don't feel old or tired (anymore than I ever have, that is). The one difference I will note, and perhaps my "old timer" peers will agree: SOMETHING on my body always hurts. Shoulder, foot, knee, back... low-level pain is a fairly constant companion. No big deal and not unexpected after living hard for 30+ years... but there it is. Makes me happy that I can have a few really good beers now to balance out the discomfort

 

[Fennis]

@Fennis~ I'm 41 and would generally agree with your opening statement: don't feel old or tired (anymore than I ever have, that is). The one difference I will note, and perhaps my "old timer" peers will agree: SOMETHING on my body always hurts. Shoulder, foot, knee, back... low-level pain is a fairly constant companion. No big deal and not unexpected after living hard for 30+ years... but there it is. Makes me happy that I can have a few really good beers now to balance out the discomfort

Ok, maybe I did go a little far in saying that I am completely unaffected by being 30. If I don't work out consistently and then go back to it after taking a few days off, I don't just drive right into it again because I end up hurting my back or arm muscles which was never the case when I was in college--so maybe age is catching up to me and I am in denial. Then again my dad is 67 and now just realizing that maybe he cannot do everything he did when he was my age now. So stubbornness runs in the family...

 

[CBXBob]

Based on earlier posters ages, I'm am ancient, At 64 1/2.
I've always loved beer, and except for a period in my 30's that I drank hard liquor (5 years) haven't had any real bad hangovers. I don't enjoy liquor, and can't remember the last mixed drink I had, been that long. And wine always gives me a headache. Tannin's, sulfite's? Doesn't matter, not as good as beer anyway.
I still love beer, and drink my share and then some. I don't feel old, am active, still ride my Honda 6 cylinder motorcycle, and have lots of enthusiasm for life, and that now includes my new hobby, home brewing.
And now that I'm making my own beer, I am drinking much better beer than I ever realized there was. I used to think Fosters, and Corona were premium beers
If you are unfortunately adversely affected by drinking beer, my heart goes out to you. But if you can only tolerate one or two beers a day (or week) that beer should be one awesome home brew!

 

[EllisTX]

I am honestly amazed and confused by comments here. I don't mean to judge, but first of all to say a 30 something is old is just foolish. I am 30, and I don't even remotely feel old, tired, or like I can't do what I once used to do.

No one is saying that 30 is old. I think that a lot of 30 year olds are realizing that the level of drinking they did 6-10 years earlier affects them more. Also, i think that more that usual beer consumption is something that comes along with this hobby for most people. Whether it's healthy or not.

 

[Jayhem]

I'm 33 and I think 30+ is over the hill physically. I didn't feel aches and pains in my 20's. I could do anything without stretching and rarely pulled a muscle. Now I have to be super careful and warm up before any sports or strenuous activity to avoid hurting myself. It's sadly the truth fellas.

Medically speaking human beings reach their physical peak between 18 and the lower 20's. Why are there so few pro athletes over 30? Because yes, we really do start to go downhill when approaching 30. How many guys who were trim and fit in highschool/college are now overweight and out of shape at 30 something? I'd say at least 75%.

We can make a lot of mistakes in college and not pay for it physically but as we age we need to learn to take care of ourselves if we want to stay healthy. Binge drinking is not healthy.

 

[dbrewski]

I'm 33 and I think 30+ is over the hill physically. I didn't feel aches and pains in my 20's. I could do anything without stretching and rarely pulled a muscle. Now I have to be super careful and warm up before any sports or strenuous activity to avoid hurting myself. It's sadly the truth fellas. ....[snip] Binge drinking is not healthy.

Wow. This thread morphed from "I'm starting to brew lighter beers" to "how much do you drink?" to "you drink too much!" and the final reduction "binge drinking is bad". And now 30 is the new 70?

I am nearly 50 and do half-marathons and cross train. And I drink copious amounts of beer. Drink what you can handle. If you have more than a couple, drink a good amount of water. Eat right, exercise, take yer vitamins, make good homebrew, and drink it.

What great news for all the 30 somethings! Your life is not yet quite over! Let's celebrate by having one beer and then going to bed early.