The science of Drunk Science (and why I am never making another one)

If you still drink a toast for someone’s birthday, then you are no longer a “former” drinker except in the sense that you have formerly drank alcohol and fully intend to do so again in the future.

I love beer, man. Genuinely love it. An alcoholic I am not, but beer I will always love.

I have anxiety issues, but no health insurance and no money. Sometimes I turn into such a shaking mess that can’t think straight.

So I go to Safeway. I find the best bomber (22 oz.) that I can afford – a nice, strong, hoppy IPA. Something 7% ABV or above. I make sure to study the label if it’s a beer I haven’t had before. Once I get home, I may Google it before I open it.

Then I open it. Man, do I love that sound. Then I pour it into a clean, cool glass. I let it settle. I breath it in. I take that first delicious, glorious, bubbly, bitter, wonderful sip… and I already feel better. By the third sip, my anxiety has dropped away to a low hum.

There is no way the alcohol works by then. None! And yet…

Alcohol can be appreciated for what it is. That isn’t the same thing as glorifying it.

I do agree we have a problem with the glorifying of alcohol, but I don’t think craft beer or very aged (and therefore expensive) whiskey is the problem. In fact, they are the OPPOSITE of glorifying alcohol: Craft beer and aged whiskey are all about appreciating and respecting alcohol for what it is. You don’t want to slam craft beer, just like you don’t want to slam whiskey.

Personally, I think the appreciate of good, craft beer is a really great swing AWAY from the glorification of binging. This country is starting to appreciate and RESPECT beer again. It’s a good start.

If he had passed out, we would have definitely taken him to the hospital. What happened was that he blacked out, meaning he doesn’t remember the evening beyond a certain point.

Then I open it. Man, do I love that sound. Then I pour it into a clean, cool glass. I let it settle. I breath it in. I take that first delicious, glorious, bubbly, bitter, wonderful sip… and I already feel better. By the third sip, my anxiety has dropped away to a low hum.

I do agree we have a problem with the glorifying of alcohol

[cow prods marilove with stick and runs]

If he had passed out, we would have definitely taken him to the hospital.

You’re no fun.

How is appreciating beer and enjoying the entire process of enjoying beer “glorifying” it? Or is appreciating a really good movie “glorifying” movies? What about a delicious steak? Is that “glorifying” steak?

Replace the motions of my enjoying a beer with you enjoying a nice, delicious, bloody steak.

With a beer on the side, of course. Maybe a nice stout.

ETA: And you highlighted “by the third sip, my anxiety is gone”. That’s likely not the alcohol taking my anxiety away; there wouldn’t be enough time.

BTW, I also feel this same sense of calm when I’m able to choose the diner I want to go to, and then go through the whole process of sitting down, ordering, and eating my meal with a really good book that I’m super into. By the time I sit down and order, I’m usually feeling better.

Am I glorifying eating out at greasy diners?

Am I glorifying eating out at greasy diners?

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I have alcoholics (major ones) in my family but for some reason it affects me totally differently. I don’t see the point in doing anything other than getting hammered. I enjoy all kinds of quality alcohol and I drink to get wasted.

…But I only drink once in a while. Maybe once a month. I never drink when I’m sad and I never black out or pass out. I usually just get tired and go to sleep. I have no idea why it affects me that way.

That said… I’ll repeat: five doubles of whiskey is a shit-ton, even without all the other stuff. I think watching people get wasted and try to do normal things is hilarious but this video would’ve been a lot better if he wasn’t so completely hammered.

But you still kinda know what I mean, don’t ya?

Quite true. You seem to use it as more of ritual to reduce anxiety, i.e., the ritual is more important than the alcohol.

It’s drunk science. Test for blood alcohol content before the interview.

…and the narrators (like Charles Q. Choi in Drunk Science)
remember very little of their experience afterward. “[Our team is] truly great at making it a safe situation,”

Uh, hate to be a killjoy, but any time you drink so much you can’t remember WTF happened, AFAIK that’s evidence of significant brain damage. I’m not sure it’s a great idea to call that ‘safe’.

Too much alcohol tends to make me ill (I have a sensitive stomach). Then I just eat too many tums. I’m … old, now.

Double post.

Double vision.

A while back I got myself a breathalyzer, partly to test party guests who plan to drive home, but mostly so I could have a scientific way to gauge how drunk I was at a given point in time.

It does, obviously, take time for booze consumed to show up in the breath, but I have found it surprisingly informative. I now have a good feeling for how drunk the legal driving limit feels (terrifying high, from my subjective experience).

A safer method of doing this might, at minimum, include checking BAC during the drunkening before deciding to apply more booze.

I now have a good feeling for how drunk the legal driving limit feels (terrifying high, from my subjective experience).

Ut oh, maybe you need to calibrate it and/or get another one to compare the results with?

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