Can you handle your drink?

Can you handle your drink?

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Discussion

cathalferris

108 posts

153 months

Tuesday 21st October 2014
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Hmm.. I've not had memory lapses from alcohol since the age of 16. I really overdid it at that stage with 2 cans, 2 naggins, and a highball glass of Grappa, over 3 hours, and I couldn't touch spirits without gagging for a few years afterwards. I got better though.

coming from a family that has had a few alcoholics in it, I've always been careful with my longterm alcohol intake. Apparently my genetics predispose me to be able to hold my drink well, proven a few times over the past two decades of drinking.

My graduation ball from uni started with drinks in the hotel where the ball was on at about 7pm, followed by dinner with drinks included. Dancing happened, still with more drinks. At 3am, when the last bus was going home I hd 5-6 drinks in front of me then my friends working security for the event invited myself and a few others for late drinks with them in the hotel bar. Late drinks turned into early drinks, then breakfast, then more drinks, then a transfer back to the college bar where another mate was manager. I had to stagger back to the house I was staying in at half 6 in the evening as I could no longer stay awake. Not particularly drunk, but nodding asleep. Woke at 10am the next day bright eyed and bushy-tailed, and actually sober. Averaged something like one and a half drinks an hour for a solid 24 hours.

My 30th birthday is probably the most I've drank since then, counted up all the drinks I had, and got to 18 drinks apart from the pint of blue stuff that my barman mate concocted to try to knock me out. I liked so much another was put in front of me.. Overall, it worked out at something like 25 or 30 drinks from 8pm to 2am. No memory lapses but definitely some amusing behaviour. Woke up where I was supposed to wake up, beside who I was supposed to wake up beside, at 10am the next day and was still slightly drunk at that point, but was completely sober by 4pm. No hangover either..

Lately though, I try not to drink that much. If I have a few drinks of an evening, getting to that happy/merry state for a few hours, I'll generally wake up with a very mild hangover that will dissipate by 10am. The bad part is that I'll usually start to develop a migraine by 4pm from the presence of the alcohol and the disturbed sleep cycle. The pain is rarely worth the drinking these days. It has meant that in the past decade, my first kisses with girls have all been while stone-cold sober.

I can hold my drink fairly well - I don't turn into an idiot nor an a*sehole, just a more smiley version of my normal self. More and more drinking usually sends me into sleepy state and since I no longer drink caffeine (deeper migraines) I don't have the Redbull option.

greggy50

6,161 posts

190 months

Tuesday 21st October 2014
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As a recent graduate I feel I can handle my drink

It does worry me somewhat how much alcohol I can consume on a night out to be honest...

nicanary

9,751 posts

145 months

Wednesday 22nd October 2014
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I'm back, the "supposed 24 pints in 2 hours" guy.

I have now heard back from my old mate, and of course you were all right, and I was wrong. I like to think I'm brave enough to take the flak - many people would simply not return to the thread if they were going to look a prat.

His usual intake was 10-12 pints on Sunday lunchtime, but this could increase under certain circumstance, such as the challenge match I mentioned. My mate doubts if it was 24 pints though, maybe 15 or 16. And he admits what we all suspected, it was probably 2.8% proof tap bitter. But he confirms that his dad DID cycle home afterwards - this ceased in older age, when he used to cadge a lift from a neighbour, and his intake in his last 10 years of life was down to 6 pints a session (!).

I've seen the man drink, and I've never seen anything like it. He never got drunk in the accepted sense, just use to get a little louder and redder in the face. He was a legend round our way. His son, my mate, was a big bloke too - used to open the batting , and later the bowling, for Norfolk Schoolboys. Very quick in his day.

Anyway - sorry folks. Memory can play tricks.