I’ve long joked that I have a buying problem, not a drinking problem. (No, really! I probably did so when I was a guest on this podcast about the perils of overaging beer not too long ago.) And by that I simply mean that I buy more beer than I can drink due to factors like FOMO and wanting to support breweries and even simply because some places still only sell beer by the multipack.
But for a long time I pretty much had at least one beer just about every night. Because I love trying new beers. And getting ticks on untappd. And sharing with friends. And enjoying a few cold ones while grilling, or just sitting in front of the TV. And out of habit.
And, well, I'm not sure doing so has always been beneficial. I know it certainly hasn't been great for my weight. In fact, back in 2016 I pretty much gave up drinking entirely for three months following a really bad car accident (not my fault, and I have the police reports to prove it!) that left me confined to a wheel chair and away from home for a long time while my ankle, elbow and thumb all healed. I lost a lot of weight between the crappy/"healthy" food I had over that time and, well, having maybe six beers over that time. But in four and a half years I managed to gain it all back, and probably even a bit more.
And my health in general. I'm turning 51 this summer. And would like to make it, I dunno, at least 25 more years. Which can be difficult with hypertension and the heavies.
Plus, now and then, I may've said or texted or posted something that slipped past my filter while drinking, which is never cool.
Beyond that, at a certain point I feel like there should be more to my personality than craft beer. And maybe even to my new friendships, which mostly involve people I've met through this hobby.
I've tamped down my drinking, ideally down to no more than four nights a week, with a goal of no more than six beers per week unless I attend a bottle share. But still, the weight was creeping up.
So in late January I just sort of said "what the fuck?" and decided that since February was shaping up to be quite cold I wouldn't be socializing much anyway (I'm pretty strict on the covid thing) and it's the shortest month of the year I'd just see about doing without alcohol for the whole month. (Lest ye think I went totally puritan, I was as always armed with plenty of cannabis.)
And...it wasn't that bad! In fact, my beer fridge was kept shut for almost the entire month. I didn't get the DTs, I didn't have any really strong cravings despite spending most evenings in my basement, which includes a whiskey bar and all manner of beer paraphernalia. I went to a few beer releases to buy bottles and cans and didn't feel horribly about not being able to imbibe. (And, in one funny incident, I received two free cans of beer from one of my favorite breweries after spotting their delivery van out in the wild, letting the driver cut in ahead of me and shouting my love for their product while waving my hat from said brewery at the driver. We ended up next to each other at a red light and he jumped out and gifted me the two cans.)
The only awkwardness was when friends decided to hold a share on a lovely, sunny 50-degree day. I was committed to seeing this thing through, and knew from experience that being around drinkers at a drinking-centric event when you're sober really isn't a very enjoyable time once they catch their buzz. So I skipped it.
Happily, I found that there were several flash releases that I missed and...didn't really care! Even after some recent selloffs and some wholesale dumping of old beers down the laundry sink, my cellar and beer fridge combined contain at least 400 bottles and cans. There are certain breweries (ahem, Side Project!) that run their online releases such that I'm pretty sure I'll never win the rights to buy (seriously guys, that B:B:T may still be in my online cart!), and a lot of other places have gone to random draws that I'm pretty sure I have below-average luck on (I don't have the data to actually know for sure).
So, where does this all leave me? In the unlikely event that I'm not in bed at midnight tonight, I may crack a beer then. More realistically, tomorrow evening will be fine. Doubt I'll go too crazy with the RAR factor; in fact, an IPA -- perhaps one of the free ones I got on Friday -- sounds pretty lovely.
Longer term? I'm probably out of the "whale" game. As with every luxury good, the correlation between price and quality increases for beers isn't justifiable to me if I can't get it at retail cost. I've got a pair of good trading relationships going, and will continue to score out-of-market product through them for that bit of "wow" factor. I'll probably still do the occasional four-hour trips for allocated releases to places like St. Louis and bumblefuck, er, Amherst, Wisconsin, though.
So, yeah. I like beer. But it doesn't like me as much as I like it, so things will be different moving forward.
PS -- My March 1 weigh-in came in eight pounds lower than the one I did on February 1!
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