Drinking more under quarantine?

[Glengoyne]

So in the past three months I have gone from drinking mostly only scotch once or twice a week to drinking probably close to two drinks a night on average. I started to watch this YouTube channel howtodrink and I'm now routinely mixing cocktails for my wife and I. I used to make the occasional old fashioned, but these days I'm enjoying a daiquiri or a manhattan most nights.

Anyone else tying one on more often these days?

[Groundhog]

Absolutely. Especially the first couple of months of COVID-19 which coincided with buying a house and moving, we went from maybe having a couple of glasses of wine 2-3 nights a week while watching movies/netflix pre-lock down, to every single night. I think we were probably doing 1-1.5 bottles of wine between us a night on average. We've made an effort to slow down the past month and have at least 3 completely alcohol free nights a week, but we broke that last night...

[RendeR]

I'm drinking more than I had been, but tis tapering off a bit.

[Chief Rum]

I thought I would drink more, but it turns out not so. Most of my drinking was going out to grab a beer or two to watch sports, and then I would occasionally have a beer at home. Obviously, the bar action went down to nada, and I found that I didn't increase home drinking to compensate. Just continued to have that same occasional beer maybe once or twice a week.

[BYU 14]

Haven't been much of a drinker for a looong time, standard is 1-3 drinks a week, usually all consumed in a Friday happy hour. In the last couple of weeks I have been having 1-2 drinks 3 or 4 times a week. Almost excessive be my normal standards.

[RainMaker]

I tried White Claw for the first time last weekend. It is actually not bad. Not sure if I have to turn in my man card but on a hot Summer day it is more refreshing.

[stevew]

I’m trying to build up a home bar. 1-2 drinks a day, maybe 3-4 drinks a week. I never really drank before but it’s amazing how decent some of the $10-12 flavored vodkas are. There’s like nothing else to do right now as is. I just look up drink recipes and go from there.

[RendeR]

Telle and I started buying up specialty liquor. Got a really amazing single malt from the isle of islay in Scotland. best scotch I've ever had. Also picked up a nice tequila but I forget the name now lol.

[RendeR]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

I tried White Claw for the first time last weekend. It is actually not bad. Not sure if I have to turn in my man card but on a hot Summer day it is more refreshing.

[QuikSand]

Lifetime counts - "lose time" drunk:

college - 2
(30 years in between) - 0
quarantine - 2

ugh

[Lathum]

I am for sure but have been better lately. There was a stretch I was up until 1 AM everyday drinking and playing poker online. My wife usually goes to bed around 10:30 and once I decided to go to bed same time as her every night like we did pre quarantine it has been better.

[Butter]

Originally Posted by stevew

I’m trying to build up a home bar. 1-2 drinks a day, maybe 3-4 drinks a week. I never really drank before but it’s amazing how decent some of the $10-12 flavored vodkas are. There’s like nothing else to do right now as is. I just look up drink recipes and go from there.

I did this! I already had a few bottles of random stuff, and one day about a week after the liquor stores opened back up, we went to the liquor store and spent like $200 and bought all the essential liquors. Went online and bought a bartender's book and a small bar set. As it turns out, my wife and I mostly like the girl drinks... grasshoppers, mudslides, pina coladas. I can get down with a nice straight bourbon at times (I got a bottle of Blanton's for Christmas that I am slowly working my way through), though my go-to when I do drink out is a Vodka Tonic. But even with the investment, we're probably having like 3-4 drinks a week. Didn't vastly increase the amount of drinking.

I guess I may need to turn in my man card as well on the grasshoppers, but at least I'm making my own.

[JonInMiddleGA]

180 degrees for me.

I spent the worst part of the lockdown basically afraid to even start drinking. I was already depressed enough, last thing I needed was to accelerate that.

Lord knows I ain't criticizing anybody who has been able. Criticize? Hell, I'm envious. I just knew for me it was unlikely to end well, so I didn't.

[NobodyHere]

I've been staying the course (even if I do swerve from time to time)

I was a moderate drinker before and I still am one.

[Kodos]

I've never been a heavy drinker. I do have the occasional beer, or even a Mike's Hard Lemonade. Here's my man card. Last summer, I did have some good whiskey that we got on vacation in Tennessee.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

I tried White Claw for the first time last weekend. It is actually not bad. Not sure if I have to turn in my man card but on a hot Summer day it is more refreshing.

White Claw is awesome if it is hot out and you have been in the pool or grilling. Problem is they go down so easy I can crush 10 like its nothing.

[Glengoyne]

Originally Posted by Butter

I did this! I already had a few bottles of random stuff, and one day about a week after the liquor stores opened back up, we went to the liquor store and spent like $200 and bought all the essential liquors. Went online and bought a bartender's book and a small bar set. As it turns out, my wife and I mostly like the girl drinks... grasshoppers, mudslides, pina coladas. I can get down with a nice straight bourbon at times (I got a bottle of Blanton's for Christmas that I am slowly working my way through), though my go-to when I do drink out is a Vodka Tonic. But even with the investment, we're probably having like 3-4 drinks a week. Didn't vastly increase the amount of drinking.

I guess I may need to turn in my man card as well on the grasshoppers, but at least I'm making my own.

Gotta check out How to drink on Youtube. At least that is the guy I watched for recipes, home bar tending knowledge and well entertainment. Turns out there are a lot of laugh out loud moments watching someone get drunk over the course of an episode. Plus he records some back to back to back, so he often starts drunk.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Glengoyne

Gotta check out How to drink on Youtube.

I think that's the guy my kid watches. Does video game drinks sometimes? Tells the history of some drink another time? And has the clear as glass ice that he loves to crack?

[lungs]

I mostly drink out of social obligation these days, so I didn’t drink at all during the two months I considered myself quarantined. Part of an overall decline in my drinking the past few years after many years of what most would consider problematic drinking habits. I did get drunk at a wedding back in January and the hangovers are now brutal enough that I won’t binge for a long time after such a hangover.

[sabotai]

I pretty much don't drink alcohol anymore, but I did go from 3 cups of coffee (one 'tumbler' full) up to 12+ per day (4 'tumblers') for a few months there.

[sabotai]

Originally Posted by lungs

I did get drunk at a wedding back in January and the hangovers are now brutal enough that I won’t binge for a long time after such a hangover.

I don't typically get hangovers unless I really over do it, but what I can't drink at all anymore is wine. 2 glasses and I'll have a massive headache later that night. 3 or more and I'll feel like I'm going to die the next day. Don't know what it is, but something in wine wants to kill me.

[tarcone]

I was drinking pretty regularly. But I gained 20 pounds and my blood pressure went up to much. I have since slowed way down. Maybe once a week now. And Im struggling losing these 20 pounds. Hopefully not drinking will help.

[Ksyrup]

Technically yes, since I only have about a half-dozen drinks a year, usually around the holidays, and I treated the first month or so of quarantine like the holidays. But I haven't had anything in the past 2 months, I'd say.

The people I work with all say they are having drinks on a daily basis.

[Glengoyne]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

I think that's the guy my kid watches. Does video game drinks sometimes? Tells the history of some drink another time? And has the clear as glass ice that he loves to crack?

That is the guy. He alternates "classic" drink episodes vs "TV and Gaming" drinks.

[lungs]

Originally Posted by sabotai

I don't typically get hangovers unless I really over do it, but what I can't drink at all anymore is wine. 2 glasses and I'll have a massive headache later that night. 3 or more and I'll feel like I'm going to die the next day. Don't know what it is, but something in wine wants to kill me.

Same here. Wine hangovers are the worst.

[NobodyHere]

Originally Posted by sabotai

I don't typically get hangovers unless I really over do it, but what I can't drink at all anymore is wine. 2 glasses and I'll have a massive headache later that night. 3 or more and I'll feel like I'm going to die the next day. Don't know what it is, but something in wine wants to kill me.

I assume it's the poison.

[Glengoyne]

Originally Posted by QuikSand

Lifetime counts - "lose time" drunk:

college - 2
(30 years in between) - 0
quarantine - 2

ugh

Love the metric.

I haven't picked up the pace quite into losing time, but drinking almost daily even if it is one or two in an evening these days.

The home bar has grown. Rye, bourbon, more rum than you can shake a stick at, gin, Sweet Vermouth, and cognac. That is just the base stuff. The bar has become a cost center.

[booradley]

Originally Posted by sabotai

I don't typically get hangovers unless I really over do it, but what I can't drink at all anymore is wine. 2 glasses and I'll have a massive headache later that night. 3 or more and I'll feel like I'm going to die the next day. Don't know what it is, but something in wine wants to kill me.

White wine doesn't give me a hangover, even after one night when I got blackout drunk with some friends. Red wine puts my skull in a vise almost immediately.

After I lost my job due to COVID-19, I started drinking 4 pints of "lite" beer (equals about 5 1/3 12 ouncers) every day. Starting to exercise daily now, and volunteering to do errands for friends just to keep my day busy with responsibilities. Has brought the drinking down considerably.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Glengoyne

That is the guy. He alternates "classic" drink episodes vs "TV and Gaming" drinks.

Thought so.

Yeah, he's a fairly easy watch. Not something I go looking for but engaging if it happens to be on.

[Qwikshot]

Wine, bourbon, scotch, and rum are in my arsenal. It all depends on my mood.

[BYU 14]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

I tried White Claw for the first time last weekend. It is actually not bad. Not sure if I have to turn in my man card but on a hot Summer day it is more refreshing.

i drink Whiteclaw and add a scoop of BCAA's to it for more flavor (and the healthy part LOL)

[fortheglory]

I’m drinking way too much!

[NobodyHere]

Originally Posted by fortheglory

I’m drinking way too much!

for the glory!

[MacroGuru]

Yeah, the amount of dirty looks I get from the wife as I pour some more has increased lately

[bhlloy]

Yeah I’m with Jon here. I’m definitely not teetotal but I’m making a concerted effort to not drink more than a few beers once a week, because I know what that slippery slope is going to look like otherwise.

[I. J. Reilly]

I am definitely drinking more now that I’m working almost entirely from home. The time I used to spend commuting home has become cocktail hour, and it is awesome.

[PilotMan]

My drinking is binge or nothing. I rarely have 1 or 2. On occasion, yes, but typically, if I drink it's 4-5 at least, or nothing at all. Having said that. I would love to work on a cocktail talent. Maybe one of you practicing drink slingers could suggest one to work on, or talk about how you make it and we could do one a week? The only one I truly can make halfway decent is a Margarita. A good one takes me a good 5 minutes to make, but that's all I got.

[Lathum]

We have been drinking Titos and lemonade.

I have named it the Survive O'clock

[PilotMan]

Yeah, we did Vodka/Lemonades as well last summer. The Vodka disappears quick.

[Ryche]

Probably drinking a little more? More spread out though with a beer or two each night during the week and then less than I used to drink on weekends.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by PilotMan

Yeah, we did Vodka/Lemonades as well last summer. The Vodka disappears quick.

Vodka and (frozen) lemonade is at least indirectly how I ended up married.

It's a long story.

But I'd advise considering it a cautionary tale.

[Drake]

I drank a ton of bourbon while on quarantine.

But I think quarantine was only a secondary cause, because it gave me the time/excuse to get hooked on/binge watch Justified on Hulu. I can never be as cool as Timothy Olyphant in that show, but I can drink bourbon like him, goddammit.

(Except I can't, because straight bourbon is really fucking hideous. But if you add enough honey and lemon juice and warm it up in the microwave for a few seconds, it makes a really nice and soothing nightcap.)

[Glengoyne]

Originally Posted by Drake

I drank a ton of bourbon while on quarantine.


(Except I can't, because straight bourbon is really fucking hideous. But if you add enough honey and lemon juice and warm it up in the microwave for a few seconds, it makes a really nice and soothing nightcap.)

That sounds like the foundation for a whiskey sour. There is a big variance in bourbon. Jack and Makers Mark are awful to my taste. Elijah Craig, Four Roses, and Traverse city are all sipable. For me bourbon shines most when it's mixed with something else to play off and play up the flavors.

[RendeR]

Originally Posted by MacroGuru

Yeah, the amount of dirty looks I get from the wife as I pour some more has increased lately

Hell I think mine looks at me proudly these days LOL

[Glengoyne]

Originally Posted by PilotMan

My drinking is binge or nothing. I rarely have 1 or 2. On occasion, yes, but typically, if I drink it's 4-5 at least, or nothing at all. Having said that. I would love to work on a cocktail talent. Maybe one of you practicing drink slingers could suggest one to work on, or talk about how you make it and we could do one a week? The only one I truly can make halfway decent is a Margarita. A good one takes me a good 5 minutes to make, but that's all I got.

Pilotman, if you make a mean margarita, you might like to try you hand at daiquiris. You can really mix it up Changing the rum, and using real lime juice really makes a difference. We bought a batch key limes, and those made for some great cocktails. My wife likes just plain Bacardi. I favor gold rums, Plantation or Angostura . They each make a great Daquiri. You can even use older rums in the cocktail and the whole experience changes.

Check out the How to drink guy on YouTube. He's way more charismatic than me, and he has episodes on Daquiris and one where he tastes more than a dozen rums. We can compare notes. And you can help me brush up my Margarita game.

[Young Drachma]

I never drank much at all and certainly never kept stuff in the house. But got into natural wines and orange wines a few years ago -- but only drank them out -- until I decided at the start of the quarantine to start trying more of them at home. Now, I've ventured into other wine and reds and so yeah...it's been a huge change for me, but mostly nerding out than anything else.

[Butter]

Originally Posted by Drake

(Except I can't, because straight bourbon is really fucking hideous. But if you add enough honey and lemon juice and warm it up in the microwave for a few seconds, it makes a really nice and soothing nightcap.)

This is my wife's cold/ congestion remedy. It does help soothe a nighttime cough.

[stevew]

Nothing like the satisfaction of a perfect pour from shaker into glass. Completely full to the rim.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Young Drachma

orange wines

Say wha?

[britrock88]

Not necessarily more, but certainly more intentionally. Have whipped up a few new cocktails, though I've gotten lazier of late and lean toward aperitifs and good beer currently.