Your 87 year old uncle sounds like my late father-in-law. It was a big thing with him to have a martini at 11am every morning and another at 4 in the afternoon everyday. Anyone in his house (that was over 21) had to have one with him and he wouldn't take no for an answer.
I was a full blown alcoholic during the years I knew him before he passed away so it wasn't a problem with me then.
I am not much on giving phony excuses; they often bite you in the ass and make you look like a bigger fool than if you just told the truth that you may be ashamed of.