Only an alcoholic with beer
 

Possible trigger warning? I don't know what the protocol is here, but I'm describing the subjective effects of drinking.



I have a weird relationship with alcohol. I've had drinking problems at various points in my life, and although I sometimes drink liquor and wine, I've only had problems with beer. It gets me "drunk" faster and more obviously, it makes me euphoric and activated, and it makes me want more. Wine and liquor do not have this effect. In fact, I've been able to avoid these problems, without completely abstaining, by keeping low-quality wine (i.e., Manischewitz) around the house.

Maybe it's some other ingredient (like hops) that does something to my brain, or maybe I only drink beer when I'm in the mood to overdo it. All I know is that liquor does not do anything pleasurable for me.

Has anyone else had this experience? The fact that I have trouble moderating myself made me think I was an alcoholic, but it only happens with beer. Is this a symptom of alcoholism, or just a weird quirk?

Alcohol is alcohol no matter what form it comes sorry to say.

I'd probably say most have their drinks of choice, some hit harder than others as we're all different. Beer eventually didn't do much for me in the way of getting drunk, so I graduated to liquor after a while, it got me drunk quicker and I didn't need as much of it.

The problem for me though was when I made a deal with myself that I would only drink beer and wine in an attempt to moderate, I would drink beer and as I got a slight buzz all good intentions then went out the window and I'd reach for my trusty liquor to finish the job off out of frustration.

At Christmas time when I would run out of liquor I would reach for all crazy types of weird liqueurs and spirits that were left over, they didn't do the same thing as my alcohol of choice, but that didn't matter in the end!!

Alcohol was the common denominator in all of my drinking, and that was what I needed to sort out!!

Wine was my drink of choice... usually chardonnay, pinot grigio, pinot noir, sometimes merlot. But if wine wasn't around for whatever reason, I'd be happy to reach for anything available... beer, liquor.

I find it hard to believe that one can be an alcoholic selectively. Beer can get me drunk as quickly as wine if I drink it fast enough.

The idea of switching drinks to moderate or control is part of being addicted.

drink a 12 pack of odools and see if it's just the hops

You mean experience with delusional thinking that somehow beer is worse or better than liquor or wine? Yep, I have experience here. Experience fooling myself that if I can moderate for a short period of time I am not an alcoholic? Yep, got some experience here.

I had both of these when I was at the early stages of coming to terms and accepting that I have and always be an alcoholic/addict. What I did not know at the time was that I could recover or how to do this.

Stick around and good luck with your experiment.

I don't mean that one is better or worse, only that the effects are profoundly different.

I'm thinking that maybe the problem was psyching myself up for a night of heavy drinking, and then choosing beer because it was the only thing that actually gave me a "buzz." It could easily be a false correlation, although the difference between beer and liquor was too profound to deny.

Alcoholic? I don't know. But you are still drinking. Have you tried quitting?

Alcohol is in beer, wine, and liquor. A shot of liquor=a glass of wine=a 12 oz. beer. It's the alcohol that gets you intoxicated. It sounds like maybe you like the taste of beer better.

It's certainly possible that you aren't an alcoholic, but it is not possible to only be an alcoholic when drinking beer. Does your drinking cause problems for you?

Not serious problems, but I don't like getting drunk, especially after realizing how much of a problem my fiance has with it.

@doggonecarl: I've gone on and off, depending on life circumstances, finances, etc. I don't see myself drinking again until my relationship problems are sorted out.

Seneca, for years I believed if I only drank beer or wine I would not be an alcoholic, because my father, also an alcoholic told me so. I just believed, blindly. I saw him get drunk on everything, but I still believed. Funny the things we tell ourselves.

"Do you switch drinks to try to moderate your alcohol intake?" is often a question in those alcoholism risk assessment tests.

I did the opposite of what you suggest back when I was still trying to moderate my drinking - I initially found that I drank beer slower than hard liquor or wine and seemed to get into "less trouble" when I stuck to beer. I had developed quite the drinking problem, so when I tried to moderate, I said to myself, "Right, beer only tonight!" Turns out that with a bit of practice, I could get enough beer down to cause plenty of havoc, and once I was drunk enough, whatever plan I had for the night went out the window anyways.

I'm not able to say if you are or you aren't an alcoholic. Just pointing out that I've tried changing drinks, sticking to "a few" and countless other ways to keep drinking without suffering negative consequences, and none of them worked. What's worked (so far!) is abstaining entirely.

I used to be exactly as you described. Beer was definitely my drink of choice and seemed to be the only thing that achieved the "desired effect." It wasn't that there wasn't enough alcohol in liquor or wine, I just didn't like them and gravitated back to beer. That was in the early stages of what I already recognized as either alcoholism or, at the very least, a definite pattern of alcohol abuse. Over the years I slowly switched to liquor, more out of convenience than anything else, but still if I had my preference, I wanted beer. That eventually changed over to the exact opposite. I really dislike beer now and, if I was still drinking, my chosen poison would be vodka.

So, if you're thinking by chance that you can manage your drinking better by switching to something you don't like as much as beer, your brain is not so easy to fool. Chances are high that whatever you switch to will eventually become your new preference.

You can't crave something so obviously bad for you and call yourself a normal drinker.

Alcohol is alcohol no matter what form it comes in, whether its Vodka, EverClear, Rubbing Alcohol, Wine or Beer. Alcohol has the same effect on the body. Changing brands, or type is just alcoholic thinking, alcohol warps the brain, and it has a contract out on your a$$.

I agree with many others above. I also was delusional enough to think it was "just the beer" that was giving me problems, so I switched to vodka. Believe it or not, I considered this a very cunning choice, and even convinced myself it was healthier. I figured I'd had the problem licked. My life unfortunately continued in the same direction and eventually I ran into considerable problems.

We can't speak for you, we can only speak for our own experiences. The reason many of us are leaning towards the rather negative side here is that we also tried to convince ourselves of the same thing.

I hope you make the decision to stop drinking. If you're not an alcoholic, it can't hurt. If you are, it will make things better. All the best and welcome.

Matt....No, no, no!!! rubbing alcohol is absolutely NOT the same as other forms of alcohol made for drinking. Rubbing alcohol is isopropyl alcohol, the alcohol you find in booze is ethyl alcohol. They are completely different. Eight ounces of isopropyl alcohol can kill you! please be careful about the things you post seemingly as facts on forums like this.

ethyl alcohol can kill you too ;)

Quit drinking beer for six months and see what happens.