Pathwaytofree

I wanted to share something of hope for you all. I went to a July 4th party and beer was the main drink there. There was a lot of it. I not only didn't want any, but the smell was awful to me. It smelled so sour. I was really surprised.

I was happy with my sparkling flavored water.

A guy who was drunk and talking to me purposely spilled beer on me. I think he was looking for negative attention. I guess he didn't realize I was sober. I didn't freak out, thinking oh no I'm going to want to drink now because I smell it on me. I just walked away.

I used to love drinking beer on July 4th. I didn't miss it in the least. I am so grateful to be sober and recovered from a seemingly hopeless state of mind and body.

Dee74

I'm glad that the 4th held no temptations for you pathwaytofree

D

Ghostlight1

Great job. It's wonderful to be sober, even in a tough situation you were in.
The smell sickens me, too. When I see an ad in tv with liquor or beer, I can actually taste it. Because I drank them all. And this is after nine and a half years sober. It repulses me.
I'm now happy, joyous and free and I wish the same for you.

MindfulMan

I can vividly imagine the taste of beer. It's completely neutral to me now, there's nothing "good" about it, but it's not revolting. I want it when I'm eating spicy Asian food only.

Hard liquor looks, smells and my imagined taste is REVOLTING. One of my "tapes" I can play if I need it is waking up after a whiskey binge with that disgusting taste in my mouth, pounding headache, destroyed stomach and regret. Nothing good there. Scotch now equals stench.

I miss pairing wine with food. That'll never go away completely. Surprisingly the idea of wine on its own is mostly sour and thin. Not all that appealing. Again, not appealing at all.

But absolutely nothing is as horrific as the imagined cocaine drips. I can't believe I ever found that pleasurable.

columbus

Talk about sickening, finding an old open trash bag of empties once you've quit...


PUKE CITY!

;-)

skyfullofstars

Oh, and the smell of someone who has been drinking the night before! I met with a friend for coffee on Sunday late morning and she had been celebrating our win against Sweden until 4am the night before.

Oh lord, she smelled! I obviously didn't tell her, but the fumes of metabolising alcohol was horrendous. Sickly sweet and sour.

Made me cringe to think of how I would have stunk like that pretty much EVERY DAY. At the end I wasn't even bothering to shower before I came into work because I didn't get out of bed until the last minute. Cringe, cringe, cringe!

August252015

Good job on handling that - and I'd have wanted to change shirts right away! Not bc I would have wanted to drink but because the smell of (wine in my case) is gross to me, too.

This makes me think of a night when I was training on the wine list at the restaurant where I work. Everyone knows I am sober so it was a learning about and smelling thing. It was the weirdest thing - as our expert described the three champagnes we offer-ones I had liked a lot!- all I could smell was that stale, day after, half glass of wine left on the counter smell....so yucky!

Yet another reason I am grateful to smell everything else but alcohol and enjoy it!

Pathwaytofree

I hadn't realized the smell would make me cringe!

I also used to love wine--my drink of choice when I went over the line. But now, miraculously, even wine smells sour to me!

Mindfulman I also enjoyed pairing food with drinks. I used to love having a beer with a burger or Mexican food, white wine with fish, and red wine wine with dark chocolate. But I know in my heart it's worth giving up, because of what sobriety has given me. I'm enjoying food more now, which I didn't do previously. The focus was always on the drink.

August I give you a lot of credit for working in the restaurant/bar industry as a newly sober woman. I don't know if I could've done that.

Skyfullofstars I never thought of that, how it smells from our pores. I guess that's from the acetone or something? Yikes, what a thought. Just another reminder that alcohol really is poison.

Dee thanks for your supportive and encouraging reply! :-) It is so cool now to not equate July 4th with burgers & beer. It happened this year without my even realizing it.

Ghostlight1 I wonder now if the smell repulses me, if I "taste" it from commercials the "taste" will repulse me. Interesting. Isn't it great living "happy joyous and free?" :-)

Columbus Bleah! I bet that's a helpful reminder to have in your mind!

It's so strange how when we were drinking, things like the smell never occurred to us. I was blocked from that, because my mind was obsessed with how it made me feel. It's so cool to be separated from that and truly see alcohol for what it is.

skyfullofstars

Path; yep the reek from the pores and breath is caused by the body processing the toxic alcohol and breaks it down into acetic acid. Which then leaves the body through the pores and mouth and urine. Bleurgh!

I just know everyone would have smelled me. Even though I scrubbed my teeth, gums and mouth (ooh, the retching when I scrubbed my tongue was awful!) it still comes from the stomach. And the morning after that first pee would look and smell like week old orange juice.

*Sigh* So gross. Now I smell of deodrant and Hugo Boss perfume!

August252015

Path, I firmly believe that if someone chooses to be sober, we can work anywhere including restaurants and bars. That said, it wouldn't be the right choice for some people. I'm 28 and a half months sober and I went back to restaurant work about 5 mo sober. I took extra precautions and had support at work as well as out (my AA network and social circle). Now, I am on the Board of a recovery group for F&B folks started by the owner of a prominent restaurant group in the SE (US). I lead our Atlanta group. It's my passion and a source of such gratification to me because our industry is rife with addiction.

MindfulMan

I can still do wine pairing and recommendations by smell alone. At this point it's just data, not desire. Just another smell. It's becoming less interesting.

The smell of a stale oxidized glass of red wine that's been sitting out for several hours would be pretty revolting though.

Or worse, as someone described above, alcohol body odor on someone the day after a night of serious drinking.

SoberCAH

I smell it sometimes sitting at the bar having dinner, like last night with my wife, but it doesn't smell good to me.

The only thing with alcohol in it that smells good to me these days is my Old Spice aftershave.

skyfullofstars

@August, you are so right about the hospitality industry being rife with addiction. Almost every chef and server I have worked with drinks too much or smokes weed. Lots of chefs also take cocaine.

It is understandable; long, unsociable hours, high pressure at work, dealing with the general public who can be complete tossers sometimes. Then after work you are still running on adrenaline and need to unwind. Lost count of the amount of lock ins we had if we had a day off the next day....or not.

Nightmare when you're hungover though

rascalwhiteoak

I jog past a microbrewery a couple times a week. Not going to lie, the smell of good beer brewing makes me a little wistful. Then I remember that running is one of many things I could never get around to when I drank, and that keeps me going on my way.

columbus

A friend of mine told me that when I was drinking he could smell it on/in/coming out of me during the day.

I had no idea, as "I" couldn't smell it.

H o w E m b a r r i s s i n g

skyfullofstars

It was the same when I quit smoking and went onto vaping. Once my nose had started getting its sense of smell back and I could smell ciggies on other people's clothes it REEKED.

We never smell it on ourselves. Though there were a few times when I picked up clothes I had worn the night before when smoking and the smell of stale smoke made me retch a little.

Cheers to clean living and not smelling bad!

Ladysadie

My partner still drinks and he doesn't have any idea of how bad his breath stinks of booze, even in the mornings. Definitely affects my desire to be close to him. Sometimes I have to put a pillow up between us (like a barrier) if he is sleeping facing me it's that bad. Ugh.

MindfulMan

I still occasionally make beer with my bestie...although now that Baby #2 is on the way, he's kinda not getting any more hall passes to make beer with his single friend.

The smell is neutral to me. I have to make judgements about the flavor from the smell.

One of my last drunken binges was at his place. It started with putting some homebrew in the 2nd fermenter/conical and I tasted it. The end result of that binge after moving to whiskey and tons more home brew was driving home and ending up on the wrong side of a divided road for about 1/4 mile (left turn cut too hard and my vision was doubled). I was in and out of blackouts the whole night, but I do distinctly remember seeing oncoming headlights, and gingerly driving until I could get over to the correct side of the road. No cops.

That was one of the last times I drove before I got sober. I started ubering everywhere after that.

But I can still make beer and not drink it. If anything, that memory is a HUGE deterrent, and the taste memory isn't pleasant.

zjw

probably 2 years after i got sober i went to a party. people where drunk and acting obnoxious. They smelled like crap and there behavior was embaressing in the sense that it reminded me how i used to act and I thought man if i could have only seen myself then with the eyes i have now I would have quit sooner or maybe i woulda.

The thing is tho while the above is true. My AV will still try and tell me otherwise tho and tempt me.

But yeah that ripe beer smell on someones breath in the hot sun and all man YUCK.

Pathwaytofree

^THIS!
I still remember the first time I was at a restaurant and I noticed that just about every table had people drinking wine. I was on line for the bathroom, and a young woman was a little drunk. I remember observing her, and thinking "Oh my gosh. That's what I was like?" It was eye opening. I wish I had seen myself sooner, too. I was not a good drunk.

Mine too.

Oh yeah that's just nasty! It's scary to think that used to be me....