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-   -   What's the deal with VODKA?? (https://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/friends-family-alcoholics/231583-whats-deal-vodka.html)

BobbyJ 07-12-2011 03:42 PM

What's the deal with VODKA??
 
As I read different post, up pops the words "Vodka Bottle" in a sentence

My XAH drank whiskey for years then switched to Vodka

Why do so many A's drink Vodka:
Is it cheaper?
Do they get drunker?
Is it because it's odorless?

Just curious....

milo88 07-12-2011 03:52 PM

I think it's because it's colorless and odorless and there is some myth that you can't smell vodka on a person who's been drinking it - not true!

ErinGoBragh 07-12-2011 03:52 PM

I can only speak from my interaction/experience with the A's I've known - yeah, they seemed to prefer vodka. My guess is they think it doesn't smell because it is flavorless and mixes with just about anything. Lack of distinctive flavor = no smell coming from the A. I found the contrary to be true; exAH drank vodka and reeked. I thought it was my bias, until his boss called me to tell me coworkers were complaining and exAH he was being put on probation due to the complaints.

My gf's AH drinks a cheapo brand that comes in big plastic jugs. It costs him $13 for the "big-gulp" size at the local state store. Last time I visited them, he told me quite straight-faced that the stuff was quite good. I didn't say a word, but I was thinking, "My gosh, I'd hate to even think of the hangover that rot gut would give me!!":scared:

Sylvie66 07-12-2011 03:54 PM

What I've heard from a couple of alcoholics is that they think it's odorless. And it may be, for some people. It's a subtle scent, but in high quantities - definitely not odorless.

- Sylvie

MycoolFitz 07-12-2011 03:55 PM

I could mix it with healthy sport's drinks. Kind of like riding a bycicle for exercise while chain smoking. Go figure.

gerryP 07-12-2011 04:02 PM

I drank Vodka at the end of my drinking.

It was easy to drink. I could put it in a water bottle mixed with a little water and drink it walking around during the day and no one suspected.

LexieCat 07-12-2011 04:07 PM

It's not odorless, but it has less of an odor than most other kinds of alcohol. It also mixes with just about anything. LOL, I used to have it in juice for "breakfast" and it was easy to put into lemonade or something like that at a concert.

The rest of the time I drank scotch--never did like sweet drinks (except the vodka/juice drinks).

milo88 07-12-2011 04:17 PM

ha ha I shouldn't laugh but there is some humor in the horror! I remember when I was still in the ignorant stage, taking my partner to see the Dalai Lama when he was here and A was sipping from this "water bottle" all afternoon. I was actually starting to wonder if he was diabetic he seemed so thirsty!
At the end of it I asked if I could have a sip as I was thirsty myself. After wrangling for the bottle - by this stage knowing something was amiss - I got to take a big gulp of full strength vodka mixed with a little lemonade (just a twist of lemon maybe)
(So maybe it IS odorless to the unsuspecting)
I was so angry at the time, but just reading some of these made me laugh. A is no longer with us and I've been really really sad. Maybe that's the first time I've laughed at the stoopid things he did. Thanks! I really needed that.

Ethos23 07-12-2011 04:42 PM

I also used to drink Vodka. My thought was that it was odorless. Throughout my drinking career I learned that it wasn't odorless. It was however easier to conceal the smell than drinking whiskey all day. Again, there was also the mental factor of dumping the vodka from its bottle into a water bottle. It just didn't seem so bad when it was in there. Glad to say that is behind me now!

Peter G 07-12-2011 05:10 PM

I was a Jack Daniels drinker that switched to Vodka once I went over the edge. Reasons were simple for me. It was colorless so I could put it in a water bottle and not seem lecherous when I grabbed a drink on stage; pretty much tasteless (to an extent) meaning that when I would take a drink I could drop more down my gullet with each swig. That's hard to do with Whiskey/Bourbon, even for seasoned career boozehounds like myself. The odorless thing never entered my mind really, it was more about the ability to down larger amounts of it in one swig.

Also, I guess it might not be a coincidence that I switched to Vodka after a 5 month tour in Russia. Hmmm... ;)

Ladybug0130 07-12-2011 06:21 PM

It's probably odorless unless you drink a ton of it like my EXAH did and then it oozes out of your pores and smells terrible. I could definitely smell it on him.

StarCat 07-13-2011 06:30 AM

When I was in college, Vodka was the preferred drink for people-who-were-drinking-places-they-weren't-allowed-to-drink. I used to be in the band, and after marching around on the football field for practice one night, watching the first trumpet stumble around with his trusty water-bottle-full-of-vodka by his side, the second trombone with her orange-juice-and-vodka cocktail (she drank whiskey when she didn't want to hide her drinking), the sousaphone player with his red-Gatorade-and-vodka, and the rest of the band with their I-have-no-idea-what-they're-drinking-but-it-probably-has-vodka-in-it, and realizing that I was one of only two sober people at practice and that this whole fiasco would play out again for the actual football game in the "no alcohol allowed" stadium that weekend...
I quit the school band the next day and joined the church choir band instead.

XABF never "graduated" to Vodka while I was with him, he still preferred his cheap whiskey, but I have seen first hand that vodka is the drink of choice when trying to hide the consumption of alcoholic beverages.

TeM 07-13-2011 07:17 AM

My AW switched to Vodka a year or so ago. Before that, she was on a Jack Daniels kick, and Crown Royal before that. Daughter and I found a stash of a couple dozen of those little blue Crown Royal bags stuffed into a cabinet; that's when we realized just how bad her drinking was.

I suppose I can take some comfort in the fact that she switched to vodka; it's probably saving us a lot of money, considering how much Crown Royal and Jack Daniels cost.

I'm not sure why she switched... I'm thinking that her drinking buddy told her that its odor is less noticeable (even though we can still smell it across the room when she's really sauced). AW usually lights scented candles and dumps Old Spice on herself when she's drinking... apparently she thinks we won't notice that she can't talk or walk straight.

Justfor1 07-13-2011 07:24 AM

Very interesting topic. Vodka does seem to be the preferred booze of choice by professional alcoholics. It is the cheapest hard liquor available. It is a myth that it doesn't smell.

BackToSquareOne 07-13-2011 07:28 AM

Vodka has fewer congeners in it as opposed to most of the others, you don't get as sick as fast. Any alcoholic knows that!!!

fedup3 07-13-2011 08:09 AM

I've been smelling that awful smell of vodka for years, my house and AH reeks of it! It seems like a pattern with them that they start out with whiskey and move to vodka, mine switched 4 yrs ago.

BobbyJ 07-13-2011 08:20 AM

It seems that so many drink beer, whiskey or whatever, then all of a sudden
VODKA sets in....

Is it when they become full fledged alcoholics?

I was reading on line, and one article said, it was easier on the throat
making it easier to chug down

My xah never liked VODKA, then the last year, he became a VODKA drinking fool

Just curious

I read so many stories of A' turning to VODKA....crazy

TeM 07-13-2011 08:28 AM

Maybe it is "smoother". The only mixed drink I ever could tolerate was a Bloody Mary, because I usually couldn't taste the Vodka. I then realized that I preferred to just drink Bloody Mary mix with no alcohol in it. Much cheaper, and I could safely drive afterward.

I've become a tee-totaller since my wife succumbed to alcoholism... I don't even like beer any more.

Shellcrusher 07-13-2011 08:54 AM

Vodka!
So back in the day when "we" used to keep booze in the house, there'd always be some vodka in there for bloodies and whatever else we felt like having.
It wasn't until things got bad that I realized another great benefit of vodka. The bottle can be filled back up with water to maintain the quantity that was recently consumed. Water is a good placeholder for the booze until a fresh bottle can be purchased and stashed.

I'm trying to make light humor of Vodka because I hate the ****.

Zube 07-13-2011 09:10 AM

I always had an allergic reaction when I would switch from beer to Vodka. It made me break out in hand-cuffs for some reason.

Zube


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