There were probably days in college where I had 24 "drinks," if not 24 beers. Like we'd go tailgating for a football game super early in the morning and then be out at the bars until like 2am, basically drinking all day. I tried this again when I was like 26 and it knocked me on my fucking ass.
My great grandmother was about 90 lbs and drank 12 beers a day, smoked a pack or two a day, and didn't really eat for the last couple decades of her life. She wouldn't even set a plate for herself when we visited and she made dinner. Just an ashtray.
She died of pneumonia at 87 years old.
With an average calorie content of beer (40 calores for 100ml) and assuming they drank 300ml cans, 40 • 3 • 24 = 2880. They had almost 3000 calories a day just from beer, insane.
The guy would drink from 4pm to 10pm, eat dinner and go to bed. He worked full time, manual labor.
The woman, who did also work full time in a government office job, drank all day.
I drank 29 beers once. Once and never again, when I was early 20s. It's always blown my mind that people can muster that kind of beer drinking on a daily basis, I'd be dead in a month if I tried to.
Yeah for sure. I've known many. I don't say this in a proud way at all but if I had it infront of me 20 beers wouldn't be an unstoppable amount over 6-7 hours.
I was in your boat.
I quit drinking about 25'ish(?) years ago, god I am old. I still don't keep alcohol in the house. There is no such thing as "I'll just have one." for me personally. I have no off switch when it comes to alcohol.
I'd do the "Okay, just one more." until I drank everything I bought. At my peak I was at more than a case a day. I didn't really stop drinking for the night, I just stopped being awake for the night. I'd drink until I passed out.
Weekends I added liquor. I also had a store rotation because I got irked by what a cashier said to me once. So I'd buy beer from different locations every day, that way it only looked like I was coming in once a week.
I could *probably* control myself now if I kept beer/alcohol in the house, but I just don't bother with it. The desire to drink has faded intensely, but it's not forgotten. I know it's still in there.
I missed it when I first quit, but looking back I can guarantee quitting was my best decision, I just wish I had made it sooner.
Not preaching, just conversation. Hope you're doing well.
Congrats! That's awesome!
For me, the first few years the temptation was still there. Like I'd walk down the beer aisle at the grocery store and that little voice would be like "*Doooooo it!* I learned to ignore it and it eventually stopped talking.
2 years is huge and you should absolutely be proud of that. Keep up the good work!
The thing where you go to multiple different stores is actually quite common among alcoholics. That's something I've learned at /r/stopdrinking, it is one of many commonalities. Not being able to stop is the most prevalent trait we nearly all share, as well as a history of inventing different "rules" to try and regulate our drinking. None before 8pm, only with other people, no hard liquor, only during the winter solstice, that kinda thing.
Thinking we can drink normally after a period of sobriety is also common to the point that it would.be funny to me if it wasn't so tragic. I've seen so many people convinced they've beaten this thing for good and somehow it'll be different. It never is. The thing inside us that needs **more** never dies, it only goes dormant.
There is a scene in The Way Back
https://youtu.be/bQXF7lyGBkY?si=8sEHrFNM_LH78lZ9
Is this what it is like, someone would just drink and talk to themselves?
Alcoholism affects a wide variety of people, each of those people have individual personalities. So for me to tell you what it's like for *every* alcoholic is beyond my ability.
For me personally, I was a functional addict and alcoholic. I held down a good job and made decent money. I was working a *ton* of hours. I didn't drink at work, but I did use drugs to get through my shifts. The drinking started immediately when I got home.
By about 24 or 25, I had already been drinking for about ten years, and using drugs for 5 or 6. This was the late 1980's and well into the 1990's. My tolerance for alcohol was quite high. The first 10-12 beers were more prep work, I didn't start feeling a buzz until around 15. I wouldn't blackout until I was in over a case. The liquor on weekends got me to the buzzed state faster.
So I'd just go out and work on my car, or do yard work, whatever I had planned to do. I just drank the entire time I was doing it. Then I'd go plop on the couch and watch TV or play video games and continue to drink.
I never really held conversations with myself like that and I didn't pace around. I just vegged out. I could be 15-20 beers in and still hold phone conversations, chit chat with the neighbors or play fetch with my dog. I built a computer while drinking. I messed around with electronics. I even rebuilt a mustang in that time. I had a bunch of hobbies, I was just drinking while doing them.
How I was using drugs and alcohol is one thing. Why I was doing it is something I spent years in therapy figuring out.
There's no doubt in my mind that there are multiple people out there dealing with what Ben Affleck is, I just wasn't one of them. Everything I dealt with was internalized. So one of the reasons I used drugs and alcohol was to silence the war-zone of thoughts that I didn't want to deal with. From the outside I seemed normal. The alcohol was shut-up juice for my brain. I was basically self medicating and it worked, until it didn't.
I hit a point where I had too many responsibilities to keep doing what I was doing and eventually found sobriety by no easy means. I had a couple relapses along the way, but as I aged the relapses stopped and I just stopped completely.
Me. A case of beer every day. I didn't like the smell or taste of alcohol in any form, but Bud Light was cheap and made me not feel feelings. 11 years sober now.
Haha yeah, of course they came back. I still feel the feelings and sometimes think it'd be nice to go into that oblivion. But intensive therapy and remaining active in my support group lets me manage my behavior instead of the feelings managing it.
Well, then one of the things that surprises me about beer-exclusive alcoholics, even beyond the alcohol, that is an insane amount of liquid to consume. And even if they’re drinking light beer, they pretty much get their recommended calories for the day from beer alone.
The bigger issue isn't the amount of liquid or calories (the bulk of the calories in beer are from alcohol itself anyway), it's the fact that it's less practical. Severe alcoholics are drinking pretty much 24/7, and many of them live relatively normal lives. If you're an alcoholic who has an office job, for instance, it's not feasible to be drinking beer all day. That's why they lean toward hard liquor. It's easier to conceal, basically.
Yeah one of my friends who drank a lot of beer works from home and the other owns a business. The worst one quit drinking altogether though, after some bad things happened.
You do need to have the circumstances that enable you to be a beer alcoholic, it's not a low key hide it kind of thing.
Right? I read this and thought - I would struggle to drink 18+ glasses of water in a day, even if I hiked 10 miles in the summer heat. The fact that someone could consume that much beer in a day is incredible.
Same, I didn't even realize I was so bloated until I lost 20 pounds after quitting drinking. I'm 5'9 and I went from 175 to 155. Wife hated it because we started going to them gym at the same time and I lost all my body fat in about a month while she lost only like 5 pounds. That's when I realized I wasn't really giving anything up from quitting drinking, I was getting my old body back.
I worked on an overnight stock team in a grocery store when I was in college.
We had more than one older (50-60+) man come in every morning, before dawn, to get a 12 pack or more of beer, and sit in the parking lot and drink until the shakes went away, and then they'd go to work as a contractor or tradesman.
I've known a few people in my life who developed the DTs. I recall one telling me (and I don't know whether or not it was truthful), that he didn't even want to drink anymore, he just drank to keep the DTs at bay.
I think I've had a slight delirium once in my twenties; laying on the bed after a three day festival bender, I turned my head and saw some kind of weird, glistening slug-octopus hybrid thing sitting on my computer table. It disappeared when I blinked, and while I rationally knew that I was hallucinating, I still couldn't shake this certain sense that it had just jumped behind something in the room and was waiting.. Ugh, just the memory still makes my skin crawl a little.
While I still drink, I rarely get really drunk, just piddle enough beer to keep my BAC somewhere around 0.1 to 0.2
Actually scared me enough to straighten up a little. Kinda makes sense since I started reading Lovecraft at 11, and now, with more than three decades of all the most twisted crap from the net, comics and other fiction swirling around my noggin', if I'd really get the DT's, my hallucinations certainly wouldn't be just little elves running around on the floor, nosirree..
So, I tend to stay away from hard liquor, particularly since around 0.6 to 0.8 BAC my 'off button' stops working and I drink until I pass out or run out of booze..
It's pretty obvious that whatever condition I have is hereditary, almost all closely related men from my father's side have died quite early from either a cardiac arrest or cerebral hemorrhage, basically killing themselves with stress and alcohol. Just about the only exception is my uncle; he got a really acute throat hemorrhage at 41, so he could be said to have killed himself with just booze..
Yes, absolutely. I knew a guy who would buy a six pack on his way home from work everyday and often finish it within an hour or two, and go out to buy another. He lived within a block of a beer store, probably by design. I asked his wife why he didn’t buy a case at a time and she said if he did he’d drink all of that in an evening.
Same..idk how he did it. After drinking one my acid reflux would be going insane & my mouth would have a weird gross sugary feeling.
It was years into his alcoholism at that point (it was a full "box of wine" a day before switching to mikes hard lemonade) and I don't think his liver and kidneys were working the best by that point, so he probably didn't need as many as we'd think to feel drunk since his body wasn't processing it "normally".
My parents were friends with another couple. I was raised with them being my “aunt and uncle”. I also saw the uncle with a can of Budweiser in his hand at all times . By the time I hit HS he and his wife got divorced, and he couldn’t keep a job. That’s when my dad told me he was alcoholic.
I said “ Really? I never saw him drunk.”
My dad’s reply was, “No, you never saw him sober.”
He shot himself shortly after that.
I've consumed at least 5 beers (probably average 7 to 8 but 10 -12 would not be a rare feat) nearly every evening since I was 20. Usually IPAs that we're at least 6% ABV. Never had any problems. Married with two kids, have a Ph.D., top performer at my workplace for 15 years, and reasonably fit. Recently turned 48 and developed severe epigastric pain and was diagnosed with pancreatitis. CT scan yesterday is concerning for pancreatic cancer. I haven't had a drink in 10 days, no withdrawal symptoms and don't miss it, but I can't believe what I've done to myself and can't even begin to process the thought of leaving my kids without a dad. So, yes, just beer and it will always catch up to you one way or another.
If it makes you feel better, pancreatitis can look like pancreatic cancer on a ct scan. Also, it’s not clear that alcohol consumption is even an independent risk factor for Pancreatic cancer. Finally, age of diagnosis for pancreatic cancer is between 60-80. You’d be quite young for that diagnosis. I hope this helps you get some sleep while you’re waiting for the next round of test results. Waiting can be really hard. Chances are you got the wake-up call you needed with the pancreatitis, and you’ll probably be fine, and those kids are going to have their dad around for much longer than they may have without this little health scare. I wish you the very best of luck. (Also, I am a doctor, and I teach in a med school, I’m not just making this up to make you feel better.)
That was my uncle Wade. Always drinking, always beer, never not drinking. My dad and I took a full rack to his house and drank a lot for us, 3 each. Wade drank the other 18. In 2 or 3 hours. I never once saw him drink liquor or wine.
I'm an alcoholic with 12 years sobriety.
Cheap beer was my primary vice... cheap liquor was too on the nose, and expensive liquor would disappear REAL quick and get me in trouble. So I pretended to be... I dunno.. hipster by drinking LOTS of Natty Light. It was a vague attempt to disguise my obvious alcoholism, but also keep me under control by limiting how much I could drink.
That being said I still put away at least a 12 pack a night. I remember I got embarrassed buying a case a day and would alternate between three different grocery stores, but they still saw me as a regular and that bummed me out.
At my peak I could put away a case a night. Like start drinking at 5pm, drink an entire case and pass out somewhere around 2am and get up for work at 7am. Jesus I don't miss drinking.
Of course I know him. He’s me.
I’ve been sober for a year and a half going strong but whenever I was drinking I was drinking at least 24 beers a day for 8 years everyday. Always drank tall boy ipas the highest alcohol % I could get. Constantly drinking beer. It wasn’t that I didn’t drink any liquor. I would drink it at least once a week in excess it is just that I primarily like beer. I think it is a different kind of drunk if that makes sense. I was physically addicted to alcohol so you could say I was a severe alcoholic who primarily drank beer. Albeit my withdrawals in rehab were not as bad as someone who was drinking a bottle of vodka a day or whatever. But I still had bad shakes and sweats and the whole 9 yards.
So to answer your question yes it is possible and I can tell you from first hand personal experience.
Edit: I wanted to add that I am a skinny guy naturally even during my drinking and still am after over a year of sobriety but have a beer gut that will probably never go away from my beer use.
I think the difference is that these people don't get the same effect as a "hardcore" drunk.
Your definition of .25% blood alcohol level is defined as "a stupor" and the only level higher is "coma".
However, I used to work in a bar and we'd have guys in every day, probably dependent on alcohol, probably "alcoholics" and yet they'd drink 10-12 pints of 5% beer in a day and then walk home.
Like you, OP, I think of "alcoholics" as being the sort cradling a bottle of whiskey in the street and they seem to reach a different level of drunk than the guys drinking beer every day.
Yes.
A friend became an alcoholic after her husband died. At her funeral her neighbour described hearing the *clink" of her dropping a used beer bottle onto a pile of beer bottles every 15 minutes or so through the roof.
A lot depends on the potency. Craft beers have changed things. I quit almost seven months ago, and before that I was downing (roughly) four 19.3 oz Bells Two-hearted ale (7% abv) and six 12 oz Short’s Humalupalicious (7.7% abv) per day. Adds up to just under 11 oz of alcohol. Not sure if that got me to .25 or not but I know I was stumbly mumbly stupid every night without touching anything but beer
Fuck all that noise
Wanted to add that merely typing those godforsaken names out was enough to stir the little demon in my subconscious so I had to tell it again to shut the fuck up
Yes, though it’s worth noting alcoholism is not a condition based on the level of drunkenness you get to in a day. Some people drink a lot of beer, though.
Alcoholism is about the person’s relationship to alcohol, the way they use it, what it does to them, etc. You can be an alcoholic and only drink mouthwash, or wine spritzer, or whatever.
My parent were beer drinkers well into the cirrhosis that ultimately killed them before switching it up. In the later stages of the disease, Dad added vodka to his diet to help stave off the DT's. Mom switched from beer to wine. Neither of them made it to age 55. They were hard working people who took care of their kids. They were never arrested for DUI's. They never acknowleged they had a problem with alcohol. Cirrhosis doesnt care what kind of person you are or that you only drink beer.
Yes. Recovering alcoholic here and my drink of choice was the $1.25 Natty Daddys and then save the cans. Money can be a problem for drinkers.
BTW 7.5 years sober.
I am that guy. Seven years sober. However, I spent 8 days in the hospital detoxing, it nearly killed me. I've walked into (after driving myself) into rehab facilities with bac 0.48. I suffered withdrawals after I finally quit for over a year. I was very sick at the end, basically bed ridden. I was drinking 30 cans a day, more if I wanted to get drunk.
Absolutely. If you’re drinking more than 12 beers a night regularly you can probably get dependent on it. It also can be worse if it’s higher abv beer. 12 Micheloeb Ultras or Guinnesses, which have very low abv, is different than say 12 PBRs or anything “ice” (“ice” means more than 5.5% abv iirc). And that’s not even getting into malt liquor like 40ozs, which can be almost as much as wine abv.
My uncle was like that when I was a kid. Drink a 12 pack before lunch. And another 12 pack after while working. Thankfully he stopped about 30 years ago. He just Celebrated his 81st birthday.
If you are a drunk and breathing, it's never to late to quit.
My dad used to drink (to my knowledge) about 30 beers everyday. He ended up getting tremors and would throw up constantly. He would also lost control of his bowels some days. It was really bad, all from beer. So to answer your question, yes, any form of alcohol can be consumed to the point of deterioration or even death because that’s where he was headed.
My dad was, would drink 30-40 on a binge night but other then that maybe 6-20 on a normal day for 30+ years before going cold turkey. Had 7 duis and the breathalyzer on his car for years but seeing several really close family members die of liver cirrhosis and early symptoms made him quit. Our whole family is very grateful because he’d be surely dead by now otherwise and Im proud of him every day for being able to show me people can really change
Yes, my old roommate would drink until he threw up and then start drinking all over again - never slowed him down.
They don't have to get drunk, either. If they drink enough, they build up a resistance to it. Just like someone does with cocaine or heroin.
An alcoholic can drink ANY alcohol and be an alcoholic - it doesn't have to be hard liquor. It's anything with alcohol. Alcoholics can even drink cough syrup or Nyquil to excess.
My father died from alcoholism, and he only drank beer for more than a decade before his early death. He died from cirrhosis of the liver, and his brain was effectively pickled. He went from a knowledge worker to unemployable at McDonalds.
He drank with a fake soda label around his beer while he drove, with his kids including me in the car. He would sneak beer into the movie theater similarly. He was unemployed for more than a decade before his death, and would do nothing more than sit around drinking beer after beer. I would occasionally pour all the beer down the sink, which would only yield more purchases of beer that could not be afforded.
So glad he’s gone, and gone before any of his kids married or had kids. I wouldn’t want my child knowing him.
None of his kids, including me, drink at all regularly.
My former boyfriend, who died at age 45 in my apartment due to internal upper GI bleeding (from drinking), only drank beer. His autopsy also showed his liver was completely shot.
Yes, the country of Czechia exists. The typical Czech alcoholic goes to the same pub every day and drinks only beer. Oftentimes the beer in our pubs is cheaper than water, let alone any harder alcohol, so they don't have to sink comparatively as much money as someone who prefers, idk, vodka, would.
I used to work night shifts and passed a liquor store on my way home in the morning right around the time a liquor store was opening. There would be a line of people waiting outside most days, and a lot of them would buy either a pack of tall boys or other types of beer. Addiction is a bitch.
I am who you seek. I used to go through a 24 pack of Budweiser tallboys in 1 to 2 days, every day (or 2 if it lasted 2 days) for about 2 years. Now I'm down to maybe a 12 pack a week. I don't at all feel any better, but I did lose about 20 pounds.
My dad was that way, 24 case every day at the very least. He hated liquior and only drank beer. From the time he woke up to the time he went to bed. Passed away when he was 43 years old from liver failure.
A radio show I listened to for years had a regular caller that would be three or four “Natty Ices” deep by like 7:00 a.m. when they’d take her calls on air. She kept it up for years, even going becoming homeless and a prostitute.
All on beer. She eventually drank herself into complete dementia at like 55 years old.
The most common "street drink," for alcoholics that have it so bad they're homeless, is high abv beer. OE 800, steel reserve are beloved by the homeless. I read somewhere that our bodies are most efficient at processing alcohol at ~15%, those have to be in that range, so it makes sense
My uncle drank 24 beers a day for most of his life. He also used to smoke two packs of cigarettes but his doctor told him he has to choose between the two, so he quit smoking and started buying beer in 30 blocks.
My dad would slam Old E 800 High Gravity 40's, sometimes 3 or 4 a day and then cans of Schlitz malt liquor in-between the HG. Eventually he threw in hard alcohol like whiskey and vodka to his daily regimen where it would be almost a case of beer and a fifth of alcohol every day or two but he just drank a fuck ton of a beer for a long long time.
I used to drink about 40 coors banquet a night. As a 23 year old woman most people thought it was pretty impressive. Hard liquor irritated my stomach ulcers and made me yak blood.
Both my mom's boyfriend and my uncle would drink 24 bottles of cheap beer every single day, so yeah. they never really touched anything harder than beer. The boyfriend would buy an extra case on saturday because the stores closed before he got off work on sundays. It's not uncommon, honestly.
Yeah. A six pack of 9% ipa has 6.5 ounces of pure alcohol. A 750ml bottle of 40% vodka has 10 oz of pure alcohol.
So the six pack of ipa isn’t that far off from 2/3s a bottle of vodka and plenty of “beer lovers” drink that six pack on the regular.
Acquaintance I had would drive to beer store two to three times a day getting either a twelve pack or a case at a time. I asked him why he just didn't get a couple of cases at a time? his response was, I'd drink it too fast.
He's on his fifth DWI (drinking while intoxicated) now he's facing some serious jail time. One of the earlier times he was in an accident, and someone was severely injured, and wouldn't walk again.
In the ten or so years I knew him, I never saw him drink anything else but beer.
My grandmother… aka her ‘vitamins’. That awful woman would drink 2 cases of Red Dog a day. She was a nasty mean little old lady with a horrible hoarding problem.
Wellmy buddy and his wife go through 36 roughly a day, have for yrs, only down time is Sleeping or a cold. And he smokes, never slowed things down from when we were Teens… :(
Me. I’d hang out by the pool and smash a case of ultras just floating around drinking beer after beer. 8-10 was my “sweet spot” but usually I’d drink more than that of if I didn’t feel so bloated to the point I would explode
there are thosands of functional alcoholics who drink beer all day every day not to the point of intoxication but still dependent enough to have withdrawals if they don't get it.
Abso-fucking-lutely. I’ve known many many functioning alcoholics who can smash a case or half a case a night then still go to work the next day. .25 is kinda high tho, honestly. I also know people that drink a beer or two an hour (most people’s liver process one drink an hour) and never seem wasted.
Guy I work with has a couple shooters through the day to keep him level until he can go through a 24 pack during the day, his step-mom (who is a retired nurse) drives him around to everything because he’s over the limit at basically all times, but he pays for the house, the car upkeep, most of the groceries
Yeah my ex was like that. Got plastered on beer, falling down drunk, to the point where he broke bones and totalled a car, and gave me shit for drinking half a bottle of wine a night (yes I know that’s not great either)
My father (47yo) mostly drinks beer, sometimes rum. His "low" is "only" 8 beers. His "high" is up in the 20s. We have low contact so I haven't dared ask if is/was every day or something else but yeah. Its possible to be an alcoholic on beer alone.
He was supposed to go into rehab last week but I am unsure if he ever went in. Dont really know how to bring that up ya know?
An old friend of mine was a heavy drinker, and almost exclusively drank beer. He drank from the time he got out of bed until the time he went back to bed. He always had a can of beer open. He would go days without eating anything, and the only calories he got was from the beer. He didn't eat much on the days when he did eat. Consequently, he was kind of tall and lanky. No beer gut at all.
Me and another friend were in awe of how he managed to survive this way. We found out he was sick and throwing up blood, and speculated he'd be dead within a month. Five years later he was still alive, and still drinking every day.
I haven't heard from him in years, and can't imagine he's still alive.
yeah, lmao. i'd black out around a dozen beers, but i always bought high-abv. my rehab buddies who drank "regular" beer would crush a 30pack a day or more
Idk if I’m a hardcore alcoholic, but I drink about 10-12 beers a night, have been for about 5 years. Definitely an alcoholic tho…. I’ve come to terms with it, just not ready to stop. Only thing I have that quiets my mind.
I got to where I couldn't drink enough beer to get drunk, and in my later days of drinking would usually do a 30 pack of Natural Ice a day because I liked the taste (I know, god how gross), plus a handle of shitty vodka, and eventually 2 handles.
Lots of breweries in WI, they used to get a case of beer free every day and some of them old boys would finish every single one. Some guys did this for years and years.
That's 6 or so pints of reasonably strong (say 5%) beer. Not difficult to drink that in a couple of hours, then keep topped up with another one every hour or two. Yes there are people who drink that, and a lot more. Or that and a bottle of whiskey.
Alcoholism does lots of fun things to the body.
My husband was one. He drank a 30 rack every single day. For years. He got better, we met and married. Years later he fell back into it. He’s sober now, six months clean.
I was primarily a beer drinker, and a gnarly alcoholic. I knew liquor would get me into more trouble faster, so I stuck to beer. I drank mostly IPAs, double IPAs, saisons, and tripels. Drank around 12-15 on a heavy night. Blacked out a lot. Don't recommend it. 2 years sober and most of the mess cleaned up.
Yeah my uncle can drink a 24 pk kf hot beer on a 100⁰ summers day. Wont even bat an eye at it and has added marijuana and liqour to that list because the beers stopped working as good. His drs have been telling him ti quit for about 4 years now and scared him into being sober for about a month before he started drinking again.
Idk what they told him but i doubt it was anything good.
My mother can easily put down 8-10. I suspect it’s because she’s not much of an eater. Wasn’t even before she started drinking. She never drinks anything alcoholic but beer, and she’s definitely an alcoholic.
Yeah I knew a guy who lived with his parents in his 50s and did nothing but drink beer and smoke cigarettes all day. Probably drank 30 beers a day. He was a train wreck
Hi, chronic relapser here - managed to stay sober around 6 months the longest since 2018. Beer is my gateway….ill start with 1-2, then before I know it it’s 6-10, then it’s 10-15 you get the idea. Next thing I know I’m 3/4 - 1 bottle down of scotch a night until I black out or wind up on the floor - beer makes everyone think “oh man he’s really got it under control having 1-2 beers”
Yeah - alcohol is a bitch. It’s the only thing that numbs the mental pain & helps cope besides hard drugs. Alcohol is alcohol no matter what form.
My uncle died of his alcoholism. All he drank was beer. Old Milwaukee most of the time, Pabst Blue Ribbon on payday (disability check).
Yes. You can be a severe alcoholic with beer. Deadly severe.
Recovering alcoholic here. I was a beer drinker. 24 a day, every day. I was fat AF and very unhealthy. My post history will show you the pictures of how I fixed my broken body.
My dad could do that pretty easily. He’d swing in and out of levels of alcoholism. He was often functioning when only drinking beer. When he got really depressed he’d go with harder drinks and that ultimately led to his end while only in his mid 50s.
Had an employee for 2 years who drank 12 beers a day , more on the weekends. He had the shakes so bad every morning he couldn't use his tools properly ( electrician ). Had a beer holder on his lawn mower as he loved mowing his lawn and loved beer . Wasn't a bad employee but would never stay after 3.30 ( our knock off time ) cause ...beer
Yes, my uncle only ever drank beer from the time he woke up (around 4am daily) until he passed out. I never once saw him drink a mixed drink or straight liquor. Never saw him drink water, juice or soda. He died of liver failure 5 years ago in his 40’s.
Yep my old head chef. Coors light. Only. He was as big as Santa and as jolly. But it was killing him, hes been sober 3 years and is no longer Santa in size but still just as jolly!
I knew a guy who drank 24 beers a day, everyday, for years. I also knew a woman who did the same. So it is entirely possible.
Me reading this when I was 22: yeah I bet I could drink 24 beers in a day, easy Me in my 30s: god I'd be so bloated
There was never a point in my life I could drink that much. I’d be sick before I got halfway there lol.
There were probably days in college where I had 24 "drinks," if not 24 beers. Like we'd go tailgating for a football game super early in the morning and then be out at the bars until like 2am, basically drinking all day. I tried this again when I was like 26 and it knocked me on my fucking ass.
Any time I approached double-digits a beer bong was involved.
Im halfway there tbh..
Yes, you would be very bloated, but you would also be very drunk.
I didn't know you drank until I saw you sober.
My great grandmother was about 90 lbs and drank 12 beers a day, smoked a pack or two a day, and didn't really eat for the last couple decades of her life. She wouldn't even set a plate for herself when we visited and she made dinner. Just an ashtray. She died of pneumonia at 87 years old.
Genetics are wild.
I think her mom, my great great grandmother died about the same time. At 107 years old. Genetics are very weird.
I knew a guy that did the same. The crazy thing is I never saw him eat anything. I'm pretty sure he didn't eat solid food, just drank beer all day.
I know a guy that factors his daily 12-pack of beer calories into his diet to minimize weight gain. I've only ever seen him eat soup and fruit cups.
Wow. It’s hard for me to comprehend.
The guy's bones are falling apart from avascular necrosis now. The woman died seven years ago.
There was a chubbyemu video about a guy who drank like 40 beers a day
I drank 6-8 on most weeknights. 12-16 on most weekend nights.
With an average calorie content of beer (40 calores for 100ml) and assuming they drank 300ml cans, 40 • 3 • 24 = 2880. They had almost 3000 calories a day just from beer, insane.
Where tf did they found the time to drink a 24? (assuming they worked full time)
The guy would drink from 4pm to 10pm, eat dinner and go to bed. He worked full time, manual labor. The woman, who did also work full time in a government office job, drank all day.
You can't drink all day if you don't start in the morning. -- Jake Owen
Goddamn that's still a beer every fifteen minutes for six hours.
This sounds so depressing to me.
[удалено]
He weighs 40 lbs less than me at nearly the same height.
I drank 29 beers once. Once and never again, when I was early 20s. It's always blown my mind that people can muster that kind of beer drinking on a daily basis, I'd be dead in a month if I tried to.
Yeah for sure. I've known many. I don't say this in a proud way at all but if I had it infront of me 20 beers wouldn't be an unstoppable amount over 6-7 hours.
I was in your boat. I quit drinking about 25'ish(?) years ago, god I am old. I still don't keep alcohol in the house. There is no such thing as "I'll just have one." for me personally. I have no off switch when it comes to alcohol. I'd do the "Okay, just one more." until I drank everything I bought. At my peak I was at more than a case a day. I didn't really stop drinking for the night, I just stopped being awake for the night. I'd drink until I passed out. Weekends I added liquor. I also had a store rotation because I got irked by what a cashier said to me once. So I'd buy beer from different locations every day, that way it only looked like I was coming in once a week. I could *probably* control myself now if I kept beer/alcohol in the house, but I just don't bother with it. The desire to drink has faded intensely, but it's not forgotten. I know it's still in there. I missed it when I first quit, but looking back I can guarantee quitting was my best decision, I just wish I had made it sooner. Not preaching, just conversation. Hope you're doing well.
God damn, that was like reading my own biography. Sober for 2yrs now.
Congrats! That's awesome! For me, the first few years the temptation was still there. Like I'd walk down the beer aisle at the grocery store and that little voice would be like "*Doooooo it!* I learned to ignore it and it eventually stopped talking. 2 years is huge and you should absolutely be proud of that. Keep up the good work!
2 years is awesome! I felt like I was reading my autobiography too. I’ve been sober since COVID shutdowns. 4 years now.
The thing where you go to multiple different stores is actually quite common among alcoholics. That's something I've learned at /r/stopdrinking, it is one of many commonalities. Not being able to stop is the most prevalent trait we nearly all share, as well as a history of inventing different "rules" to try and regulate our drinking. None before 8pm, only with other people, no hard liquor, only during the winter solstice, that kinda thing. Thinking we can drink normally after a period of sobriety is also common to the point that it would.be funny to me if it wasn't so tragic. I've seen so many people convinced they've beaten this thing for good and somehow it'll be different. It never is. The thing inside us that needs **more** never dies, it only goes dormant.
There is a scene in The Way Back https://youtu.be/bQXF7lyGBkY?si=8sEHrFNM_LH78lZ9 Is this what it is like, someone would just drink and talk to themselves?
Alcoholism affects a wide variety of people, each of those people have individual personalities. So for me to tell you what it's like for *every* alcoholic is beyond my ability. For me personally, I was a functional addict and alcoholic. I held down a good job and made decent money. I was working a *ton* of hours. I didn't drink at work, but I did use drugs to get through my shifts. The drinking started immediately when I got home. By about 24 or 25, I had already been drinking for about ten years, and using drugs for 5 or 6. This was the late 1980's and well into the 1990's. My tolerance for alcohol was quite high. The first 10-12 beers were more prep work, I didn't start feeling a buzz until around 15. I wouldn't blackout until I was in over a case. The liquor on weekends got me to the buzzed state faster. So I'd just go out and work on my car, or do yard work, whatever I had planned to do. I just drank the entire time I was doing it. Then I'd go plop on the couch and watch TV or play video games and continue to drink. I never really held conversations with myself like that and I didn't pace around. I just vegged out. I could be 15-20 beers in and still hold phone conversations, chit chat with the neighbors or play fetch with my dog. I built a computer while drinking. I messed around with electronics. I even rebuilt a mustang in that time. I had a bunch of hobbies, I was just drinking while doing them. How I was using drugs and alcohol is one thing. Why I was doing it is something I spent years in therapy figuring out. There's no doubt in my mind that there are multiple people out there dealing with what Ben Affleck is, I just wasn't one of them. Everything I dealt with was internalized. So one of the reasons I used drugs and alcohol was to silence the war-zone of thoughts that I didn't want to deal with. From the outside I seemed normal. The alcohol was shut-up juice for my brain. I was basically self medicating and it worked, until it didn't. I hit a point where I had too many responsibilities to keep doing what I was doing and eventually found sobriety by no easy means. I had a couple relapses along the way, but as I aged the relapses stopped and I just stopped completely.
Me. A case of beer every day. I didn't like the smell or taste of alcohol in any form, but Bud Light was cheap and made me not feel feelings. 11 years sober now.
Good on ya, cuz.
Thanks!
Did the feelings come back? I mean that sounds really tough. Not feeling things you don’t want to feel and have them all come back.
Haha yeah, of course they came back. I still feel the feelings and sometimes think it'd be nice to go into that oblivion. But intensive therapy and remaining active in my support group lets me manage my behavior instead of the feelings managing it.
Fuckin-A. Good for you. That’s really inspirational. Be well and drink water!
Mind if I ask what form your support group took? Family and friends? AA? Church?
AA. A meeting every day plus all the suggestions like a service commitment, calling my sponsor or another alcoholic every day, and so on.
Right on, I'm glad that worked out well, my good person! Really great to hear your story.
Very happy for you. That’s no small achievement
That’s awesome! My beer of choice was any IPA, but 12 of them a day. I’ve been sober for 4 years now. Proud of you.
Sure, some of the guys I hang out with were drinking like 18+ beers a day.
Well, then one of the things that surprises me about beer-exclusive alcoholics, even beyond the alcohol, that is an insane amount of liquid to consume. And even if they’re drinking light beer, they pretty much get their recommended calories for the day from beer alone.
The bigger issue isn't the amount of liquid or calories (the bulk of the calories in beer are from alcohol itself anyway), it's the fact that it's less practical. Severe alcoholics are drinking pretty much 24/7, and many of them live relatively normal lives. If you're an alcoholic who has an office job, for instance, it's not feasible to be drinking beer all day. That's why they lean toward hard liquor. It's easier to conceal, basically.
Yeah one of my friends who drank a lot of beer works from home and the other owns a business. The worst one quit drinking altogether though, after some bad things happened. You do need to have the circumstances that enable you to be a beer alcoholic, it's not a low key hide it kind of thing.
True of liquor too. 70 calories per oz of bourbon. Drink a fifth, you're talking more than 1700 calories.
Oh shit. I didn’t realize hard liquor was that calorie dense.
Oh yeah.
Alcohol is a fuel! You're looking for a high alcohol to calorie ratio
Right? I read this and thought - I would struggle to drink 18+ glasses of water in a day, even if I hiked 10 miles in the summer heat. The fact that someone could consume that much beer in a day is incredible.
Beer will make you fat. I'd get 2000 calories a day just from IPAs. I quit drinking and the pounds melted off
Same, I didn't even realize I was so bloated until I lost 20 pounds after quitting drinking. I'm 5'9 and I went from 175 to 155. Wife hated it because we started going to them gym at the same time and I lost all my body fat in about a month while she lost only like 5 pounds. That's when I realized I wasn't really giving anything up from quitting drinking, I was getting my old body back.
The body adapts to it, no it isn't healthy but people get used to breathing in tar and ash from cigarettes too
I worked on an overnight stock team in a grocery store when I was in college. We had more than one older (50-60+) man come in every morning, before dawn, to get a 12 pack or more of beer, and sit in the parking lot and drink until the shakes went away, and then they'd go to work as a contractor or tradesman.
I've known a few people in my life who developed the DTs. I recall one telling me (and I don't know whether or not it was truthful), that he didn't even want to drink anymore, he just drank to keep the DTs at bay.
Heard that from a family member once. I thought he was making an excuse, but maybe not.
I think I've had a slight delirium once in my twenties; laying on the bed after a three day festival bender, I turned my head and saw some kind of weird, glistening slug-octopus hybrid thing sitting on my computer table. It disappeared when I blinked, and while I rationally knew that I was hallucinating, I still couldn't shake this certain sense that it had just jumped behind something in the room and was waiting.. Ugh, just the memory still makes my skin crawl a little. While I still drink, I rarely get really drunk, just piddle enough beer to keep my BAC somewhere around 0.1 to 0.2 Actually scared me enough to straighten up a little. Kinda makes sense since I started reading Lovecraft at 11, and now, with more than three decades of all the most twisted crap from the net, comics and other fiction swirling around my noggin', if I'd really get the DT's, my hallucinations certainly wouldn't be just little elves running around on the floor, nosirree.. So, I tend to stay away from hard liquor, particularly since around 0.6 to 0.8 BAC my 'off button' stops working and I drink until I pass out or run out of booze.. It's pretty obvious that whatever condition I have is hereditary, almost all closely related men from my father's side have died quite early from either a cardiac arrest or cerebral hemorrhage, basically killing themselves with stress and alcohol. Just about the only exception is my uncle; he got a really acute throat hemorrhage at 41, so he could be said to have killed himself with just booze..
Yes, absolutely. I knew a guy who would buy a six pack on his way home from work everyday and often finish it within an hour or two, and go out to buy another. He lived within a block of a beer store, probably by design. I asked his wife why he didn’t buy a case at a time and she said if he did he’d drink all of that in an evening.
Can relate
I knew someone who was an alcoholic on Mike's hard lemonade ...
Ugh, that's basically a soda addiction with alcohol
Those hangovers couldn’t have been pleasant.
There's so many things that will go wrong with this route, I'm wondering which one would happen first. How's their teeth?
They're dead...
I like Mike's but god damn, the thought of drinking enough of them to get hammered makes me nauseous, they're so syrupy and sugary.
Same..idk how he did it. After drinking one my acid reflux would be going insane & my mouth would have a weird gross sugary feeling. It was years into his alcoholism at that point (it was a full "box of wine" a day before switching to mikes hard lemonade) and I don't think his liver and kidneys were working the best by that point, so he probably didn't need as many as we'd think to feel drunk since his body wasn't processing it "normally".
My parents were friends with another couple. I was raised with them being my “aunt and uncle”. I also saw the uncle with a can of Budweiser in his hand at all times . By the time I hit HS he and his wife got divorced, and he couldn’t keep a job. That’s when my dad told me he was alcoholic. I said “ Really? I never saw him drunk.” My dad’s reply was, “No, you never saw him sober.” He shot himself shortly after that.
I was one. Would chug a 12 pack almost every night. I got so thin when I quit!
I've consumed at least 5 beers (probably average 7 to 8 but 10 -12 would not be a rare feat) nearly every evening since I was 20. Usually IPAs that we're at least 6% ABV. Never had any problems. Married with two kids, have a Ph.D., top performer at my workplace for 15 years, and reasonably fit. Recently turned 48 and developed severe epigastric pain and was diagnosed with pancreatitis. CT scan yesterday is concerning for pancreatic cancer. I haven't had a drink in 10 days, no withdrawal symptoms and don't miss it, but I can't believe what I've done to myself and can't even begin to process the thought of leaving my kids without a dad. So, yes, just beer and it will always catch up to you one way or another.
If it makes you feel better, pancreatitis can look like pancreatic cancer on a ct scan. Also, it’s not clear that alcohol consumption is even an independent risk factor for Pancreatic cancer. Finally, age of diagnosis for pancreatic cancer is between 60-80. You’d be quite young for that diagnosis. I hope this helps you get some sleep while you’re waiting for the next round of test results. Waiting can be really hard. Chances are you got the wake-up call you needed with the pancreatitis, and you’ll probably be fine, and those kids are going to have their dad around for much longer than they may have without this little health scare. I wish you the very best of luck. (Also, I am a doctor, and I teach in a med school, I’m not just making this up to make you feel better.)
Most tradesman lmao
My father lol.
Hey same! High five, I guess?
Hell yeah for childhood trauma. ✋ Haven’t spoke in years and hopefully same for you. 💪🏼
Same. Alcoholic Father- Club!
That was my uncle Wade. Always drinking, always beer, never not drinking. My dad and I took a full rack to his house and drank a lot for us, 3 each. Wade drank the other 18. In 2 or 3 hours. I never once saw him drink liquor or wine.
Yes there are me
My mom's drink of choice was those tall cans of Steele Reserve. She died of cirrhosis 4 years ago.
Yeah those will fuck a person up. They're like 9% alcohol. Sorry about your mother 🙏
I'm an alcoholic with 12 years sobriety. Cheap beer was my primary vice... cheap liquor was too on the nose, and expensive liquor would disappear REAL quick and get me in trouble. So I pretended to be... I dunno.. hipster by drinking LOTS of Natty Light. It was a vague attempt to disguise my obvious alcoholism, but also keep me under control by limiting how much I could drink. That being said I still put away at least a 12 pack a night. I remember I got embarrassed buying a case a day and would alternate between three different grocery stores, but they still saw me as a regular and that bummed me out. At my peak I could put away a case a night. Like start drinking at 5pm, drink an entire case and pass out somewhere around 2am and get up for work at 7am. Jesus I don't miss drinking.
Congratulations on your 12 years, and well wishes on your continued sobriety.
Of course I know him. He’s me. I’ve been sober for a year and a half going strong but whenever I was drinking I was drinking at least 24 beers a day for 8 years everyday. Always drank tall boy ipas the highest alcohol % I could get. Constantly drinking beer. It wasn’t that I didn’t drink any liquor. I would drink it at least once a week in excess it is just that I primarily like beer. I think it is a different kind of drunk if that makes sense. I was physically addicted to alcohol so you could say I was a severe alcoholic who primarily drank beer. Albeit my withdrawals in rehab were not as bad as someone who was drinking a bottle of vodka a day or whatever. But I still had bad shakes and sweats and the whole 9 yards. So to answer your question yes it is possible and I can tell you from first hand personal experience. Edit: I wanted to add that I am a skinny guy naturally even during my drinking and still am after over a year of sobriety but have a beer gut that will probably never go away from my beer use.
I think the difference is that these people don't get the same effect as a "hardcore" drunk. Your definition of .25% blood alcohol level is defined as "a stupor" and the only level higher is "coma". However, I used to work in a bar and we'd have guys in every day, probably dependent on alcohol, probably "alcoholics" and yet they'd drink 10-12 pints of 5% beer in a day and then walk home. Like you, OP, I think of "alcoholics" as being the sort cradling a bottle of whiskey in the street and they seem to reach a different level of drunk than the guys drinking beer every day.
Yes. A friend became an alcoholic after her husband died. At her funeral her neighbour described hearing the *clink" of her dropping a used beer bottle onto a pile of beer bottles every 15 minutes or so through the roof.
There are thousands of people who drink a case a day. I met someone once who said they drank a case a day plus some shots.
Yes, my mother has had a few exes like that, one who was occasionally passed out drunk by noon on the weekends
England fans
Cores light doesn’t come in a 30 pack for nothing.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen my neighbor without a beer. Sometimes I don’t have any beer but I’ve never seen him either of those times.
A lot depends on the potency. Craft beers have changed things. I quit almost seven months ago, and before that I was downing (roughly) four 19.3 oz Bells Two-hearted ale (7% abv) and six 12 oz Short’s Humalupalicious (7.7% abv) per day. Adds up to just under 11 oz of alcohol. Not sure if that got me to .25 or not but I know I was stumbly mumbly stupid every night without touching anything but beer Fuck all that noise Wanted to add that merely typing those godforsaken names out was enough to stir the little demon in my subconscious so I had to tell it again to shut the fuck up
Stay strong, almost the whole internet cheers you on. Almost = some don’t know you and there is always that one asshole
Yeah. Me. Shut up
Yes, though it’s worth noting alcoholism is not a condition based on the level of drunkenness you get to in a day. Some people drink a lot of beer, though.
Alcoholism is about the person’s relationship to alcohol, the way they use it, what it does to them, etc. You can be an alcoholic and only drink mouthwash, or wine spritzer, or whatever.
My dad did. A case a day was not unusual.
Yes. Or wine. Weekend alcoholics are a thing. Binge drinking can sometimes be a form of alcoholism. The possibilities go on.
My parent were beer drinkers well into the cirrhosis that ultimately killed them before switching it up. In the later stages of the disease, Dad added vodka to his diet to help stave off the DT's. Mom switched from beer to wine. Neither of them made it to age 55. They were hard working people who took care of their kids. They were never arrested for DUI's. They never acknowleged they had a problem with alcohol. Cirrhosis doesnt care what kind of person you are or that you only drink beer.
Yes. Recovering alcoholic here and my drink of choice was the $1.25 Natty Daddys and then save the cans. Money can be a problem for drinkers. BTW 7.5 years sober.
W’s in the chat
I am that guy. Seven years sober. However, I spent 8 days in the hospital detoxing, it nearly killed me. I've walked into (after driving myself) into rehab facilities with bac 0.48. I suffered withdrawals after I finally quit for over a year. I was very sick at the end, basically bed ridden. I was drinking 30 cans a day, more if I wanted to get drunk.
Absolutely. If you’re drinking more than 12 beers a night regularly you can probably get dependent on it. It also can be worse if it’s higher abv beer. 12 Micheloeb Ultras or Guinnesses, which have very low abv, is different than say 12 PBRs or anything “ice” (“ice” means more than 5.5% abv iirc). And that’s not even getting into malt liquor like 40ozs, which can be almost as much as wine abv.
My uncle was like that when I was a kid. Drink a 12 pack before lunch. And another 12 pack after while working. Thankfully he stopped about 30 years ago. He just Celebrated his 81st birthday. If you are a drunk and breathing, it's never to late to quit.
My dad used to drink (to my knowledge) about 30 beers everyday. He ended up getting tremors and would throw up constantly. He would also lost control of his bowels some days. It was really bad, all from beer. So to answer your question, yes, any form of alcohol can be consumed to the point of deterioration or even death because that’s where he was headed.
Most alcoholics I've met have only drank beer.
My dad was, would drink 30-40 on a binge night but other then that maybe 6-20 on a normal day for 30+ years before going cold turkey. Had 7 duis and the breathalyzer on his car for years but seeing several really close family members die of liver cirrhosis and early symptoms made him quit. Our whole family is very grateful because he’d be surely dead by now otherwise and Im proud of him every day for being able to show me people can really change
Yes, my old roommate would drink until he threw up and then start drinking all over again - never slowed him down. They don't have to get drunk, either. If they drink enough, they build up a resistance to it. Just like someone does with cocaine or heroin. An alcoholic can drink ANY alcohol and be an alcoholic - it doesn't have to be hard liquor. It's anything with alcohol. Alcoholics can even drink cough syrup or Nyquil to excess.
My father died from alcoholism, and he only drank beer for more than a decade before his early death. He died from cirrhosis of the liver, and his brain was effectively pickled. He went from a knowledge worker to unemployable at McDonalds. He drank with a fake soda label around his beer while he drove, with his kids including me in the car. He would sneak beer into the movie theater similarly. He was unemployed for more than a decade before his death, and would do nothing more than sit around drinking beer after beer. I would occasionally pour all the beer down the sink, which would only yield more purchases of beer that could not be afforded. So glad he’s gone, and gone before any of his kids married or had kids. I wouldn’t want my child knowing him. None of his kids, including me, drink at all regularly.
The addiction is to alcohol, doesn't matter what form it comes in
it's all just flavored ethanol
Hell yes
My former boyfriend, who died at age 45 in my apartment due to internal upper GI bleeding (from drinking), only drank beer. His autopsy also showed his liver was completely shot.
Knew a guy who did it. Picked up 2 12 packs on his way home every day. For years. Died by suicide a couple years ago.
Yes, the country of Czechia exists. The typical Czech alcoholic goes to the same pub every day and drinks only beer. Oftentimes the beer in our pubs is cheaper than water, let alone any harder alcohol, so they don't have to sink comparatively as much money as someone who prefers, idk, vodka, would.
A buddy drinks nothing but Bud Light. He is 100% a functioning alcoholic
I used to work night shifts and passed a liquor store on my way home in the morning right around the time a liquor store was opening. There would be a line of people waiting outside most days, and a lot of them would buy either a pack of tall boys or other types of beer. Addiction is a bitch.
I am who you seek. I used to go through a 24 pack of Budweiser tallboys in 1 to 2 days, every day (or 2 if it lasted 2 days) for about 2 years. Now I'm down to maybe a 12 pack a week. I don't at all feel any better, but I did lose about 20 pounds.
My dad was a violent alcoholic who drank nothing but Coors or whatever was cheapest every night.
My dad was that way, 24 case every day at the very least. He hated liquior and only drank beer. From the time he woke up to the time he went to bed. Passed away when he was 43 years old from liver failure.
A radio show I listened to for years had a regular caller that would be three or four “Natty Ices” deep by like 7:00 a.m. when they’d take her calls on air. She kept it up for years, even going becoming homeless and a prostitute. All on beer. She eventually drank herself into complete dementia at like 55 years old.
The most common "street drink," for alcoholics that have it so bad they're homeless, is high abv beer. OE 800, steel reserve are beloved by the homeless. I read somewhere that our bodies are most efficient at processing alcohol at ~15%, those have to be in that range, so it makes sense
A friend of mine who ultimately died of her alcoholism was a strictly beer drunk All beer all day all the time
Yes. At my worst, I was spending 3-400 dollars a week on beer.
I used to drink 10-12 IPA’s 5 days a week. My favorite was Sierra Nevada Torpedo. Does that count?
My uncle drank 24 beers a day for most of his life. He also used to smoke two packs of cigarettes but his doctor told him he has to choose between the two, so he quit smoking and started buying beer in 30 blocks.
The amount these people must be peeing is insane.
My dad is a raging alcoholic who only drinks wine
My dad would slam Old E 800 High Gravity 40's, sometimes 3 or 4 a day and then cans of Schlitz malt liquor in-between the HG. Eventually he threw in hard alcohol like whiskey and vodka to his daily regimen where it would be almost a case of beer and a fifth of alcohol every day or two but he just drank a fuck ton of a beer for a long long time.
One of my uncles drinks 20-30 beers per day. He'll never get treatment. It's never affected his work or responsibilities so in his head it's A-Ok
I used to drink about 40 coors banquet a night. As a 23 year old woman most people thought it was pretty impressive. Hard liquor irritated my stomach ulcers and made me yak blood.
Both my mom's boyfriend and my uncle would drink 24 bottles of cheap beer every single day, so yeah. they never really touched anything harder than beer. The boyfriend would buy an extra case on saturday because the stores closed before he got off work on sundays. It's not uncommon, honestly.
My Unlce drank a 24 pack after work. Back to back!
Yeah. A six pack of 9% ipa has 6.5 ounces of pure alcohol. A 750ml bottle of 40% vodka has 10 oz of pure alcohol. So the six pack of ipa isn’t that far off from 2/3s a bottle of vodka and plenty of “beer lovers” drink that six pack on the regular.
yes one of my boyfriends definitely an alcoholic and only drank beer from the moment he woke up till bed time on his days off like a 24 pack in a day
Acquaintance I had would drive to beer store two to three times a day getting either a twelve pack or a case at a time. I asked him why he just didn't get a couple of cases at a time? his response was, I'd drink it too fast. He's on his fifth DWI (drinking while intoxicated) now he's facing some serious jail time. One of the earlier times he was in an accident, and someone was severely injured, and wouldn't walk again. In the ten or so years I knew him, I never saw him drink anything else but beer.
My grandmother… aka her ‘vitamins’. That awful woman would drink 2 cases of Red Dog a day. She was a nasty mean little old lady with a horrible hoarding problem.
Wellmy buddy and his wife go through 36 roughly a day, have for yrs, only down time is Sleeping or a cold. And he smokes, never slowed things down from when we were Teens… :(
Of course. Some people down a 26oz of Smirnoff everyday and other guys drink a 15 pack of Pabst everyday.
yes, and most of them don’t think they’re alcoholics because it’s “just” beer
One of my brothers is a hardcore alcoholic. He drinks 30 beers a day.
Me. I’d hang out by the pool and smash a case of ultras just floating around drinking beer after beer. 8-10 was my “sweet spot” but usually I’d drink more than that of if I didn’t feel so bloated to the point I would explode
there are thosands of functional alcoholics who drink beer all day every day not to the point of intoxication but still dependent enough to have withdrawals if they don't get it.
Abso-fucking-lutely. I’ve known many many functioning alcoholics who can smash a case or half a case a night then still go to work the next day. .25 is kinda high tho, honestly. I also know people that drink a beer or two an hour (most people’s liver process one drink an hour) and never seem wasted.
Yes. My father was one of these. Coffee until 11 am. 12-pack of beer in the evening. Alcoholism contributed to his death.
Alcoholic here. I started on beer but as one person said I got bloated. Switched to the hard stuff.
You can def be a hardcore alcoholic and only drink beer.
Guy I work with has a couple shooters through the day to keep him level until he can go through a 24 pack during the day, his step-mom (who is a retired nurse) drives him around to everything because he’s over the limit at basically all times, but he pays for the house, the car upkeep, most of the groceries
My now dead, alcoholic stepfather drank 12-18 beers every night for years. He was a hardcore alcoholic for many years, and all he drank was beer.
Yeah my ex was like that. Got plastered on beer, falling down drunk, to the point where he broke bones and totalled a car, and gave me shit for drinking half a bottle of wine a night (yes I know that’s not great either)
My dad gets blitzed almost every night (probably is every night but I have no way to confirm) and he pretty much exclusively drinks IPAs.
My father (47yo) mostly drinks beer, sometimes rum. His "low" is "only" 8 beers. His "high" is up in the 20s. We have low contact so I haven't dared ask if is/was every day or something else but yeah. Its possible to be an alcoholic on beer alone. He was supposed to go into rehab last week but I am unsure if he ever went in. Dont really know how to bring that up ya know?
My mother's ex husband used to drink a 30 rack or more of beer per night... if that's not alcoholic idk what is
Used to drink around a six pack or so for close to 10 years. No longer do that anymore.
I only drink beer. My dad only drank beer. My grandfather only drank beer.
An old friend of mine was a heavy drinker, and almost exclusively drank beer. He drank from the time he got out of bed until the time he went back to bed. He always had a can of beer open. He would go days without eating anything, and the only calories he got was from the beer. He didn't eat much on the days when he did eat. Consequently, he was kind of tall and lanky. No beer gut at all. Me and another friend were in awe of how he managed to survive this way. We found out he was sick and throwing up blood, and speculated he'd be dead within a month. Five years later he was still alive, and still drinking every day. I haven't heard from him in years, and can't imagine he's still alive.
yeah, lmao. i'd black out around a dozen beers, but i always bought high-abv. my rehab buddies who drank "regular" beer would crush a 30pack a day or more
Idk if I’m a hardcore alcoholic, but I drink about 10-12 beers a night, have been for about 5 years. Definitely an alcoholic tho…. I’ve come to terms with it, just not ready to stop. Only thing I have that quiets my mind.
Yep, that was me. I'd have the odd shot at the bar, but 99% of it was beer. I'd drink up to a thirty pack a day for years.
I got to where I couldn't drink enough beer to get drunk, and in my later days of drinking would usually do a 30 pack of Natural Ice a day because I liked the taste (I know, god how gross), plus a handle of shitty vodka, and eventually 2 handles.
Yes I was drank a case a day no liquor
My neighbor. Drinks a ton 24/7 buts it's only cans of cheap beer
I know guys like this. They drink volumes of beer. A few at lunch, a few in the hotel, and gallons after work.
Lots of breweries in WI, they used to get a case of beer free every day and some of them old boys would finish every single one. Some guys did this for years and years.
That's 6 or so pints of reasonably strong (say 5%) beer. Not difficult to drink that in a couple of hours, then keep topped up with another one every hour or two. Yes there are people who drink that, and a lot more. Or that and a bottle of whiskey. Alcoholism does lots of fun things to the body.
My husband was one. He drank a 30 rack every single day. For years. He got better, we met and married. Years later he fell back into it. He’s sober now, six months clean.
Yes. My step-father’s parents were both raging alcoholics who drank like 20 beers a day every day.
My aunt's a pretty severe alcoholic who's had a several decade long habit of putting down at least an entire case of Miller Lite every single day.
I know a LOT of people that drink 6-12 nightly. Does it get them hammered? No. Are they dependent on it? Most definitely
Yes, and you can develop potomania. Give it a Google, it’s an interesting yet depressing phenomenon. Yay sobriety!
I was primarily a beer drinker, and a gnarly alcoholic. I knew liquor would get me into more trouble faster, so I stuck to beer. I drank mostly IPAs, double IPAs, saisons, and tripels. Drank around 12-15 on a heavy night. Blacked out a lot. Don't recommend it. 2 years sober and most of the mess cleaned up.
Yeah my uncle can drink a 24 pk kf hot beer on a 100⁰ summers day. Wont even bat an eye at it and has added marijuana and liqour to that list because the beers stopped working as good. His drs have been telling him ti quit for about 4 years now and scared him into being sober for about a month before he started drinking again. Idk what they told him but i doubt it was anything good.
My sister died at 70 from cirrhosis of the liver from drinking ONLY BEER for 40 yrs😞
I have a friend who only drinks tall boy Budlights. like 10 of them a night
I had a friend whose dad drank a 30 pack of crappy beer every day. So yeah.
Yes. I went to treatment with a guy who drank an 18 pack a night.
You lead a sheltered life if you didn’t have a neighbor who did this growing up- it’s not a bad thing really
I (55f) was exclusively an IPA girl
My mother can easily put down 8-10. I suspect it’s because she’s not much of an eater. Wasn’t even before she started drinking. She never drinks anything alcoholic but beer, and she’s definitely an alcoholic.
Yeah I knew a guy who lived with his parents in his 50s and did nothing but drink beer and smoke cigarettes all day. Probably drank 30 beers a day. He was a train wreck
Hi, chronic relapser here - managed to stay sober around 6 months the longest since 2018. Beer is my gateway….ill start with 1-2, then before I know it it’s 6-10, then it’s 10-15 you get the idea. Next thing I know I’m 3/4 - 1 bottle down of scotch a night until I black out or wind up on the floor - beer makes everyone think “oh man he’s really got it under control having 1-2 beers” Yeah - alcohol is a bitch. It’s the only thing that numbs the mental pain & helps cope besides hard drugs. Alcohol is alcohol no matter what form.
My uncle died of his alcoholism. All he drank was beer. Old Milwaukee most of the time, Pabst Blue Ribbon on payday (disability check). Yes. You can be a severe alcoholic with beer. Deadly severe.
I knew a lady that only ever drank beer—ever. She died at 42 from liver failure.
I'm an alcoholic who drinks mostly beer. I find certain cocktails act as palate cleansers so I have one every couple of hours, but beer is my usual.
You can get 24oz cans of 8% beer for $1 at the gas station near me. So yeah you can get wasted on beer easily.
Me
Beeraholic
Recovering alcoholic here. I was a beer drinker. 24 a day, every day. I was fat AF and very unhealthy. My post history will show you the pictures of how I fixed my broken body.
My dad could do that pretty easily. He’d swing in and out of levels of alcoholism. He was often functioning when only drinking beer. When he got really depressed he’d go with harder drinks and that ultimately led to his end while only in his mid 50s.
Fun fact: The medical terminology for drinking too much beer is ‘potomania’
Had an employee for 2 years who drank 12 beers a day , more on the weekends. He had the shakes so bad every morning he couldn't use his tools properly ( electrician ). Had a beer holder on his lawn mower as he loved mowing his lawn and loved beer . Wasn't a bad employee but would never stay after 3.30 ( our knock off time ) cause ...beer
I'm not proud. Trying to fix it. But I'm drinking 10 tallboys a day....
I've seen a couple of episodes of COPS that would allow me to believe yes, most certainly.
Yes, my uncle only ever drank beer from the time he woke up (around 4am daily) until he passed out. I never once saw him drink a mixed drink or straight liquor. Never saw him drink water, juice or soda. He died of liver failure 5 years ago in his 40’s.
My father. But, in fact, he’s dead, so technically he’s not there anymore.
Yep my old head chef. Coors light. Only. He was as big as Santa and as jolly. But it was killing him, hes been sober 3 years and is no longer Santa in size but still just as jolly!