Wine Poll #003: Getting Blotto

Simply stated - How often do you drink to the point at which you are intoxicated?

For the purpose of this poll let us assume that being intoxicated implies that alcohol consumption has impaired one's mental and physical abilities, sometimes to the point where the person should not be driving , sometimes causing unconsciousness or anti-social tendencies and sometimes blackouts. For our poll, that also includes the milder reaction of "being tipsy" in which one is slightly drunk, perhaps a bit fuddled or unsteady on one's feet, perhaps acting foolishly or in a silly manner as a result of alcohol consumption

We did a similar poll some time ago at the old forum location but giving credit where credit is due, Sharon Bowman posted a very similar poll recently on Mark Squire's forum (EBob) and I thought it might be interesting to see how our own forum reacts these days.

i would definately differ bewteen 'not being able drive' to being really sloshed.

i dont drive after drinks, even if i feel completely sober because what matters is reaction time, not how silly one acts.

if the criteria is not driving, then actually quite often.

if the criteria is acting in an unacceptable manner, then very rarely, in fact never more then once in a few years.

if the critria is tipsy...well when the wife and i finish a full bottle of wine at dinner, we can be abit jolly, and thats at least once a week.

Very rarely...in fact, I cannot remember the last time I was hammered (can't remember because it was so long ago, not because of memory loss due to alcohol consumption ). Besides never much liking the way I felt with a hang over the next day, I now have three kids so getting plastered is not an option.

Cheers,
Norm

[Robin Garr]

Excellent question, touches on a topic that's all too often a "taboo" in wine forums and clubs.

I was reflecting just the other day that the more years I spend as a wine writer, the more I enjoy wine and the less of it I drink. Because I don't mass-review wines but simply write short tasting reports and short and (one hopes) educational articles on three or four wines a week, I don't really "need" to open more wine than my bride and I can enjoy with dinner - more than the average "civilian" perhaps since we'll often open two bottles to serve "single blind" to keep my opinions honest.

But what I'm finding is that, while I enjoy the wine very much and will work on a glass analytically before dinner, then both analytically and for enjoyment with appropriate food for dinner, and usually sit and contemplate it a bit as we sit quietly and relax after dinner (and sometimes even re-check the partly finished bottle the next day), our joint overall consumption from an average bottle is often little more than one glass. I wouldn't be surprised to discover - if I measured it carefully - that some nights I actually consume only one ounce. And yet I love it, and if anyone asked me, I would certainly deny that I don't "drink" wine.

As a younger man, I did my fair share of over-consumption, as just about all guys do. I could tell some tequila stories - well, let's not.

But for some reason I find that, while I don't mind the slight pleasant relaxation that comes with a few sips, I really dislike the out-of-control sense that comes with drunkenness; and the morning after is not even to be thought about.

That's just me - your mileage may vary. But I do find it funny that the more different wines I taste, the less of an individual wine I drink. A horrifying amount of excellent vino goes down our drain, and I don't regret that. Maybe it's an age thing? As a graying Baby Boomer, I'm simply recognizing that I don't "need" as much?

My wife and I share a bottle of wine with dinner every day unless one of us is unwell or the wine chosen is particularly uninteresting. This engenders a perceptibly relaxing glow but in no sense do either of us feel or act tipsy. Indeed, I consider "finish the bottle" as a minimum quality test.

About once or twice yearly, I drive home after such consumption when out for dinner. It is possible that this is close to or even over the legal limit here for drink and driving of 0,5g/l. So maybe legally blotto twice yearly in these circumstances alone.

It must be well over fifteen years since I have been worse for the wear in a social sense.

I find that there are some very specific occasions in which I get to the point of intoxication. For instance, we have supper at the home of a couple we're good friends with. Joe is about 6'2" and maybe 250 lbs. I'm 5'11" and about 170. Joe likes to make cocktails and he makes them for someone his size. Although I know this and try to keep my consumption down, once we're all talking I tend to lose track. Then the wines come out with supper and......

Even then, I don't get to the point of being unsteady on my feet, acting differently than usual, throwing up, etc. But I most certainly can tell I've been drinking and there have been a couple of these suppers that have left me feeling the effects the next morning.

And then there have been a couple of memorable times watching football with Stuart.....

Rogov, I voted before I read your definition of intoxicated, but after having read them I am even more confused. I would not drive after any more than one small glass, but there is a huge difference between that and being unsteady on my feet, and again between that and blackout. I used some sort of definition that involves noticable impairment of cognitive abilities, which for me kicks in after about half a bottle, but I don't doubt that they are impaired earlier than that. And if anyone wants to ignore my vote after that, subtract one from about once a week

Mike, if you remember them, they aren't memorable.

Sloshed to the point of puking? Once, ever. The spins? Maybe twice in my life. Buzzed and glowing? Every couple of weeks.

Steve, Hi.....

Sounds as if you stayed within the choices of the guidelines. You do, however, raise an interesting side-issue... At what point should we avoid driving. You use the example of one small glass, I of three glasses or perhaps even four but only after a long and generous meal. Not so much a legal issue and not even so much intellectual as one relating to precisely how each of us metabolizes alcohol.

Best
Rogov

I realized about 25 years ago that I really didn't like the hangovers and waking at 4:00 AM with my pulse racing, so I pretty much quit drinking to the point of being "blotto". However, getting buzzed is another story, particularly when I break out the single-malt or the tequila. Probably once a month at least I get a good buzz going. If we are out and about and I have more than a couple of beers or drinks, then Gail drives home. Too much at stake to drive drunk, and I try to set a good example for the kids.

Drinking to excess is a young man's failing, best saved for those misguided people that think it is somehow a good thing to do.

If I could take a pill that would completely eliminate the physiological effects of wine, while leaving my ability to enjoy the taste unaltered, I'd do it in a second. Even if the change was permanent.

Intoxication is simply not a desirable, and certainly not a necessary effect of drinking for me. For me, it is all about the taste experience. I took that without question for so long that it surprised me when I hit a discussion like this where people were saying that they wouldn't do away with the intoxicating effect of alcohol because for them it was a necessary part of the experience, though rarely the primary goal, at least among mature wine drinkers.

Bill -

While I very much like the idea of a pill to take away the intoxication aspect of alcohol consumption, I have to say that I would pick and choose the occasions on which I'd take that pill. There are plenty of times when it would be great - large-scale tastings certainly come to mind here. But after a really hard day, the mental and physiological effects of a little bit of alcohol are most welcome. Not enough to feel tipsy, but just enough to relax and feel like the worst of the day is over.

II join the replies that differentiate between "legally" drunk and

causing unconsciousness or anti-social tendencies and sometimes blackouts

.

I drink around half a bottle in tasting events or family dinners, but never in my life did I get to the point of going overboard.
I cannot hold too much alcohol and therefore stay in control.

Eli

American Heart Society recommendation is till 50 cc’ of 40% Alcohol DAILY for men and till 25 cc’ for women [20 /10 cc’ of pure alcohol] for wine is about 150/75 cc’.
That is recommendation.
Le Chaim
Yaakov

Sounds as if you stayed within the choices of the guidelines. You do, however, raise an interesting side-issue... At what point should we avoid driving. You use the example of one small glass, I of three glasses or perhaps even four but only after a long and generous meal. Not so much a legal issue and not even so much intellectual as one relating to precisely how each of us metabolizes alcohol.

It's also a practical one. As it happens I don't drive much anyway. So on the rare occasions when I do need to drive a) I feel more that I need to be in control and b) it is not such a great sacrifice to abstain anyway.

On the subject of intoxication in general, I remember taking part in a wine examination or test (actually for a scholarship following a high mark at the WSET Advanced level if that means anything to anyone here). We had to go from table to table, being given an oral test at each one. One table involved a tasting, and there I must have swallowed the equivalent of one decent tasting sample in around 5 minutes. On moving to the next table immediately afterwards, when I was required to answer questions I very quickly became aware that I was drunk, and found it difficult to think clearly. Yes, really. But the context was not having eaten for several hours and a high stress situation. I really wished I had used the spitoon.

I have very infrequently participated in polls like this either here on the forum, or any other place I might find one. My reasoning is that the poll is usually too subjective. If I am 5'7" 220 lbs and I drink 5, 5oz glasses of wine daily, then to some I am a drunk. I might be 6'7" and weigh 280lbs and earn my living as a defensive end in the NFL, but based on that consumption, someone is going to say(even if only said silently) that Bob H is a drunk. some will judge the respondent based on themselves without knowing the respondent. IMO this kind of poll is a way of feeling good by saying I only drink 4 oz or even 1 oz of wine or any alcohol at any one time and I am not a drunk, but that guy who drinks 12 oz is. A 750 ml bottle contains approximately 25 oz of wine, and if we use 13% alc as the norm, then there is a little over 3 oz of alcohol in a bottle. If the consumer drinks the entire bottle over a period of 5-6 hours, and consumes food either along with, or at least during the drinking it make a difference, and I doubt that he got tipsy or stumbling, falling down drunk/blotto, I would though agree that the consumer if drinking away from home should have someone drive the car. All the above, just MO.

Our move from Montreal to Cincinnati a few years ago resulted in many changes for us, one was the significantly smaller Orthodox Jewish population here. So being the only one at the table drinking wine is not unusual. When we do have someone over and that person enjoys wine, I will bring out a number of nice bottles to drink and it is then that I might get a little tipsy. So I checked once a month.

Yes, anyone or everyone would be welcome at our table, so if you plan on being in the area give us a shout

Perhaps a couple of times a year. These days, one or two glasses is average for me. These days I drink better quality and smaller amounts than I once did. I don't like having a hangover, and the system doesn't bounce back as easily as it did when I was younger. Hell, at this rate when I'm elderly I'll be teetotal. Scary thought. I occasionally overdo it at dinner parties, becoming somewhat more exuberant and talkative and ... well, yes, opinionated ... than usual. But the days of going out and getting blind on a Friday night are long gone, as are the dinner parties where you throw out nine empty wine bottles the next day, and you only had six at the table.

Matilda

Taking into account the "mildly tipsy" I voted for "About once a month".
Getting seriously drunk, once a year, perhaps less.

Lior.

Not all that long ago (in the past two years), I would get tipsy once every few months, those mostly at dinners with friends where the objective was to try 4 different wines, and we took the 'don't open another bottle until you've finished the previous' approach. Which resulted in me drinking more of a given wine than I actually cared to do, and impared my enjoyment of some really good wines. I've grown much more moderate. But the 'warm, relaxed feeling' is very familiar.

Very, very rarely.

I consider it in part that I am involved ITB, tend to be a fairly serious and responsible individual, and am the child of alcoholics. For all those reasons I dislike being "out of control", even in fairly safe environments.

It has even come up a couple of times with my wife, who says, "You don't drink wine, you taste wine!." Her point is not that I should get sloshed, but that I could relax with wine a bit more when with friends, not having to drive, etc. So you might say I'm a bit of a personal control freak, but not a control freak for anyone else.

In addition to all that, as I've aged (some say matured, some say I'll never mature) I've come less and less to be impressed by over-imbibing for any reason. And I mean that in a sensory way. I eat less, but better. I drink less, but (hopefully) better. And I enjoy more what I do eat and drink, because I'm focused on it.


And if getting snockered is a repetitive pattern with anyone...I'm very sorry, but that says dependence, habituation, or addiction.

Amusing side note...... This morning I attended a thoroughly professional open-invitation tasting of the wines of the Dalton Winery in Israel. As is my wont, I was there some time before the declared hour, that in order to do my tasting early and at my own pace, and I was among the very first to leave. A good tasting (good wines and very professionally presented).

What makes it amusing is that even though the tasting was open entirely to wine writers and critics and restaurateurs and started officially at 11:00 in the morning, by the time I left two restaurateurs were tipsy as all get out and one wine writer was (for lack of a better term) "drunk as a skunk". What the heck.... I suppose for some people getting blotto in the morning can be fun. Just not my cup of drunkeness.

I have always adored the Guido Reni painting of the baby Dionysus (Bacchus) simultaneously drinking wine and urinating.
And who (memory fails) did the magnificent statue of the adult and rather obese Bacchus urinating???

dionysus.jpg

(93.17 KiB) Downloaded 3580 times