How much beer do you drink a day?

Usually..... one beer a day at home and often early in the day. When out and at breweries I may have more, but not much. Just getting old.

 

I used to drink a ton, without care. As I have gotten older, I realize the importance of moderating beer consumption. I never had any addiction issues, but the calories add up, not to mention the impact on your liver, sleep, etc. At this point, I limit my drinking to no more than the equivalent of 12 servings of 12 oz., 5% abv beer per week. It's usually less than that, but that's my hard limit (except for this week, actually, when holidays and friends coming to town ends up with more drinking). Obviously I do not always drink a 12oz. serving of 5% abv beer, especially in the age of 4 packs of pints, but I always make sure to calculate the equivalent. For example, if I have a pint (16 oz.) of Treehouse Bear (a 6.4% abv brown ale) then that would equal 1.7 servings of 12 oz. 5% abv. beer. Or, if I have a 22 oz. bomber of my home brewed Dark Mild (3.6%), that would equal 1.3 servings of 12 oz. 5% beer. Point is, I think it's of the utmost importance that people be paying attention to not just the number of servings and the serving size, but the abv. as well. Too many people rationalize their drinking with stuff like, "I have three beers per night, that's not much" while they are actually drinking the three PINTS of 8% abv DIPA, which equals more than a six pack of "regular" beer.

 

I look at it more monthly. How much beer do I consume per month. Sort of averages it all out. For me, nigh mid 50s, I am at a case of a case and a half a month. I would prefer 2 cases/mo, as that would be a 12 pack a week. But I got other priorities which is a good thing...My current beer goal is less macro swill and more better beer that I actually enjoy past getting a good beer buzz on. So I will spend same amount but on better beer, which means it's less beer per week etc. Again, probably a good thing for me. I think in general, a couple 3 cold good beers a day is awesome!

 

I'm in France right now and their selection of non alcoholic drinks is excellent. Most of the bigger breweries have NA beers. In my fridge |I have Affligam, Grimberger, Heineken, Kanterbrau. I have a bottle of NA sparkling wine to serve to my alcoholic friends and family. It's gotten so much better in the past few years. That said, I prefer the local French beers by far.

 

I remember 23 (I'm 25 so it wasn't that long ago haha), and I could drink at your volume with no problem. Although I have never been a daily drinker, I remember being able to put back 5-9 heavy craft beers in a single night and still be able to function as normal in the morning. Sadly that ability has dissapated, and I have had to adjust accordingly. Lighter beers are wonderful spacers, and water is now a literal life saver if I decide to indulge on a weekday. Taking a few weeks off every now and then is a great idea, as others have suggested, especially if you feel as if alcohol is becoming something you more and more depend on to get through the day. Beer is a wonderful hobby, and a delight to cosume; but it can be all consuming if you let it.

 

I don't drink that crap, but I do keep it in the fridge for my recovering alcoholic friends/family who may like it. When I drink the NA, usually at lunch if I have to drive, I prefer the Grimbergen or Affligem.

 

I don’t want to belabor this toooo much, but you vaguely use the term “beers”. I think everyone probably assumes that you’re saying a beer is 12oz, but they come in all formats. The important part that I just want to highlight is that at 10%, a 12oz beer is really “2 drinks”. Having two 12oz 10% beers is, what, like a bottle and a quarter of wine?

I’m not the “drinking police” here, but that’s quite a bit. Otherwise I wouldn’t highlife it.

 

I think the Heineken is quite drinkable, if you don't think about it's a Heineken

I'm sometimes surprised how good some of the cheapest of the cheap and lowly rated NA beers taste to me. Must be others liking them too, as they still are in business. Taste for yourself is the best advice I can give.

 

I rarely drink anything bigger than 12 oz, so I understand your point. When I do drink a 16 oz that's the only one I'll drink. And I haven't bought anything stronger than 7,5% ABV in years. Once in a while my son in law or a friend will show up with something stronger but my strong beer days are over(except the occasional Trappist). Luckily I live in a small town where great beers, especially strong beers, are hard to come by. My homebrews are now rarely over 6.5% ABV.

 

2 12 oz. 10% beers would be the equivalent of 4 "standard drinks", as defined by the US government.

"In the United States, one "standard" drink (or one alcoholic drink equivalent) contains roughly 14 grams of pure alcohol, which is found in: 12 ounces of regular beer, which is usually about 5% alcohol. 5 ounces of wine, which is typically about 12% alcohol. 1.5 ounces of distilled spirits, which is about 40% alcohol."

For wine, 5 oz. at 12% is considered a standard drink. A bottle of wine is 25.4 oz. A bottle of wine is ~5 standard drinks.

2 12 oz. 10% beers would be equivalent to 4/5ths of a bottle of wine.

The US government would also not consider this as binge drinking for the average male if consumed in two hours.

"The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism defines binge drinking as a pattern of drinking alcohol that brings blood alcohol concentration (BAC) to 0.08 percent—or 0.08 grams of alcohol per deciliter—or higher. For a typical adult, this pattern of alcohol misuse corresponds to consuming 4 or more drinks (female), or 5 or more drinks (male) in about 2 hours."

Not saying this is good or bad, just objectively looking at it from what the US government says about standard drink equivalents and binge drinking.

 

Since when do we believe the government

 

Thanks for the clarification. My math was off a little.

I thought alcohol ABV wasn’t a straight linear relationship, ie. One 12 ounce 10% ABV beer is not equivalent to two 5% ABV 12oz beers. That’s why I said what I said. I guess the math works out if you’re just thinking about dilution, but I guess what I was thinking about was the overall effect on the body, perhaps.

 

Challenge Accepted!

 

True! They’re probably low balling it fully knowing most won’t adhere to that guideline and go over.

Ah. I mean, you could be right?

But then how would 1.5 oz. of an 80% ABV liquor be equivalent to a 12 oz. 5% beer?

Then again, math isn’t my strong suit and I do consume a lot of beer. So who knows.

 

So I feel like a prude. I maybe drink a beer a week. I haven't had a drop since before Thanksgiving honestly. Sooooo....

 

As long as the math adds up it's the same amount of alcohol. 12 oz of 8% abv is the same as 16 oz of 6% abv. The easy way I think about it is just multiplying those numbers to determine my "drunk points" as it were. So both of those options would be 96 points. I don't give myself a point limit but perhaps I should

 

Oh no, I can’t run with you Kev. I’ll probably end up with an OWK and a Fou Foune if I come to your house for two beers.

 

Over the last 10 years I averaged almost 2.5 beers a day. This could be 12 or 16oz or even an 8oz. Some days were more and some zero. This current year I have cut back to under 2 a day and trending toward 1 plus a day on average. As I age I have less tolerance. These numbers come from my Untappd. I’m sure I miss logging one here and there.

Enjoy

 

For those interested…check out the app “Drink Control”
It’s an interesting way to track how much your drinking