Sometimes you just need a break from beer

When I get back from Portland, I'm doing a lengthy detox/fast.

I feel you.

 

Gonna do a month off after Paddy's Day weekend. Good for the liver, wallet, and waistline.

I'm with you, it's not a bad idea every now and again.

 

And the best thing about time off beer (which is not a bad thing) is that you appreciate it more when you start up again

 

A day off, no way !

sometimes just dial back a bit

 

I didn't drink for 6 days in preparation for a physical, and lost 3 lbs.. So..

 

Great thread and very true. It's much needed to take 3-4 weeks off here and there. At least for myself. It lets you know how much of a hold this "hobby" truly has on you....

 

on the cusp of a new calendar month I always feel this

 

I took a break from September to this last January. Sober. 100%. No urge to drink. And now that I'm having some beers here and there I just make sure they're worth it. I don't tick every single beer ever created. I have my favorites. If beer had no alcohol I wouldn't drink it. Abv is part of the fun. Yet I don't purposefully get drunk. Kind of ironic. Or oxymoron? Idk the word. The break opens you back up and sort of resets your tastes too which is fun.

 

I enjoy my beer but what I have done is take a break from the looking for the best and newest all of the time. I have stopped buying multiple bombers and $18.00 4 packs just becuse it is new. My shelf in the basement is almost empty now. It put it back into perspective for me. No beer frenzy. I just enjoy a couple after work. Plus it saves me a ton of time and money while I still really enjoy beer.

 

Same page with you all. Resets the palate, tolerance and the routine - all good things that help us enjoy this "hobby" in moderation. Also, whether you call it a hobby or not, we're talking about consuming an alcoholic and often high-calorie treat the effects of which can accumulate and lead to unhealthy repercussions over time.

 

Cut back last November. Cut way back last December. Stopped for the month of January. Now I am back enjoying beer, but, other than one night of excess with friends, I haven't had the urge to have more than 16 oz. a day. Best thing was having my palate re-set and the taste of beer being so much stronger and brighter.

 

I typically have 1 beer a night, 3 or 4 nights a week, so haven't overloaded and needed a break. Lately I have been working on my current goal of trying all 104 styles - which has given me a break from my typical go-to stout style. I'm up to 77 styles, with 9 more in the cellar, and soon I'll be down to a handful of difficult-to-obtain beer styles. After styles, I'll move on to states.

 

I don't like drinking beer every day. The kind of beer we drink is too heavy for me to do that. Plus, it adds to much to the waistline.

 

A person should really take time off from everything at one point in the year except basic bodily functions, and eating and sleeping.

Every competitive team I've run for has had at least a week to a month totally off from running out of the year. It may not seem like much, but it's enough time to keep athletes from grinding themselves down to a point where they won't recover. High school athletics requires a week of no contact with the coach, at least in Missouri. Same idea. Professional athletes even take time off, with some professional marathoners, and triathletes taking up to three weeks off 3 or 4 times in the year (after a marathon or Ironman). Time off is valuable. Often times, as within anything you're training for, or working to obtain, that time off will help reset some of the negativity and "chore-like" feelings, help reduce your risk of plateauing (training hard, but not seeing improvements), and help you approach training, a stout, that next project in a slightly different, and refreshed manner. Don't miss value time off. It's one of the things I always want to lecture my athletes on, but then they'll think they can take 51 weeks off out of the year and train one week for a race.

 

Of course we all hit a threshold at times. I hit them when I drink too many hoppy beers over time, I get palate fatigue. The best medicine is to prevent it in the first place, I mix in a lot more Pils and Lagers, some AALs. There was a time when drinking Sam Adams made you a radical and a beer snob, most here might not remember those days. I was quite happy drinking 16 oz Gibbons returnables for $4 a case in the mid 80s. I enjoy AALs today, I no longer feel the need to pound every IPA on the shelf. If it's a middling IPA, I just avoid it and reach for a Pils.

 

I got into a pattern in the fall where I was drinking 3-4 beers a night....not to get a buzz on, but they were just so good. I definitely got burned out, spent too much money and gained a few pounds. Since the new year, I've cut back to ~4 beers per week. It's been a good change.

I also have stopped hunting down beers or going to TH or Trillium so much. I don't need to pick up every adjunct stout or new hyped IPA that comes out. My wallet is happy with this decision.

 

Every time I feel like I need a break. Then want to clear out my fridge. I get sucked back in with a new release. Then end up with 3 more trades. Then the cycle starts all over again.

 

This is what gets me. I need to reduce some stock and keep a reasonable amount of beer around. Then I need to just figure a way to drink down the cellar a little instead of adding to it.

 

There is an endless supply of releases and new beers, great to be a craft drinker but as you say hard to break the cycle.