Poll: Has your beer consumption changed since retiring?

Right before retirement I was in the hospital for 3 months with necrotic acute pancreatitis.
I used to drink a LOT of vodka/liquor.
I gave up drinking all together for about a year.
I started drinking near beers before the new Craft N. A. boom started happening. The best options were Kalibur and Heineken 0.0.
Well, I was a home brewed back in the early '90's, and I still made root beer, so I picked up home brewing again, just to have a hobby, as I am on disability and things are pretty rough.
I currently have 6 rotating taps in my new Keezer and converted my old keg fridge into a fermentation chamber.
I did this mostly out of frustration for the lack of beer styles available to me other than IPA, wild sours, barrel aged and Gose. Not to mention I can make 5 gallons of quality beer for the price of a case of Miller. Why not?
I still love brewery hopping, and I'll drive if my wife and kid want to visit a distillery.
I usually only drink a beer with each meal or snack, and the ole nightcap.
I do however, find myself purchasing much less beer than I used to.
I try to drink quality over quantity, which helps a lot with your own beers.

 

Can't speak for myself personally, but I've noticed my aunts and uncles have started drinking more ranging from a bit to a lot more since retiring, and my mom actively works to keep herself at a certain amount of drinks.

 

I have been sliding into retirement slowly (by choice) and am down to less than 8 hrs per week. I only work because I love it as much as I love some hobbies, and work pays me waaaay better than my hobbies do. Bottom line is that I drink about the same because I am easily at least as busy as I was when working full time. I volunteer at a few different organizations each week, I upped my excercise a lot, and have gotten more serious about gardening and pickleball. Drinking is never something I do to fill my time.

 

That's odd, I never have to work at continuing to drink...drinking more and more drinks is very easy. It is the stopping that is hard. ;-)

 

@beergoot

 

I was a firefighter paramedic for over 30 years.
I worked a minimum of 10-18 24 hour days a month.
I've always drank about 1-2 beers a day, of course not on the days I was working, but now, I'm retired, which means I'm drinking 1-2 beers a day EVERY day. Retirement is GOOD!
Cheers!

 

I couldn't answer because I have gone from a LOT more to a LOT less during my retirement.

 

Not retired, still another 20 years away . But started working from home 100% of the time a year before the pandemic and my drinking has gone up. More than I would like so I can see the same thing happening due to retirement.

 

I agree about metabolism. I found that as I age I have much more sensitivity to carbs. I learned that when I discovered weight gain after drinking more NA beers (low cal but more carbs than full ABV beer.) It kills me to restrict bread and pasta while also having to excercise more just to Not Gain wt.

 

I'm 70 and retired for some time. I have not been keeping track, but I drink a fairly reasonable amount of beer. And wine with food. And some nice single malt now and then. My brother is four years older than I am and we've had a series of friends dying for various reasons recently. He said, you know, we're getting older and this is all normal, but it's no less painful after all. I had my first colonoscopy last Tuesday and it went just perfectly. Except for drinking a liquid extract from something like liquid from Dow Chemical that roiled my insides for an evening and a morning. I take day by day and remain amazed by the beauty of where I now live, just where I grew up.......

 

I drink way longer, but at a slower pace. There were too many days with a couple at lunch, an afternoon cheese plate, dinner, watching the game at night, and before bed. That increased my fatness. Now if I have a beer at lunch I will then take a nap instead of continuing with beer. I might have had 4 to six in two hours when going to a bar with friends as a young boy. Now I have two in two hours.

 

Fucker, you are ok. By the way, yours truly weighs only five pounds more than when I graduated high school 1970. Problem is though I wore a 44 jacket and a 30 inch pants then. It is now almost the opposite!

Thanks for your service old man. Uncle and dad served WWII. Cousin gut fucked up in Vietnam. Fathered in law did two tours in Thailand (classified) and Vietnam. Chief master sergeant. Eight stripes.

 

Dude, I do not tip over. Ok I admit after too many I sometimes do.

 

To the OP, welcome to the club. You now have a full membership and you'll enjoy it for the rest of your life. Just be sure to keep active and not sit around.

I responded that I'm drinking less, but that only recently started, and mostly because of health concerns. Before that I probably drank about the same as pre-retirement. I've never been a big drinker since I 'grew up' and realized that occasional alcohol abuse is a bad thing. My drinking has mostly been one beer with dinner each night (occasionally two) but I'm drinking less now by substituting NA beers almost every other night. I used to frequently have a nip of bourbon just before bedtime, but I haven't done that for over a year now.

 

Yours truly has transitioned to wine. Time to get my sorry ass off this thread.

I got certain family in the conflict.