American drinking culture is so crazy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't drink (never have) but I feel like people are drinking less than they used to. Maybe that's because I'm older and I know lots of people who can't drink like could in their 20s, but I feel like there are more non-alcoholic options on menus and less pressure to drink than there used to be.

+1. It’s finally becoming acceptable not to drink.

[Anonymous]

I am so, so, so glad you started yet another thread about this. The previous 100 threads on the same subject were simply not enough. But THIS one is sure to generate the outrage and the results you crave.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am so, so, so glad you started yet another thread about this. The previous 100 threads on the same subject were simply not enough. But THIS one is sure to generate the outrage and the results you crave.

Triggered alcoholic says what?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At some point, alcohol became a hobby in the US. I mean some people have always pushed it this way, but it didn't become very widespread until more recently. Like there's always been that guy who is just very, very into Scotch or the person who is obsessed with wine, but I feel like only within the past 20 years or so did this become less niche and more of a widespread thing.

I personally noticed it during the rise of microbrew beer. Before that, people generally only drank a few kinds of beer and none of it was very good. So being really "into" beer was not really an option for people. But with microbreweries, people started getting really into the whole story of how beer is brewed, the different varieties, etc. It was like the wine snobs of the 80s only much more widespread because beer is a lot more accessible. There are breweries in pretty much every city, even the small ones now. You can live in like a suburb of Cleveland and still have easy access to literally hundreds of really good quality beers, plus be a short drive from a dozen microbreweries... it just became a really easy hobby.

And then that spawned a wave of micro distilleries, which democratized having liquor as a hobby, plus you had all these celebs get into selling their own labels of tequila or vodka.

As usual in the US, it all comes down to a kind of hyper commercialization of alcohol as a product that is supposed to reflect who you are as a person. IPAs are the pick up trucks of the early 21st century.

But now there's a backlash and lots of people are quitting drinking altogether, or dialing way back. Who knows, maybe we will get a true teetotaler movement a century after the last one. It all goes in cycles.

But yes: "alcohol" is a dumb, weird hobby and people who obsess over and talk endlessly about drinking are weird and boring.

It's an actual hobby for my husband. He's brewed beer for years and is a certified beer judge and judges at competitions. But he's basically never drunk or even tipsy. He'll have a special beer with a meal on a weekend evening and take notes on its profile. Then he's done. He won't drink cheap beer because he doesn't like it.

[Anonymous]

This has got to be a joke. My parents drink a bottle of vodka a day each back in the old country.
Compared to 1996, few people seem to drink in US. 'Billions of dollars of alcohol is waiting for consumers,' was the news few days ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm not a teetotaler - I'll enjoy a drink on special occasions or on vacation, but I don't understand how we've gotten to a place where drinking for everything is so normalized. Can people not socialize or hang out without involving alcohol? If you can't have fun or enjoy the company of people without involving a drink... that's pretty sad. And pathetically boring.

Your instagam and tiktoks about your drinks every weekend? Impending snowstorm and you've got beer and wine, so you're set? It's sad. That's... fun?!

People in other countries don't do this. People don't post about their alcohol or make weird, kind of disturbing jokes about their boozey plans. I know we have an addictive culture in general (not just alcohol, but prescription drugs, bad food, etc) but it's really weird how drinking culture in America is celebrated.

I think you need to get out more. Many many many other countries have much crazier drinking cultures. You sound like a typical prudish american.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People in other countries don't have drinking culture? Have you hung out with Brits or Russians?

The Irish would like a word.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have you ever left your basement, OP? UK pub culture, Oktoberfest, and wine festivals are central to many European cultures. Koreans and Australians can drink most Americans under the table.

Yes, many Americans overindulge and struggle with addiction, but you're making a lot of false assumptions.

Are there non-white countries that have these alcohol-centered hobbies with such frequency and celebration?

Korean alcohol culture is nowhere close to the levels of American or German/UK/Australia.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am so, so, so glad you started yet another thread about this. The previous 100 threads on the same subject were simply not enough. But THIS one is sure to generate the outrage and the results you crave.

Triggered alcoholic says what?

Triggered moron has nothing smart to say, as usual.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People in other countries don't have drinking culture? Have you hung out with Brits or Russians?

As a half white person, I'm just going to say it. Drinking culture is overwhelmingly a white thing.

Obligatory in Chinese and Korean business culture. Sometimes they force themselves to throw up privately in order not to get way too inebriated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, I agree with you 100%.

+1

I agree. Americans are obsessed with drinking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At some point, alcohol became a hobby in the US. I mean some people have always pushed it this way, but it didn't become very widespread until more recently. Like there's always been that guy who is just very, very into Scotch or the person who is obsessed with wine, but I feel like only within the past 20 years or so did this become less niche and more of a widespread thing.

I personally noticed it during the rise of microbrew beer. Before that, people generally only drank a few kinds of beer and none of it was very good. So being really "into" beer was not really an option for people. But with microbreweries, people started getting really into the whole story of how beer is brewed, the different varieties, etc. It was like the wine snobs of the 80s only much more widespread because beer is a lot more accessible. There are breweries in pretty much every city, even the small ones now. You can live in like a suburb of Cleveland and still have easy access to literally hundreds of really good quality beers, plus be a short drive from a dozen microbreweries... it just became a really easy hobby.

And then that spawned a wave of micro distilleries, which democratized having liquor as a hobby, plus you had all these celebs get into selling their own labels of tequila or vodka.

As usual in the US, it all comes down to a kind of hyper commercialization of alcohol as a product that is supposed to reflect who you are as a person. IPAs are the pick up trucks of the early 21st century.

But now there's a backlash and lots of people are quitting drinking altogether, or dialing way back. Who knows, maybe we will get a true teetotaler movement a century after the last one. It all goes in cycles.

But yes: "alcohol" is a dumb, weird hobby and people who obsess over and talk endlessly about drinking are weird and boring.

Thank you, this nailed it. It's really weird. It's like turning drugs into a hobby - even pot. Smoke pot or do shrooms once in a blue moon? Cool. But if you do it with such regularity like every weekend or every time you get together with others, it's pretty problematic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People in other countries don't have drinking culture? Have you hung out with Brits or Russians?

As a half white person, I'm just going to say it. Drinking culture is overwhelmingly a white thing.

Guess you've never been to Korea. Or Uganda. Or Laos. Or Spain, Portugal, Tanzania, Barbados or St Lucia. Alcohol isn't a white person "thing", you just sound uneducated and dim.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am so, so, so glad you started yet another thread about this. The previous 100 threads on the same subject were simply not enough. But THIS one is sure to generate the outrage and the results you crave.

Triggered alcoholic says what?

Triggered moron has nothing smart to say, as usual.

Says the person who can't have a good time without involving alcohol? Mmkayyyyyy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People in other countries don't have drinking culture? Have you hung out with Brits or Russians?

As a half white person, I'm just going to say it. Drinking culture is overwhelmingly a white thing.

Obligatory in Chinese and Korean business culture. Sometimes they force themselves to throw up privately in order not to get way too inebriated.

In Korea, it's not uncommon to drink so much that people (men) pass out in the streets. It's also so safe that they aren't robbed and still have their full wallet in the morning.

Isn't this also why capsule hotels became so popular in Japan? Men would stay drinking so late they'd miss the last train home, so they'd have to stay overnight.