Edit: Apologies for the novel, might’ve gotten a bit carried away.
I dunno your lifestyle around alcohol, but if you really enjoy your beer for the beer of it all (and it’s not a problematic habit/drinking purely for effect), moderation and mindful nursing might be the move. Take the stuff below if it makes sense when being radically honest with yourself, toss it out the window entirely if it doesn’t.
Set one night a week (or longer interval) as beer night. Pay attention to what us other substance freaks call set and setting - go into it in an already good mood, in a space and set of circumstances that are arranged to be pleasing (for me, that’s out at a place I enjoy, preferably with something I like going on [live music, etc.]). If the set or setting (or, to quote Gen Z, the ‘vibes’) are off, do it some other time.
If the vibes are right, order/get one really, really good beer and a water. Your goal is to make that beer last at least an hour - you can have as much water as you want. So obviously, you should pick a beer that doesn’t taste like ass as it comes to room temp.
Take each sip very slowly - sniff it before you sip, let the beer sit on your tongue a bit, with a breath through the nose during, and sit with the finish after you sip for a little. Keep the ratio of beer sips to water sips at like 1 for every 4 or 5. Just make a mental note of stuff like the flavour, texture, finish as you’re drinking. Make note of any changes to those over the interval.
Once the beer is finished, have something else (preferably lower sugar - soda water with a little bitters and lime, hop water with a hop profile you enjoy, whatever you’d like from what’s available. If out, ask the bartender for a suggestion, some like the challenge but be mindful of how busy it is). You don’t need to make that last an hour, but try to enjoy it slowly. Once that’s finished, decide if you want one more beer, and if so repeat the process. End at max two beers, though you can close the tab (if your ideal setting is out at some place) on a not-beer-not-water drink if you want to stretch out your time in the atmosphere.
Life’s short, and filled with both horrors and moments of bliss. Little pleasures can enrich your time here, so long as you’re careful not to let their fingers wrap around your neck and become vices. Just have to approach them carefully with an eye to your larger goals and ideals.
Or, if you look at this and think “Naw dawg, if I tried this it’ll end in chugging multiple beers”, ok, let the beer go. There’s myriad other little pleasures you can integrate into your life, many of which are healthier anyway.
Edit edit: if you take the approach above and your ideal setting is out at some place, I usually follow a $1 per drink tip rule, and that calculation includes the water. It ingratiates you to the bar staff who might otherwise be peeved you sat there for two-three hours. I call it vibe insurance, lol.
I’m having my fair share of substance experience as well and I don’t plan to go for a completely sober life.
But, have practically the same idea you proposed.
I wanna get rid of useless stress drinking and smoking, and get back to a hedonistic approach, that doesn’t senselessly kills me.
For example with tobacco, I want to have a set of plants myself, so I can experiment with mixing different kinds and fermentation methods. And that would be the tobacco I can use for the year.
That would be fun, self limiting and I guess, I would appreciate the smoke much more.
For alcohol, I’m currently doing it step by step, like with opiates.
For now I got rid of the hard stuff and we started shopping for alcohol free beer - there are at least 2 ok to good ones around here.
So, I’d drink a “real” beer at night, but then don’t drink on and empty the bag, but switch to the alcohol free ones.
That works usually quite well, but as with everything, there are some days with a fallback.
But that’s ok, I want to be drunk from time to time.
And yes, making myself something like a treat calendar is pretty much the next step :-)
Edit: Apologies for the novel, might’ve gotten a bit carried away.
I dunno your lifestyle around alcohol, but if you really enjoy your beer for the beer of it all (and it’s not a problematic habit/drinking purely for effect), moderation and mindful nursing might be the move. Take the stuff below if it makes sense when being radically honest with yourself, toss it out the window entirely if it doesn’t.
Set one night a week (or longer interval) as beer night. Pay attention to what us other substance freaks call set and setting - go into it in an already good mood, in a space and set of circumstances that are arranged to be pleasing (for me, that’s out at a place I enjoy, preferably with something I like going on [live music, etc.]). If the set or setting (or, to quote Gen Z, the ‘vibes’) are off, do it some other time.
If the vibes are right, order/get one really, really good beer and a water. Your goal is to make that beer last at least an hour - you can have as much water as you want. So obviously, you should pick a beer that doesn’t taste like ass as it comes to room temp.
Take each sip very slowly - sniff it before you sip, let the beer sit on your tongue a bit, with a breath through the nose during, and sit with the finish after you sip for a little. Keep the ratio of beer sips to water sips at like 1 for every 4 or 5. Just make a mental note of stuff like the flavour, texture, finish as you’re drinking. Make note of any changes to those over the interval.
Once the beer is finished, have something else (preferably lower sugar - soda water with a little bitters and lime, hop water with a hop profile you enjoy, whatever you’d like from what’s available. If out, ask the bartender for a suggestion, some like the challenge but be mindful of how busy it is). You don’t need to make that last an hour, but try to enjoy it slowly. Once that’s finished, decide if you want one more beer, and if so repeat the process. End at max two beers, though you can close the tab (if your ideal setting is out at some place) on a not-beer-not-water drink if you want to stretch out your time in the atmosphere.
Life’s short, and filled with both horrors and moments of bliss. Little pleasures can enrich your time here, so long as you’re careful not to let their fingers wrap around your neck and become vices. Just have to approach them carefully with an eye to your larger goals and ideals.
Or, if you look at this and think “Naw dawg, if I tried this it’ll end in chugging multiple beers”, ok, let the beer go. There’s myriad other little pleasures you can integrate into your life, many of which are healthier anyway.
Edit edit: if you take the approach above and your ideal setting is out at some place, I usually follow a $1 per drink tip rule, and that calculation includes the water. It ingratiates you to the bar staff who might otherwise be peeved you sat there for two-three hours. I call it vibe insurance, lol.
Thanks for that thought-out input :-)
I’m having my fair share of substance experience as well and I don’t plan to go for a completely sober life.
But, have practically the same idea you proposed.
I wanna get rid of useless stress drinking and smoking, and get back to a hedonistic approach, that doesn’t senselessly kills me.
For example with tobacco, I want to have a set of plants myself, so I can experiment with mixing different kinds and fermentation methods. And that would be the tobacco I can use for the year.
That would be fun, self limiting and I guess, I would appreciate the smoke much more.
For alcohol, I’m currently doing it step by step, like with opiates.
For now I got rid of the hard stuff and we started shopping for alcohol free beer - there are at least 2 ok to good ones around here.
So, I’d drink a “real” beer at night, but then don’t drink on and empty the bag, but switch to the alcohol free ones.
That works usually quite well, but as with everything, there are some days with a fallback.
But that’s ok, I want to be drunk from time to time.
And yes, making myself something like a treat calendar is pretty much the next step :-)
Thanks, seems we’re not too different ;-)