How much beer is too much beer?

[jhlurie]

Pop culture tends to portay beer as part of a culture of excess. Homer Simpson drinks Duff until his stomach distends.

Reality isn't always that different. Beer is the only alcoholic beverage where people can get special glasses that are the size of a Big Gulp, or go to bars where they can stick their faces under a running tap (it's a college age thing). College students are also supposed to drink the cheapest possible example by the caseload or worse yet, the kegload.

It's folly to battle pop culture, but I'm wondering for the connoisseur of beer, how much beer do you actually drink? How much beer SHOULD you drink? What are the reactions of a true beer connoisseur to the popular notions about beer--amusement, tolerance, disgust, frustration? Does the realm of the beer connoisseur exist completely apart from beer guzzling, or is there some logical intersection?

[Alekeep]

Yes, I have heard of keg stands: put a hose from the keg in your mouth while someone holds you up in a hand stand over the keg. How many seconds can you drink before beer starts running from your nose. I also worked at a convenience store in not one of the best neighborhoods. I sold bottle after bottle of Night Train, MD 20-20, Thunderbird, and other stuff that loosely fell under the category of wine. The problem is not exclusive to beer.

I see the problem of binge drinking and the stereotypes that we are all familiar with is due to lack of education. People learn to drink with peers and not in a responsible environment. In most of the US, it is illegal, even for a parent, to allow anyone under the age of 21 to drink alcohol. You are not allowed to teach children and young adults to respect alcohol to drink responsibly. At 21 years of age these adults have pretty much cut the apron strings and are on their own. They are free to experience the forbidden fruit that has been dangled in front for most of their life.

Advertisers are not stupid. This is the group that they are marketing to. Even if everyone is drinking some bland industrial lager, the picture they paint in a 30 second TV spot looks a lot better than the gray walls in this cubicle.

How much should you drink? There are a number of medical reports showing that moderate alcohol consumption, a couple of beers a day, can be beneficial. (Okay, wine and spirits show similar benefits.)

How much do I drink? I drink on more days than I abstain. Often, since I frequently have beer on tap at home, I'll have a half a glass or so instead of a bed time snack. Other times I may have a couple with or after dinner. At parties or other occasions I tend to drink a bit more, and while traveling (not driving) I want to try as many new beers as I can.

I have allowed myself to be overserved but that is not the objective when I drink. I was in college. I have shopped for beer by price. I have tequila stories. Not everything learned in school has to come from the classroom.

That pretty much beats the dead horse of disgust and frustration. Amusement and tolerance are a little tough. It is so easy for them to cross back to the negative categories.

Is a kegload worse than a caseload? Usually, a keg is parked. You don't often see folks tossing empties from car windows.

[OPJK]

When I was a freshman in college, a floormate, clearly in a drunken stupor, scrawed the answer to your question on the notepad on my door:

18 beers is 3 too many.