Early Morning Quaffs

[jsolomon]

So, I'm on the home stretch of a rather lengthy, and career deciding application: medical school. All I'm doing right now is sitting at home putting in some drudge work to finalize it.

But, it's also ~10:20 a.m. and I'm just about ready to start my second beer. What is too early to start drinking beer, and why?

I think the earliest I've ever started in was about 7:30 a.m. when I was camping... unless you count a few times when I saw the sun come up 'cos I was still at the beer.

No, mothers, this is not a healthy or socially acceptible topic.

Moderator, kill it if it's not appropriate.

[jgm]

So, I'm on the home stretch of a rather lengthy, and career deciding application: medical school.  All I'm doing right now is sitting at home putting in  some drudge work to finalize it.

But, it's also ~10:20 a.m. and I'm just about ready to start my second beer.  What is too early to start drinking beer, and why?

I think the earliest I've ever started in was about 7:30 a.m. when I was camping... unless you count a few times when I saw the sun come up 'cos I was still at the beer.

No, mothers, this is not a healthy or socially acceptible topic.

Moderator, kill it if it's not appropriate.

←

I think the answer to your question is obvious. The question is: why do you ask?

Be careful about developing an alcohol addiction. It happens to the best of us, and can happen with beer just as easily as with any other alcohol. Being a med student, you surely know that.

The hour of the day you're consuming beer makes no difference. It's the quantity and the frequency. I went to college with some great guys who "had" to drink beer while studying. Two of them, ten years later, were divorced and had each blown a couple of jobs because of their alcohol addition. One kicked his habit in AA and has turned his life around. Haven't heard from the other one; he may be fine, he may be dead. Who knows.

You already know all of this. Life's too short and too incredible to waste it on addictions, and you have much at stake. Get honest with yourself. Can you walk away from the beer for a month, and not look back? If so, do it. If not, get help.

End of sermon.

P.S. I'm not against drinking. I do it myself. Because of family history, I make it a point to establish limits and keep them.

Edited October 31, 2004 by jgm (log)

[winesonoma]

I've been known to have a little Baileys Irish cream in my morning coffee.

[Susan G]

Congratulations on going through the application process! I'm starting down that road myself - going for P.A., and it's an anxiety-ridden time.

I'll echo the concern that if you're asking yourself if there's a problem, that's a red flag. What's *your* comfort level with your drinking habits?

To self-evaluate: www.recoveryresources.org. Scoll down to Basic AA Information: The Twenty Questions.

Edited October 31, 2004 by Susan G (log)

[jsolomon]

I'll echo the concern that if you're asking yourself if there's a problem, that's a red flag.  What's *your* comfort level with your drinking habits?

To self-evaluate: www.recoveryresources.org.  Scoll down to Basic AA Information: The Twenty Questions.

←

Hmm 3/20 on the questions. Of course my fundamental problem is that I would prefer to have thing that dehydrate me early in the day so I can hydrate the rest of the day.

I'm not asking if there's a problem, though. I was just stressed and didn't want to be drinking alone!

Guinness, it's good for me

[nr706]

This thread makes me think of my old T-shirt from Point Brewery - "Point Beer It's not just for breakfast anymore." Last time I was at the brewery they weren't offering that shirt any more - apparently not sufficient;y politically correct.

[iamthestretch]

Sounds like you'll fit in just fine at medical school, Mr. Solomon. I remember fondly from my own university days how the medical faculty always seemed to be the locus of the most intense debauchery on offer on campus, though even then I sometimes wondered why exactly.

No doubt the constant daily reminders of debilitation, suffering and mortality -- which most of the rest of us are able to simply choose to avoid contemplating -- have something to do with it, as do the medieval working conditions young doctors labor under. But that still doesn't fully account for the dedication many of them applied to dissipation. I remember fondly one future eminent specialist who insisted on splitting a bottle of gin before collegiate doubles matches on the grounds that it improved his tennis game far more than it degraded mine. And he was right. Of course, this was in another time, and another part of the world, with somewhat less strict doctrinal standards for purity of body and soul.

Still, it is my understanding that the right to drink the odd beer with, or for, breakfast does not formally expire until the cessation of graduate study, joining in holy matrimony, or birth of first child. Whichever comes first.

[Fritz Brenner]

I will definitely enjoy a Montana breakfast, or red beer, or whatever else they may be called (beer+tomato juice) every once in awhile... but I don't tend to want beer before the afternoon hours. I'm more of a mimosa, bloody mary, or coffee and irish cream kind of morning drinker.

Like the others above, I don't believe there is a "too early" or "too late" rule for drinking, as long as it doesn't interfere with living.

Congrats on med school!

[nr706]

This thread reminds me ... I've been meaning to make a batch of coffee porter. I made a coffee stout several years ago, and I think the roasted grain flavor was a little much. But as a beer with caffeine, it could be a nice eye-opener.

[mike_r]

that sounds tasty...coffee porter, i'd try it. anheuser is releasing bud-e, which is bud with caffeine and ginseng. i'm a little scared by that prospect, especially when you consider what red bull and vodka did when it hit the market a few years ago...oh well some people will drink anything

when i was just out of high school the cool thing to do was drink, of coarse. and smoke. and drink some more. and smoke some more. etc. i remember many days that began with a yawn, a stretch, and the pop of a beer tab....by three we'd ba faced again. the thing with drinking early is that you get tired real quick, and (hopefully) your body just gives up and you pass out before you can do yourself any REAL damage. i dunno, i can't do it anymore ya know...

Edited November 2, 2004 by mike_r (log)

[nr706]

that sounds tasty...coffee porter, i'd try it.

Finally got around to starting it. Grains are mashing now. I'll let you know in a month or so how it comes out (or c'mon over and try it for yourself ....)

[winesonoma]

Beer, not just for breakfast anymore. Old ECV saying.

[Chris Amirault]

Hmmmm....

In Milwaukee, there are a large number of people who hit the large number of bars after their 12m-8a shifts for a cold one or two. Having peered, with my morning coffee in hand, into many of the eleven bars within two blocks of my house over the course of four years in grad school, however, I can't really say I ever saw any jovial, celebratory -- hell, even not-depressed-as-shit -- people.

[winesonoma]

Hmmmm....

In Milwaukee, there are a large number of people who hit the large number of bars after their 12m-8a shifts for a cold one or two. Having peered, with my morning coffee in hand, into many of the eleven bars within two blocks of my house over the course of four years in grad school, however, I can't really say I ever saw any jovial, celebratory -- hell, even not-depressed-as-shit -- people.

←

When I worked graveyard all I wanted when I got home were 2 strong Bloody Mary's and bed. It really screws with your whole body rhythm.

[nr706]

that sounds tasty...coffee porter, i'd try it.

Finally got around to starting it. Grains are mashing now. I'll let you know in a month or so how it comes out (or c'mon over and try it for yourself ....)

←

Hating to quote myself, but ...

Beer is doing pretty well. Has a fullness that I expect might to dissipate a bit as it continues to bottle condition. Coffee and chocolate notes all over the place. Who wants to come over and give it a critical evaluation?

[WestOrangeFrank]

What is too early to start drinking beer, and why?

Nothing goes better than any combination of eggs, jalapeno and beer in the morning. I reserve this for weekends, usually after a morning workout.

Anyone know if Americans drink more beer per capita than any European contries?