Wine consumption

[joey madison]

Interesting thread.

I typically have a couple glasses of wine with dinner each night, and if I'm feeling a little adventurous, I'll have a snifter of cognac or some port afterwards. If I have guests for dinner, or on poker night, I may have a bit more. If I had a bit more the previous night, I usually take a day or two off.

Being a resident of the great state of Wisconsin, I've grown up around alcohol (albeit beer, schnapps, and brandy rather than wine). Outside of Madison and Milwaukee, it's very common to see people bring their 5 year olds into bars. I think the state in general has a much more relaxed attitude towards consumption. That being said, I've noticed an interesting phenomena here in Madison. Since the University of Wisconsin here attracts tens of thousands of out-of-staters as students and faculty, the attitudes toward alcohol here are very confused. There are those with a "typical" view of 'drinking is a part of everyday life'. There are those from out-of-state who treat alcohol as the "forbidden fruit" and seek to partake as much as humanly possible. And there are those out-of-staters who think everyone in the state is a hardcore alcoholic. That being said, obviously not everyone fits neatly in these categories...

Regarding the consumption of alcohol and athletic performance that was brought up earlier... I recently attended the American Birkebeiner, which is N America's largest cross-country ski marathon, held in northern Wisconsin. About 5,000-8,000 people do the race each year. The race ends in downtown Hayward Wisconsin; and like many Wisconsin towns, the downtown has more than a few drinking establishments. Anyway, I thought it was funny to see more than 1 or 2 racers stop only two blocks short of the finish. After 52 km of skiing, they decided it was appropriate to stop at one of the bars just before the finish for a quick quaf. Carbo loading, perhaps?