Yes, I come from a country where beer and rugby are core to the nations culture so until a few more boomer shed their coils, not drinking is the option that raises eye brows.

With that said and with the benefit of distance and the perspective it brings I can see that the level or drinking normalised in my home country is truly unhealthy. As I have gotten older and specifically over the last ten years I have cut back more and more, where I used to go through 3 litres of beer a night I now go through 0.7.

And there will be multiple alcohol free nights a week these days which once upon a time would have been viewed as heresy. Funnily enough thanks to spending too much time with a bad influence I can drink more then ever these days, although I am much slower and more moderated in my drinking as a result of that ‘training’.

I’m also more particular these days, I like my beer and have almost entirely given up on wine and spirits such as scotch which I used to love involving in all the sophisticated celebrations fine dining entailed with aperitifs and digestives etc. now I just want one or two of my favourite craft beer and I am happy with that.

Once a week I like to go out with a friend and ‘tie one on’ but these days that involves a lot less total volume consumed than the old days, home before midnight and a very mild hangover. I really fucking hate hangovers these days, my body cannot bounce back like it used to so I rarely drink to the point of having a bad hangover, once a year, maybe never. I’ve also come to believe that beer is pretty damn healthy for you, especially if free of preservatives.

I have my wife to thank for reining in my drinking, I am much happier drinking less but I fought her every step. I am pleased to see the kids today don’t drink anywhere nearly as much as we did but in my home county it’s going to take time, the drinking culture is deeply ingrained and there is little encouragement around excelling at academics, STEM etc. and much stronger emphasis on manly ball sports and drinking beer. On the contrary, if you excel academically and don’t like drinking, people will have it out for you nerd, we don’t like that type of behaviour round these parts.