Alcohol

The first time I tasted alcohol was when I was 9 years old.  It was at a wedding and it was pint of Lager that I tried - I drank a mouthful and thought it was horrible.  It tasted like battery acid - which yes, I had tasted before unintentionally, when I was a kid I put a lot of things in my mouth which is surprising considering I'm actually a bit of a germophobe now.  It's not surprising however that given my first experience of alcohol was negative, it wasn't until I was 18 years old that I tried it for a second time.  Nearing the end of my second year of college I and a few other friends went to a pub to play some pool.  We bought alcopops, which are premixed soft drinks with alcohol in them.  I had a WKD Blue which I actually enjoyed.

I should point out that here in the UK the legal drinking age for public drinking is 18 years of age, as for private drinking which the wedding covered, there is no legal requirement, you can drink from any age unless you are in England or Wales where the minimum age for private drinking is 5 years old.

Despite my second experience being positive, it wasn't until I was living at University that I really started to explore alcohol.  There was only one occasion that I actually drank in excess and that was a night that involved a drinking contest - which is a very bad idea, but I was a student and like many others it was the first time I really lived an unsupervised life with no-one to keep an eye on me so I indulged in many things to excess and with almost all of them came to understand intimately why I was never allowed to do that before, and in most cases I never elected to do again.

That night of excessive drinking at one stage involved 7 shots of Tequila over the space of an hour on top of many other drinks I had already had earlier that night.  Needless to say this did not end well.  I had to be carried back home by two friends which was not a high point for me, and I never lived that moment down.  I spent most of the early hours of the next morning in my bathroom hunched over a toilet throwing up.  To this day even a tiny bit of Tequila goes down and comes right back up again, my stomach has a zero tolerance for it now, it's like a night club with the bouncer outside who just says "Oh no not you, out, now!" when it sees it coming.

There is however a peculiarity when it comes to alcohol for me.  Throughout my life to date any time I have ever consumed it, including that night, I have never had a hangover.  I don't drink now except for special occasions like Christmas and social functions and things like that.  I don't buy alcohol, partly because I have little desire and partly because it's expensive as Hell for anything decent. Nobody I live with drinks it so there isn't even any of it around me on offer that I don't have to pay for.  The only thing I really drink now is Bailey's Irish Cream at Christmas time which is more a tradition than anything.  Other than that when at functions that involve alcohol I drink Rum mainly.

I think when it comes to alcohol in life, people have to find their own balance, and their own tolerance.  For some that incorporates moderation, and for some that means abstention.  Whatever you choose, be safe, be sure, and drink responsibly.  My only real advice is to avoid drinking for the sake of it, and avoid drinking alcohol for which the only appeal is its strength and the fact it will get you hammered quickly.  The alcohol I indulge in is anything I genuinely like the taste of and enjoy drinking - there's quite a lot of alcohol out there and the range of flavour and strength varies greatly, experiment and you will find something you like.