Nearing the end of my year of living sober I’ve started to think about what alcoholic drink I might break my 365 day drought with. When the time is up on my experiment with temporary teetotalism I want to remember the once-in-a-lifetime moment of taking my first alcoholic drink for one year (what I’ve called my FADFOY) by choosing wisely.
It’s going to be a special day for me.
But not just because I’ll finally be able to drink alcohol again like I used to but because I will be beginning a new phase of my life’s journey with da drink. I am soon to begin the period in a man’s, nay—a gentlemen’s life when his choice of tipple is governed by quality over quantity
Less is more, more or less.
Quality vs Quantity
No more the cheapest scotch and cola mixers for me; I shall banish all thought of sipping from a 4-litre wine cask (actually I haven’t indulged in Coolabah riesling since I was stealing squirted sips when my folks weren’t looking) or of taking a full slab of beer as my personal liquid refreshment quota to any sporting day excuse to get paralytic.
No, my days of over-supply are done and my days of choosing sublime over-due. My post-YOLS life is going to be all about making the refined choice.
But what will my new, sophisticated drink of preference be?
Should I go for a fine bottle of wine, perhaps venturing to my local Dan Murphy’s bottle shop to purchase my first Penfold’s Grange Hermitage? Maybe I could follow the lead of my sister-in-law who prefers a little top-shelf Belvedere vodka rather than a lot of any of the cheaper clear spirits? Or is it time I developed a taste for some new, quality whiskey or bourbon I’ve never tried before?
There are endless possibilities but at the moment that last one looks like the likely option. And the possibility I’ll choose a new whiskey or bourbon as the drink to take me into the best years of my life is all down to me being a loving husband and good daddy.
Let me explain.
She really loves her job.
My Supportive Wife
Over the course of my year off the booze my wife, Pauli, has been very supportive. She didn’t push me to take a break from drinking—though she was glad when I told her, those 321 days ago, about my plan to see what life would be like without my habit of near-nightly drinking. And in my year off drinking, Pauli has never played the temptress, only once drinking a single glass of champagne in front of me (since deciding to get pregnant she doesn’t have a big taste for booze anymore). But when Pauli told me about two new spirits released this year, each featuring one of the names of our two young daughters, my wife did have a devilish glint in her eye.
“What are the chances of that?” she said. “One drink called ‘Honey’ and the other called ‘Cherry’?”
Now I’m not saying my wife was testing my resolve to finish my YOLS but I did think it interesting how Pauli (there’s actually an alcoholic drink named after her, a German beer no less!) felt it important to bring to my attention this curious development in the world of alcohol supply. Really though, I’m sure Pauli simply felt, like I do, that it was a curious co-incidence Jim Beam brought out two drinks named after our two girls (born in the last two years) in the one year I was taking off drinking?
I mean seriously, what are the odds?
Sweet Temptation?
Maybe it was the universe’s way (with the aid of Pauli’s suggestion) of tempting me off the year-off by giving me the perfect excuse to indulge in a little nip of sweet liquor.
“Come on,” I could have argued to anyone challenging me for prematurely giving up on my YOLS, “I’ve got to try a drink named after my own offspring. Don’t I?”
Well, no—is the short answer. Not yet anyway.
But when the day comes for me to choose my first alcoholic beverage (I always think of Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction when I say that word: “beverage”) in a year I think I will consider making it one of either the Honey or Cherry variety of Jim Beam bourbon.
In fact after 12 months without drinking a drop of anything alcoholic maybe I’ll spoil myself and try both. But only a bit. My future drinking ain’t going to be about how much I drink, but what I drink.
After all, a sophisticated man chooses quality over quantity every time.
My name is Ben and I’m a dipsomaniac.
Today is Day 321 of my year of living sober.
☆
Little Booze Joke
A dog the size of a small horse walks into a bar and the bartender says, “Sorry, no dogs aloud.” The big dog jumps up onto a barstool, twirls around on his hind legs before doing a back flip and landing with both front paws resting on the bar. Then he further amazes everyone watching by saying to the bartender, “No dogs, hey? That’s okay. I’m just a show pony.”
How about you? What would you choose as your first alcoholic drink for one year? Love to get your comment.
Personally, I prefer honey whiskey. Perfect time of year for it, too. Cheers.
Thanks Melissa. Vote noted. My firstborn will be very happy!
I’m not much of a whiskey drinker, so can’t say. I would go for the higher end wine personally:) I’m curious as to if you will have a drink on the first actual day or wait till it’s a weekend or something like that?
Enjoy the rest of your YOLS. I am doing another mini reset I’m calling it – 3 WOLS.
Cheers
Thanks Deanne. I have missed wine the most so it seems like a good choice too.
Regarding when I’ll be drinking…as my FADFOY day falls on a Sunday I’ve decided to have a little something on the actual day. I could have planned on staying up until midnight the day before—and having a drink at one second past the witching hour—but that seemed a tad desperate
Besides I’m in no rush. I can easily wait until the next day and then until at least mid-day!
Have fun on your Tri-WOLS (3 weeks off).
You should drink both at the same time. You have to be fair to both of your daughters.
You are dead on. And as I aim to be equitable in all my actions, especially in my expression of love for my two daughters, maybe it’ll be cocktail time. Honey AND Cherry bourbon? Or perhaps Jim Beam’ll bring out that mix ready made for me in time for my 11/11/2012 FADFOY?
I just stumbled upon your blog while Googling “I have decided to stop drinking” and just see what would come up for some sort of support or comfort in knowing that I am not an alcoholic, but that I have had my “ah-ha” moment recently and realized that perhaps this whole “drinking-until-I-turn-into-a-seven-headed-monster” thing wasn’t the best path for me. Not that I drink that much all the time, but when I really let my hair down, things tend to turn ugly (and rather quickly). I do however love a bottle of wine at night, a stiff bloody mary after work (or on weekend mornings), and will drink beers like a frat boy when I’m only a 110 pound female! So, Monday morning after waking up feeling nothing but regret (and sick to my stomach with a killer headache to top it off) I decided enough is enough. I’m trying a MOLS to see what I can accomplish – and to get some clarity. BUT, it is only day three and I can’t help but want to curl up tonight on the couch with a glass of wine. I won’t though
Anyway, credit to your blog for being a huge amount of JUST the kind of motivation, humor and piece of mind I need to stay away from that nightly glass (or two…or three…bottle?) of wine I tend to drink. I think I could get used to the idea of having a month (or maybe more) to back up the fact that I am not an alcoholic and I can stop again at any time. Plus, I will surely look forward to that whole “quality, not quantity” mentality when I decide to pick up another drink. Maybe I should start a blog….hmmm…Thanks again!
Hi Josie. Thanks for your comment and for googling my way. I think it’s great you’re going for a MOLS and hope you enjoy a change—no matter how long it lasts.
I think it’s amazing how we, as human drinking machines, can get used to anything, whether it’s the drinking or coping with the after effects of drinking. I guess it’s not even the ‘pain’ or the suffering booze can cause which got me to turn temporary teetotaller but my curiosity: maybe I’m missing out on something else, namely a new experience of day-to-day, week-to-week, life.
I’d done drinking every day so why not try not-drinking every day. At least for a few days (my YOLS evolved out of sporadic MOLS over the years).
Also, if you do start up your own blog, make sure to let me know. I’d love to see how you go. And, from your forthright writing style, I bet it’d be very entertaining.
Cheers,
Ben
PS. By coincidence my Day 3 YOLS blog post, ‘Busy Boozefree Writing‘, was all about how much writing I was getting done
Ironically enough Ben, I’ve got tons to say and write about but I feel nothing but sluggish behavior taking over me. All I want to do is sleep! I have literally found a reason to get out of my daily activities all week because my bed is slowly eating my soul. I am a regular coffee drinker and even my normal caffeine intake (plus some) isn’t helping. Gah! If I get motivation to start a blog up, I’ll be sure to let you know.
I love me my coffee too but lately I’ve taken to having a squeeze of fresh lemon in a mug of boiling water as my first beverage of the day. It ain’t exactly an expresso but I do get a kickstart from the tart (no, I didn’t mean to sound like an 80s glam metal singer!).
Hope you have a good rest—as long as you need—and come out charged up on the other side.
I have been following your blog for a while and I admire what you have accomplished! Soon to be a year, congratulations! I want to do that!
What I want to say is: “why you need to go back to drinking?” You have accomplished so much, why throw it away? I recently read the book The Easy Way to Stop Drinking by Allen Carr and in it you will find that there is ABSOLUTELY no benefit in drinking alcohol. I am following his teachings and now only occasionally (when food has upset my stomach) I sip less that an ounce of an after-dinner digestive; and as months progress in my abandonment of my usual drinking habit, I am disliking more and more the taste and smell of alcohol… and maybe that will happen to you Ben… you may not enjoy your first drink as much as you expect, because in this year your body will have gone back to its natural state where it is capable of sensing and smelling that alcohol is a poison that you shouldn’t put in your body. Just try to remember the first time ever in your life you had alcohol and try to remember if you liked the taste.
Thanks very much for your comment, Rod. I’m sure you express sentiments some other readers of the YOLS blog feel as well.
When I started my year of living sober I had a goal to go one year without an alcoholic drink. When that year finishes it is, as it has been from the start, my intention to have a drink again—if for no other reason than to see what it is like after 12 months booze free.
While I’m very happy for anyone who decides to give up alcohol permanently, it’s not my plan personally. Though you never know what the future will bring. Maybe one day I’ll decide to never drink again, and, if my taste buds have adapted to no longer appreciate wine, whiskey or whatever else I run past them, that day may come sooner than I think.
Good luck with your year of living sober mission. It sounds like you are doing great so far.
Cheers,
Ben
[...] front runner in my potential FADFOY (First Alcoholic Drink For One Year). And since my daughters, Honey and Cherry, share the name of two varieties of Jim Beam bourbon I thought maybe one of those dark spirit [...]