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My Drinking Problem, 2021
Jan. 10th, 2021 12:53 pm2021 started nine days ago. While the new year means little more to me than the turning of a virtual calendar page, I use that turning as a calendar reminder to recheck and reassess all variety of things. This weekend: my drinking problem.
Recall that years ago I diagnosed myself with a drinking problem— though not the one you may think. The problem is I don't drink enough! While I definitely enjoy drinking booze I've learned that I enjoy buying it even more. If I don't carefully control my purchases my stashes of wine, beer, and liquor are prone to grow overfull; to the point that bottles and cans end up lined up on counters, and some older drinks spoil unconsumed.
"Really what you have is a shopping problem, not a drinking problem," one of my friends assured me a few years ago. Indeed, it's been by buying less more than drinking more that I've brought the two into balance. Though as anyone with a problem can tell you, maintaining balance takes constant effort.
In 2020 I stayed mostly within that 70-80 range, as I did in 2019 as well. A few times I've dipped down into the 60s but I don't think I've gone above 80 for at least two years. That's an improvement from 2016-2017 when I was closer to 90 a lot of the time, and of course years before that when I topped out over 120. Step One was merely to acknowledge the problem; it took years after that to whittle down my collection.
The oil stick analogy works. Just yesterday I was shopping at a different Costco store than I usually visit. They have a wine department with more international choices than most others stores do. As I identified several bottles I'd consider buying I checked the app I track my wine collection on. I was down to 69 bottles. Yes, 🎵 69 bottles of wine on the wall, 69 bottles of wine! 🎵 I was comfortable buying 5 more bottles. Update: I missed one in my app. I only had 68. Well, now I have 73 so either way I'm good.
Nearly three months later most of those are still sitting atop my kitchen counter. 😧 Oh, they're not taking up quite as much space; I stacked them neatly after spreading them out to make this picture. 😊 But the fact is 38 of these 44 bottles/cans from October remain. At least I've nearly cleared out my September purchases. And yesterday I successfully resisted buying more beer when I saw a tempting variety in stock at Costco.
For hard liquor I don't have a target number as I do with wine. My liquor standard is a matter of, "Does it fit in my liquor cabinet?" (We reserve a two-shelf cabinet in our kitchen for it.) Over the past year the answer has remained: Mostly Yes. It's "mostly" because there are two bottles I keep on the counter because they're too tall for the cabinet. But there's space in the cabinet now they'd fit in if they were shorter. That's a moral victory if not a technical one.
Part of the way I've kept my hard liquor habit in balance is by the discipline of "Buy one bottle after finishing another." The two don't have to be the same, though. Those 13 bottles of tequila accumulated while I explored vodka more this past year— including a drink I invented myself, the Quarantini, as well as sipping vodka straight over ice while imagining visiting Lake Tahoe— and made a point of finishing off some older bottles of rum that were already ½ gone or more. Perhaps in 2021 I'll do that to some of my 10 or so bottles of whiskey, some of which have been in the closet for 10 years at this point. And I'll replace them with... I dunno... more rum, maybe? Since I'm down to 5 bottles of that after having a dozen not too long ago.
Recall that years ago I diagnosed myself with a drinking problem— though not the one you may think. The problem is I don't drink enough! While I definitely enjoy drinking booze I've learned that I enjoy buying it even more. If I don't carefully control my purchases my stashes of wine, beer, and liquor are prone to grow overfull; to the point that bottles and cans end up lined up on counters, and some older drinks spoil unconsumed.
"Really what you have is a shopping problem, not a drinking problem," one of my friends assured me a few years ago. Indeed, it's been by buying less more than drinking more that I've brought the two into balance. Though as anyone with a problem can tell you, maintaining balance takes constant effort.
Wine: 75 Bottles ± 5
I've gotten pretty good at balancing my wine buying with my wine drinking. I decided several years ago on 75 bottles as my target collection size. That number's based on consideration of how many varieties I like and want to have on hand, how deep a backlog of each variety I need for aging, how fast I tend to drink wine, and of course, how much space I deem reasonable to devote to storing it. Think of it like an oil dipstick where 70 bottles is the "fill" line and 80 is "full".In 2020 I stayed mostly within that 70-80 range, as I did in 2019 as well. A few times I've dipped down into the 60s but I don't think I've gone above 80 for at least two years. That's an improvement from 2016-2017 when I was closer to 90 a lot of the time, and of course years before that when I topped out over 120. Step One was merely to acknowledge the problem; it took years after that to whittle down my collection.
The oil stick analogy works. Just yesterday I was shopping at a different Costco store than I usually visit. They have a wine department with more international choices than most others stores do. As I identified several bottles I'd consider buying I checked the app I track my wine collection on. I was down to 69 bottles. Yes, 🎵 69 bottles of wine on the wall, 69 bottles of wine! 🎵 I was comfortable buying 5 more bottles. Update: I missed one in my app. I only had 68. Well, now I have 73 so either way I'm good.
Beer: Pileup on the Counter
My drinking/shopping problem is a bit like a balloon. When I press in on one side, likely it expands on the other side. That's what's happened with beer in the past few months. I bought a few cases of Oktoberfest beers back in September because I wanted to try them. Then, on a roadtrip in October we visited a few breweries and I bought 44 bottles and cans:Nearly three months later most of those are still sitting atop my kitchen counter. 😧 Oh, they're not taking up quite as much space; I stacked them neatly after spreading them out to make this picture. 😊 But the fact is 38 of these 44 bottles/cans from October remain. At least I've nearly cleared out my September purchases. And yesterday I successfully resisted buying more beer when I saw a tempting variety in stock at Costco.
Hard Liquor: Mostly in the Closet
Sometimes I look at my hard liquor collection and I'm like, "WTF?" For example, right now I have 13 bottles of tequila. I haven't had more than 1 or 2 tequila drinks in the past six months, why do I have so much? Oh, wait, that's why. 😅For hard liquor I don't have a target number as I do with wine. My liquor standard is a matter of, "Does it fit in my liquor cabinet?" (We reserve a two-shelf cabinet in our kitchen for it.) Over the past year the answer has remained: Mostly Yes. It's "mostly" because there are two bottles I keep on the counter because they're too tall for the cabinet. But there's space in the cabinet now they'd fit in if they were shorter. That's a moral victory if not a technical one.
Part of the way I've kept my hard liquor habit in balance is by the discipline of "Buy one bottle after finishing another." The two don't have to be the same, though. Those 13 bottles of tequila accumulated while I explored vodka more this past year— including a drink I invented myself, the Quarantini, as well as sipping vodka straight over ice while imagining visiting Lake Tahoe— and made a point of finishing off some older bottles of rum that were already ½ gone or more. Perhaps in 2021 I'll do that to some of my 10 or so bottles of whiskey, some of which have been in the closet for 10 years at this point. And I'll replace them with... I dunno... more rum, maybe? Since I'm down to 5 bottles of that after having a dozen not too long ago.
