Evening tipple

I don’t quite understand the voting, but assuming that one of these bottles or cans is one unit and your friend is having two every night, then I think 14 units a week is excessive. In experience I have found people often downplay how many drinks they have. She may have more than two every night but just told you she had two. Alcoholism takes many forms and many people downplay it. I think your friend is alcohol dependant. An alcoholic, in other words.

@samarrange agreed. When I used to get out I'd sometimes have people raise an eyebrow that I liked the 'hard stuff' or that it was 'a bit early' if I ordered a spirit and mixer, when they were drinking wine or beer. No concept that my single measure was a third of the strength of their drink, and I made it last just as long.
It isn't just the measures either, 12% wine in pubs used to be common, now it's rare, standard is around 14%

It can sometimes be very hard to see that a 125ml ("small") glass of wine is available in a pub. It's often tucked away in the small print under the price of the 175ml ("medium") and 250ml ("large") glasses, with a note saying "Our wines are also available in a 125ml glass". (In fact the actual legal amounts that can be sold are 125ml and 175ml, "and multiples thereof". 250ml is just two 125ml glasses in a single pour.)

The marketing people do this because they know that people prefer the easy ordering option, which means spending more, and also some people are slightly reticent to order "small" because they think their mates will take the piss — who wants "small"?

175ml of 12.5% ABV wine has the same amount of alcohol as a pint of 3.8% bitter, and 250ml has the same as a pint of 5.5% strong lager. So if we follow the model of Al Murray's pub landlord ("Pint for the fella, glass of white wine or a fruit-based drink for the lady"), the lady is consuming as much alcohol as the fella, for a lot less body weight on average.

A glass of wine is far stronger than these cans which are more like pop.

I didn't understand the question....

@MrsSkylerWhite

Morrisons do a McGuigan Zero rose. It's pretty decent and not too sweet.
Have yet to find a palatable red though.

I don't really approve of excess drinking but her intake doesn't sound too bad at all.

It's a marketing thing that we perceive wine as ok - wine is strong, and wine glasses are much bigger than they used to be!

I’d say it would be a 50/50 split - see the thread the other day about sausage rolls for breakfast 🙈

I found a decent non-alcoholic rose from an Australian brand called “not guilty”. I’m not really a spirits person so can’t comment on that, but I do like a cold 0% peroni.

And yet if you came on here and said you binged a packet of biscuits, you get many light hearted responses

They're usually only 4%. Wouldn't have thought it's a big issue really. We all have our vices and this is a minor one.

The 0% perlenbacher lager from Lidl is excellent. Haven’t found a decent wine yet, though and the 0 spirits are awful.

They are very weak. Usually the equivalent of one measure with a full bottle of mixer. Can’t see one being problematic.

Far more sensible than pouring your own measure (we all under estimate when we do that).

I guess it’s no different to someone having glass of wine each evening

You said it yourself.

Wine seems to be more socially acceptable tho, presumably bc it doesn’t come in cans and the ‘yummy mummies’ do it

I don’t think it’s just an MN thing - alcohol in general is becoming increasingly uncommon amongst younger people - probably partially because it’s so bloody expensive now.

I can’t drink anymore due to medication but used to love a night out at the pub with friends - you could have a few drinks and still come home with change from £20 - certainly not possible now.

There’s also quite a lot of nice non-alcoholic options around nowadays too - it’s not just sickly sweet mocktails. I have non-alcoholic wine in the fridge as well as beer etc. and it all tastes surprisingly good.

It's a psychological dependence, but a pretty mild one. If you think that she's on the 'hard' stuff, you need to learn more about alcohol units.

While it’s ideal to have a few nights off a week, a couple of small drinks a night is hardly a big deal in the grand scheme of things.

I think it’s more important to consider drinking habits as a whole rather than simply alcohol consumed. Somebody who has a couple of mild drinks or quality wine each evening, enjoys them immensely, and does so as part of a happy and relaxing evening routine has a far healthier relationship with alcohol than somebody who might drink less frequently, but does so because they are stressed, or sad, or lonely and looking for a remedy for that; or drinks the strongest thing they can find to get tipsier more quickly.

Your friend sounds as though she likes rather than needs a drink. There’s nothing you’ve said which implies she’s hammering away at the Bailey’s and couldn’t do without it.

This is a non-issue. It’s one or two pretty weak alcoholic drinks.

I’m assuming when you say ‘need’ you mean it’s part of a winding-down ritual, rather than an actual physical craving that stops her functioning. It seems unlikely that she’d get the DTs if she had to miss a can of M&S pina colada.

I think "needing" alcohol in any capacity is not a good thing even if it is the canned ones that are basically pop. The strength of the alcohol is irrelevant, it's whether it's an actual need or just something she fancies after a long day. And I say this as someone who probably drinks far too much and if examined under a microscope my own drinking habits would likely be cause for concern.

But honestly it's a minor vice as vices go, and I wouldn't stick my nose into someone's business unless I was genuinely concerned for their health, which I wouldn't be in this circumstance.