Evening tipple

[Rattles1]

I have a bit of a weird question I guess - I have a mum school friend , and we are part of a small group of friends who meet every couple months etc. She likes to have a couple drinks every evening, but it has to be one of those cocktails ( can or bottle ? ) or like a flavoured gin or vodka, but she can’t manage anything ‘strong ‘, but does have the flavoured stuff each evening.
I’m asking as otherwise we are similar with drinks on our nights out, no wine as it’s headache , no strong spirits etc. it’s just that I couldn’t handle it more than once a week etc. Would this be a concern at all to need such a drink each evening, I’m just curious as there doesn’t seem to be a need for any strong alcohol etc

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

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

@MrsSkylerWhite

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

I didn't understand the question....

apologies , my question wasn’t clear and I realise I wasn’t sure what my question exactly was. I guess I wondered if this is a dependency, although not a serious one at all. I don’t have concerns for her , nothings changed and I wouldn’t have known had she not mentioned it. From reading the replies I feel like maybe it’s the taste and way to relax, part of a routine. And yes I wouldn’t have questioned if it was a glass of wine, so probably it’s the same thing and I shouldn’t have asked.

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

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.

@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%

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.