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Two bottles in an hour though? I was under the impression that the most hardcore alcoholics consumed that much in a day.

zepolen 5y ago
I've seen an alcoholic down half a bottle of whiskey for breakfast. Literally.
jessriedel 5y ago
My understanding is that serious alcoholics are drunks for days at a time. They go to bed with enough alcohol in their system to be drunk when they wake up, and they keep drinking throughout the day. Having zero alcohol in their system can be life threatening. That means they can build up to whatever BAC slowly.
MisterBastahrd 5y ago
In the mid 90s, I worked for a grocery store doing full time, overnight stock to partially pay for college. One of my co-workers for a period of time, whose name I now forget, was a barely-functional alcoholic. He would show up to work on time most days, and work through his shift. At lunchtime he would disappear for a period of time and he would come back smelling like Listerine. Because that was his lunch. A bottle of Listerine. During the holidays they shifted some of us to a morning shift to continue to put items on shelves to match the holiday demand, and I saw him walk in on his day off, grab a fifth of bourbon and a fifth of vodka in the cheap plastic bottles, walk out, and walk back in about an hour later because he had consumed both bottles in his truck in the parking lot. He wanted a couple more to bring back to his apartment. And as bad as his drinking was, the reason he had sole custody of his daughter is because his ex-girlfriend was a full blown drug addict and he was good at hiding his drinking from CPS.
oarabbus_ 5y ago
That seems low for "the most hardcore" alcoholics. If we exclude the absolute extreme top 1%, I'd wager the 95th percentile of alcoholics begins at 2 fifths (1.5L) of 40% liquor per day. And I might even be underestimating here.
- doublepg23 5y ago
  fwiw "fifth" usually means 750ml (seven-FIFTHty) and 1.5L, or more commonly 1.75L for spirits, are called "half gallons."
  - carbonguy 5y ago
    > fwiw "fifth" usually means 750ml (seven-FIFTHty) A "fifth" is also about a fifth of a gallon.
    - doublepg23 5y ago
      TIL. I usually found the measurements to be pretty arbitrary. A pint is 375ml and a half pint is 200ml. So weird. It seems working a liquor store doesn’t count for much on HN.
  - kenneth 5y ago
    When I was in college, we'd call the 1.5L bottles "handles." Now that I'm an adult, I haven't drank anything in a long time you can buy in "handle" size.

zepolen 5y ago

I've seen an alcoholic down half a bottle of whiskey for breakfast. Literally.

jessriedel 5y ago

My understanding is that serious alcoholics are drunks for days at a time. They go to bed with enough alcohol in their system to be drunk when they wake up, and they keep drinking throughout the day. Having zero alcohol in their system can be life threatening. That means they can build up to whatever BAC slowly.

MisterBastahrd 5y ago

In the mid 90s, I worked for a grocery store doing full time, overnight stock to partially pay for college. One of my co-workers for a period of time, whose name I now forget, was a barely-functional alcoholic. He would show up to work on time most days, and work through his shift. At lunchtime he would disappear for a period of time and he would come back smelling like Listerine. Because that was his lunch. A bottle of Listerine. During the holidays they shifted some of us to a morning shift to continue to put items on shelves to match the holiday demand, and I saw him walk in on his day off, grab a fifth of bourbon and a fifth of vodka in the cheap plastic bottles, walk out, and walk back in about an hour later because he had consumed both bottles in his truck in the parking lot. He wanted a couple more to bring back to his apartment. And as bad as his drinking was, the reason he had sole custody of his daughter is because his ex-girlfriend was a full blown drug addict and he was good at hiding his drinking from CPS.

oarabbus_ 5y ago

That seems low for "the most hardcore" alcoholics. If we exclude the absolute extreme top 1%, I'd wager the 95th percentile of alcoholics begins at 2 fifths (1.5L) of 40% liquor per day. And I might even be underestimating here.

doublepg23 5y ago
fwiw "fifth" usually means 750ml (seven-FIFTHty) and 1.5L, or more commonly 1.75L for spirits, are called "half gallons."
- carbonguy 5y ago
  > fwiw "fifth" usually means 750ml (seven-FIFTHty) A "fifth" is also about a fifth of a gallon.
  - doublepg23 5y ago
    TIL. I usually found the measurements to be pretty arbitrary. A pint is 375ml and a half pint is 200ml. So weird. It seems working a liquor store doesn’t count for much on HN.
- kenneth 5y ago
  When I was in college, we'd call the 1.5L bottles "handles." Now that I'm an adult, I haven't drank anything in a long time you can buy in "handle" size.