4 ms·

Serve it in a bar at a social scene and it can set you back hundreds of dollars per session as he said. "Per session"?! My point is that his article is ostensi

by mjn 12y ago

Serve it in a bar at a social scene and it can set you back hundreds of dollars per session as he said. "Per session"?! My point is that his article is ostensibly about why he doesn't drink at all, but his bullet points only legitimately apply to why you shouldn't have 20 drinks in an outing. Having one or two beers at a bar in the U.S. will not set you back $100 (it'd have to be a pretty weird bar). The fact that you don't want to spend $100 is a good reason not to order 20 beers, but not a good reason to avoid alcohol entirely. I don't like spending a lot when I go out either, but this doesn't prevent me from ordering a smallish number of beers. Heck, "why I don't go to bullshit white-tablecloth restaurants" would a better article if that's your main issue. When I think of peer-pressured outings that resulted in annoying overspending, $40 steaks figure a lot more heavily in the story than $5 beers do.

rdtsc 12y ago
That is just one of the points, not the main one. In general, it depends where, how often, and with whom he goes out. It does add up even with comparing "dinner" vs "dinner+drinks". Dinner+drinks if done often will add to quite a bit over time. Mixed drinks can be ridiculously expensive. Not keeping up with 4,5 drink per night, or not buying the next round for example, will also raise the same question "why aren't you drinking". He'd probably be back writing the same article just saying "I am sick of people asking me why I only drink 1 drink a night and not 3".
- mjn 12y ago
  It does add up even with comparing "dinner" vs "dinner+drinks". I had that view semi-recently (a year or so ago): dinner+drinks is too expensive for my tastes. But I blame the "dinner" more than the "drinks" from a monetary perspective. Nowadays the usual arrangement among my friends & me is that we get together at someone's house, one of us cooks, then we go out for a few beers. The food is usually better, and we value the "bar outing" part of the atmosphere more than the "restaurant" part. So we save the $30-50 that the meal costs, which is a huge cash win, much more than saving the cost of a few beers would be. But this is just an issue of where you want to spend your entertainment budget. I personally feel restaurant food is a huge ripoff, and that the ambience of a restaurant is not worth it. While I feel the $1-2 supermarket beer vs. $5-7 for a bar beer is a reasonable incremental price for the ambience. Maybe you feel drinks at bars are a huge ripoff, while restaurant meals are worth it. Spend your money as you wish either way! But then it just becomes an issue of personal budget preferences: I also think movies in theaters are huge ripoffs!
kelnos 12y ago
$100 is certainly a bit on the high side, but I live somewhere where mixed drinks can cost $12 at nicer bars. Have 5 of those (not unreasonable if you go out around 6pm and stay out until 1-2am), throw in $15 worth of food (as the author mentioned), and you're up to $75. I tend not to go to bars that charge cover, but that could be anywhere from $5-$20, though usually if you arrive at a particular bar before 10pm or so, there's no cover charge. So $100 may be slightly hyperbolic, but it can happen without too much difficulty, depending on your tastes. I happen to really enjoy Scotch, and whiskey in general. Go to a bar with a selection of mid- to high-end stuff, and that can run you $20+ per pour. I tend to drink them quite a bit slower, though. But agreed that this doesn't answer why he doesn't drink at all, but is more an answer to the question of why he doesn't "go out drinking".

by mjn 12y ago

rdtsc 12y ago

That is just one of the points, not the main one. In general, it depends where, how often, and with whom he goes out. It does add up even with comparing "dinner" vs "dinner+drinks". Dinner+drinks if done often will add to quite a bit over time. Mixed drinks can be ridiculously expensive. Not keeping up with 4,5 drink per night, or not buying the next round for example, will also raise the same question "why aren't you drinking". He'd probably be back writing the same article just saying "I am sick of people asking me why I only drink 1 drink a night and not 3".

mjn 12y ago
It does add up even with comparing "dinner" vs "dinner+drinks". I had that view semi-recently (a year or so ago): dinner+drinks is too expensive for my tastes. But I blame the "dinner" more than the "drinks" from a monetary perspective. Nowadays the usual arrangement among my friends & me is that we get together at someone's house, one of us cooks, then we go out for a few beers. The food is usually better, and we value the "bar outing" part of the atmosphere more than the "restaurant" part. So we save the $30-50 that the meal costs, which is a huge cash win, much more than saving the cost of a few beers would be. But this is just an issue of where you want to spend your entertainment budget. I personally feel restaurant food is a huge ripoff, and that the ambience of a restaurant is not worth it. While I feel the $1-2 supermarket beer vs. $5-7 for a bar beer is a reasonable incremental price for the ambience. Maybe you feel drinks at bars are a huge ripoff, while restaurant meals are worth it. Spend your money as you wish either way! But then it just becomes an issue of personal budget preferences: I also think movies in theaters are huge ripoffs!

kelnos 12y ago

$100 is certainly a bit on the high side, but I live somewhere where mixed drinks can cost $12 at nicer bars. Have 5 of those (not unreasonable if you go out around 6pm and stay out until 1-2am), throw in $15 worth of food (as the author mentioned), and you're up to $75. I tend not to go to bars that charge cover, but that could be anywhere from $5-$20, though usually if you arrive at a particular bar before 10pm or so, there's no cover charge. So $100 may be slightly hyperbolic, but it can happen without too much difficulty, depending on your tastes. I happen to really enjoy Scotch, and whiskey in general. Go to a bar with a selection of mid- to high-end stuff, and that can run you $20+ per pour. I tend to drink them quite a bit slower, though. But agreed that this doesn't answer why he doesn't drink at all, but is more an answer to the question of why he doesn't "go out drinking".