I have a problem. My friends have developed a higher tolerance for alcohol than me... at least when it comes to wine. A case in point: Mrs. Geek and I got an invite to join two friends for some home made duck a l'orange, ostensibly as an excuse to drink a bottle the '99 Rosenblum Richard Sauret zinfandel that was maturing on my wine rack for the last few years. Since these friends were going to a lot of trouble to prep the duck, I also thought to bring a bottle of 2002 St. Supery Virtu meritage. Since both of these friends are also into whiskey, I brought the bottles I purchased on Friday for my bonus. I figured we would pour both bottles, one before dinner, one during since Mrs. Geek was my designated driver and then sip a little of the whiskey after dinner.
The reality was a little bit more of a bottomless wine glass. A bottle of a decent California chardonnay was open when we arrived, and the three of us (who were drinking) finished that off. Then we moved to the meritage I brought. We opened a bottle of 2003 Louis Jadot pinot noir from the Cote D'Or when the meal arrived, killed that, and then opened the '99 zinfandel I brought. Then we drank a little whiskey. That was over 1 bottle of wine per person plus some hard liquor in the space of about 5 hours... with a meal.
For me, that turns out to be a little much. I don't drink that much anymore. While I didn't get sick from Saturday's festivities, I did have one heck of a hangover for most of the day. *sigh* Perhaps I've just turned into a lightweight. Then again, it is competitively keep up with other drinkers in the room that has gotten me into trouble with alcohol before -- including an ambulance ride to the school health center for alcohol poisoning when I was an undergrad.
How does one handle this? It's easy to lose track of how much you drink when your wine glass is being constantly refilled. At the same time, I don't like how much I drank on Saturday night. I think even Shakespeare said that a little too much of even a good thing is far too much indeed. I know this, but how do I stop it from happening again?
said drgeek
on 2006-04-03 at 1:33 p.m.
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