G'wan, one won't hurt

[Sadlonelygit]

Was at a 'do' last night and someone asked me if I'd like a drink, 'panaché, I'm the driver tonight' I replied.
'You can have a decent beer, one won't hurt'
Repeated, EVERY time I have I have a drink!
I have very personal reasons not to drink and drive, apart from the obvious ones, yet so many people have a blasé attitude towards DD10/Ivre, considering I live 3 miles from my nearest boulangerie and 7 to a shop, and no bus service, losing my license would be a daft thing to do!
I have a take it or leave it attitude towards alcohol, yet so many of my acquaintances here feel the need for social lubrication at every opportunity. Or maybe I'm not French enough yet!

[Taipan]

I remember a (French) family friend who lived in Etaples telling us about the clamp down on drink driving, which she hailed as utterly ridiculous and questioned what you were supposed to do at celebrations etc! "How could you be expected to attend weddings or funerals and not have a drink". This was in the early 90s but looks like not much has changed!

[DefTrap]

In my neck of les woods, most of the social drinking seems to happen at lunchtime or early evening, so you do tend to get quite a lot of le plod spot breathtesting at those times of day.

Right out in the sticks it's rife though, there's not enough plod to go round, doesn't surprise me at all that this is a way of life.

[gremlin]

The only drug you have to apologise for not taking.

Odd, innit?

[MrLongbeard]

I have a take it or leave it attitude towards alcohol, yet so many of my acquaintances here feel the need for social lubrication at every opportunity

If I'm driving or riding I will not drink alcohol, no real reason just one of my own little rules that I've had for many many years.
Folk just don't get it and try to argue the toss with me that 'one won't hurt' to the point where I won't even go to a pub for a soft drink to save having the same conversation again for the millionth time.

I've even had to set my boss straight a few times when they wanted to do a team thing over lunch in the pub, FFS you'd think they'd get it and appreciate someone not wanting to drink whilst working, but no I'm the miserable antisocial git that won't have just the one.

[DefTrap]

My youngest works in marketing for one of the upNcoming no/low alchohol beer companies. They do various promotions at big events in ordder to get the word out there, and occasionally my youngest helps them out with that.
At a recent bike-related event he said they literally couldn't give away their no/low samples - the reliance on booze for having a good time is pretty ingrained.

I've tried the beer by the way (I preferred the bottled to the draught) and I'd certainly consider it if I wanted to socialise whilst driving. You do get no/low beers in increasing numbers of bars round my way - but I have noticed that very few people seem to have it or offer it in their own homes.

[Taipan]

I'm always the designated driver and it's great to see decent % alcohol offerings now! It gets real old, real quick, drinking sparkling water, whilst everyone is guzzling their preferred tipples. I don't drink any other fizzy drinks such as coke, so no other options until recently. Some are awful though, notably Becks Blue, but 0% Peroni isn't bad. If I fancy an icy cold cider on a hot day, I cant even tell the difference in the kopperberg offerings. I'm told % Guinness is bang on too! I normally do dry January and try the 0% red wines but they take some getting used to as they are often very sweet, almost squash like. It seems 0% drinks are like vegan food and more effort appears to be going into them than regular stuff?

[Count Steer]

My youngest works in marketing for one of the upNcoming no/low alchohol beer companies. They do various promotions at big events in ordder to get the word out there, and occasionally my youngest helps them out with that.
At a recent bike-related event he said they literally couldn't give away their no/low samples - the reliance on booze for having a good time is pretty ingrained.

I've tried the beer by the way (I preferred the bottled to the draught) and I'd certainly consider it if I wanted to socialise whilst driving. You do get no/low beers in increasing numbers of bars round my way - but I have noticed that very few people seem to have it or offer it in their own homes.

I've sampled stuff from the Small Beer Company, they turn out a range at about 2.5%, and they're pretty good. Particularly pleasant was the stout and their other dark beer. (Stout is having a bit of a moment apparently).

My alcohol intake barely registers on the scale but I'd happily have one of their beers in place of a 4%+ one.

(Might chill out and have a glass or two of red wine next week as I'm on a sort of holibob ).

[Cousin Jack]

I come from an age before breathalysers and scientific limits. If you could stand, walk, and talk coherently and respectfully, you were fit to drive.

I miss those days, but not the casualty figures that came with them.

[MrLongbeard]

I cant even tell the difference in the kopperberg offerings.

I could take a dump in the bottle and you'd struggle to notice it past the 3 tonnes of sugar that's in kopperberg, so it's no surprise you don't miss the alcohol in them.

[Taipan]

I used to go out with a girl that lived in a pub. A lot of lock ins with senior members of the local constabulary, on account of said publican being a LGR Mason. Those guys weren't shy of driving after a few! As CJ said, different era back then, and with different Police...

[mangocrazy]

Most alcoholic drinks don't really taste that nice, so drinking them for any other reason than to get pissed seems a bit pointless and masochistic.

Disagree fudamentally on that. I drink red wine (and some whites and roses) for the taste and flavour, not to get pissed. If you could preserve all the flavonoids but lose the alcohol I really wouldn't mind, but unfortunately the taste and drinking experience is inextricably linked to the alcohol.

[Rockburner]

Was at a 'do' last night and someone asked me if I'd like a drink, 'panaché, I'm the driver tonight' I replied.
'You can have a decent beer, one won't hurt'
Repeated, EVERY time I have I have a drink!
I have very personal reasons not to drink and drive, apart from the obvious ones, yet so many people have a blasé attitude towards DD10/Ivre, considering I live 3 miles from my nearest boulangerie and 7 to a shop, and no bus service, losing my license would be a daft thing to do!
I have a take it or leave it attitude towards alcohol, yet so many of my acquaintances here feel the need for social lubrication at every opportunity. Or maybe I'm not French enough yet!

I think the "issue" in France is that getting a driving ban doesn't actually mean you're completely prevented from driving, you're just inconvenienced (albeit considerably), financially and in the use of your time.

But - it's a conundrum for the authorities: if you remove someone's ability to travel in a country that is large enough, and with enough distance between someone's livelihood and their home, and don't have the public transport facilities.... by banning them from driving, you're effectively banning them from travelling (almost) utterly. (It's not quite a human-rights "freedom of movement" level though).

The French system is a compromise.

[Count Steer]

Most alcoholic drinks don't really taste that nice, so drinking them for any other reason than to get pissed seems a bit pointless and masochistic.

Disagree fudamentally on that. I drink red wine (and some whites and roses) for the taste and flavour, not to get pissed. If you could preserve all the flavonoids but lose the alcohol I really wouldn't mind, but unfortunately the taste and drinking experience is inextricably linked to the alcohol.

None of the effort that's gone into low and no alcohol beer seems to have gone into lo/no wine. The stuff I've tasted wasn't fit to wash whippets in.

Most palates develop, I guess kids might like the no alcohol wine more than adults - it all seems way too sweet. The alcopops/blueberry sherbert vape generation might go for it though.

[Bigjawa]

I like Guinness 0.0, it's pretty identical to canned draught although I've beem told it's not as good from the pump.

I couldn't tell if low alcohol wine is good or not as to me, all wine tastes like Schloer thats went off.

[MrLongbeard]

Most alcoholic drinks don't really taste that nice, so drinking them for any other reason than to get pissed seems a bit pointless and masochistic.

Disagree fudamentally on that. I drink red wine (and some whites and roses) for the taste and flavour, not to get pissed. If you could preserve all the flavonoids but lose the alcohol I really wouldn't mind, but unfortunately the taste and drinking experience is inextricably linked to the alcohol.

There is the odd drink that I like, a Kings Ginger (the original from Holland) is lovely, certain spirits that are usually specialist stuff, but a lot of alcoholic drinks are nasty harsh things that are not the tastiest things on the planet.

Like I said, smoking is another one, I think a lot of people really don't like it when they start, but they persevere because of peer pressure.

I've got to agree with Mango.
Everyone has different tastes, although you could apply your same argument with most vegetables for me, bloody horrible nasty tasting tings they are.

[Rockburner]

Oh I do like a Guinness.
And on occasion a Newcastle Brown.

I don't think I've had a Newkie Brown since I was at school..... Is it still made??

[DefTrap]

Newkie Brown is foul, you'd have to be a committed Northerner to stomach that. I do like a drink but if it was Newkie Brown or nowt, it would be nowt, ergo I can't be a an alkie. Yay.

[Rockburner]

Newkie Brown is foul, you'd have to be a committed Northerner to stomach that. I do like a drink but if it was Newkie Brown or nowt, it would be nowt, ergo I can't be a an alkie. Yay.

When I was a youth and didn't know any better I drank Newcastle Brown because it was what Ogri drank. (and everything else in the school bar was even worse piss)

[Count Steer]

It was when I lived in Newcastle I developed a taste for Guinness (and joined CAMRA!) - the output from the Scottish & Newcastle brewery was generally appalling. The Federation brewery that supplied the clubs was marginally better. The odd few pubs did McEwans 70 and 80 bob (named after the duty on a barrel) which were good but generally (particularly having moved from West Yorks) the beer was