Going 99% Sober.

Mar 25

Written By Jason Fisk

Wake Up - Go to Work - Don’t Drink

Sounds weird, right?

Going 99 percent and not all the way, I mean, what’s the difference with one percent?

The Alcohol;

I work for some friends as a part-time bartender in a whisky specialist, and I need to know what I’m trying to sell. So, I need to taste the goods.

Yeah, I know, it sounds like an excuse, an excuse to drink booze. And I guess it is, but that’s the job.

I sample the whisky, usually only what’s new. I used to try it more than once if it was good. You know, to properly understand what it is, I’m drinking. This was the excuse that would get me drunk on shift.

I tried adding water to the whisky to water it down enough that I could still taste it, but it wouldn’t have the usual boozy effect.

This didn’t work; I just drank more. Then, I stopped putting water in altogether. And the more I drank, the more I drank.

This was always the problem I had with alcohol. It wasn’t the need to drink, but once I started, I found it more and more difficult to stop.

So, I needed to find a new way. To either get a grip on my drinking habits or to end them entirely. But How?

I reduced the amount of whisky I used to taste to about 5ml. I told everyone that I was going 99% sober, including work colleagues and guests at the bar. Knowing that everyone I work with and my regulars know that I’m giving up alcohol, I now have a social reason to keep to my new way of being - 99% alcohol-free.

Accountability is a powerful tool.

Telling everyone might seem like a brag;

“Hey, I gave up alcohol six weeks ago; look how awesome I am.”

I told everyone because the more people that know, the more I don’t want to drink. It acts as an incentive not to do it again.

On my last shift, I had two new bottles from a new Scottish distillery and a sample from an American I like.

First, I tried the new Scotch, tiny amounts, and it was blah.

Later, I tried the American Rye. This, however, was something else. And I caught myself adding more to my glass. I decided to share the rest with some guests I knew.

That was the last drop of booze I had that night.

End of the shift, while everyone else chilled out with a beer, I had a 0.0 beer or two.

Non-alcoholic beer isn’t great tasting, but it fills a spot.

It’s been over six weeks now. And I can honestly say that the 0.0 beer is starting to taste sweeter. It also has another effect on me.

Every time I drink it, I wake up the next morning with a puedo hangover. I can still taste the hops, and It genuinely feels like a hungover, which is weird.

However, once I get up and start moving around, the feeling subsides, and I feel great.

I also remember the night before.

That’s another thing: my brain seems to be functioning properly again. I’m remembering things I’d forgotten about and am able to hold on to details longer.

About Last Night;

A guest I’ve known for years popped in for the first time (in the new bar). He’d usually drink a few, get drunk and leave. His last drink, whatever it would be, he’d order an extra one for me. Now, before I’d be happy, it’s just another excuse to have a drink at work.

But last night, I said, “No thanks”.

He’d order by asking for ‘X’ number of glasses first, then add, “Whatever you like.”

He asked for four glasses. I know what he meant, but I asked anyway.

“Four glasses?”

He’d then count them out while pointing at himself, his friends, and then me.

I’d reply, “No I’m good, I don’t drink anymore.” I’d say it while getting three (3) glasses ready.

“FOUR!”

“No, I’m good.”

I’d pour the whisky, and once I’d finished the third, he’d say again

“FOUR!”

Going sober in England is like going leper. You can see in their eyes mild confusion about why you’d want to be a leper (sober).

What surprised me was how easy it was to not cave into the pressure to drink from another. Kinda feel like it strengthened my resolve.

Anyway, six weeks down.

Wake Up - Go to Work - Don’t Drink

This is how I did it;

March 11th 2024: I woke up, and yet again, without a hangover, I couldn’t remember much of the night before. This was my issue: memory loss.

I met up with a friend a few weeks earlier for a Sunday drink; she talked about a conversation we’d had the night before; now, I didn’t know what she was talking about. As it turned out, I had a 4.5 to 5-hour loss of memory.

I asked someone I thought might have also been there that following Wednesday. He said, after I mentioned my memory loss, that I “Seemed fine”, and this hit me differently. I started wondering if the memory loss was getting worse, as in I didn’t need to get shit-faced to forget things.

That’s when I decided to water down the whisky. That worked for one night, and the next shift, I got so drunk on shift, that one of the owners said the next day that he almost took me off the bar. I couldn’t remember drinking that much.

That was Saturday 10th; that night after work, I drank again. I might have figured that I was a lost course.

Sunday, the 11th, I woke up and realised that this drinking thing was getting out of hand and something needed to be done. Regulation wasn’t working. Once I start drinking, I keep on going. So…

I Quit

I fuss, no bullshit, no time delay. I made the decision, and six weeks later, I haven’t had a drink.