Hi, my name is George and I’m not an alcoholic.

I used that variation on the way people introduce themselves at Alcoholics Anonymous meetings mainly to get your attention. But it also serves as a launching pad for today's topic: Even when one is drinking for taste, how much drinking is too much?



Alcoholism is clearly a serious problem and I'm not here to defend craft beer drinkers as all pillars of moderation.

While I believe most craft beer aficionados don’t abuse alcohol, that is probably true of drinkers of any drinking category. It doesn’t make us special.

So from time to time, I like to step back and address this issue because I believe one should question all of one’s assumptions, especially long-held ones, periodically, lest a false sense of security and/or denial sneaks in.

Alcoholism is called a “disease” but it is not an easily diagnosed one. Sure, in some cases, it is painfully obvious that the person in question simply should not, under any circumstances, partake in libations.

On the other end, (not including teetotalers) there are people who consistently drink very little, and always in moderation, and rarely, if ever, get even a little drunk.



Then there is the rest of us.

Now, the definitions of alcoholism and who is at risk of developing into an alcoholic, vary widely, depending on whom you ask. According to a vaunted study in the early 2000s by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, people who exceed recommended limits (usually two drinks per day for men, one for women) on a daily basis, have a 17 percent chance of developing into alcoholics.

OK, but that means 83 percent don’t. And that’s just people who exceed daily limits, umm, daily! The problem, of course, is that studies like this fail to look at factors such as the reasons people are drinking. And that, to me, is a huge factor in determining whether one has a problem or not.

I don’t drink every day, but I usually have two or three beers on the days I do, sometimes more if I’m out for hours, while also eating and socializing. This is also true of many of my friends. And as I said above, I am not an alcoholic and neither are any of my friends, as far as I can tell. Granted, most of the time, most of us are drinking craft beer or fine wine, not bathtub gin or Ripple. But there are, of course, people who enjoy top-shelf alcohol who have a big problem with it. And so it is with craft beer.

Those who have read this column regularly know that I always warn about the alcohol content of bigger beers. I take seriously my responsibility as someone who writes about a topic that can be a danger to some individuals.

So today is my annual (sometimes semi-annual) reminder to craft brew drinkers to occasionally give themselves a (beer) gut check. I can’t tell you how to do that, as everyone is different and has varying tolerances and tastes. This is even more important as some beers’ alcohol levels creep up close to 10 percent (and many are above that now).

The point is that even though some definitions of alcoholism are way too conservative and one-size-fits-all, we craft beer fans owe it to the craft beer community as well as to our families and ourselves, not to abuse what is a real gift of this day and age: the ongoing burgeoning of craft brews. So stop and think before you go and drink. Thanks, and cheers!