My friend Brett is a typical big city lawyer in many ways: a sharp dresser, an even sharper mind and plenty of expensive lunches on his firm's dime. Also like most big city lawyers, at those lunches, you won't see him tipping back anything finished with an olive, cherry or twist.

Growing up, Brett heard stories from his father, who is also a lawyer, of suited downtown professionals pounding a drink or three at the afternoon meal — back when it was easier to go off the grid after a liquid lunch.

Now that email travels straight to most professional pockets, there is an expectation of being available — and therefore sober — all workday long and beyond. Brett also rarely sees his clients venture past a lunchtime iced tea. And they're not even paying.

"A single email from a client can trigger a full cycle of crisis, management and resolution in an afternoon," Brett told me. "If you picked that afternoon to have a few drinks at lunch, you risk your client opting for someone who's always at the ready."

The cultural shift is clear: The days of three martini lunches are over. And good riddance. But while having three martinis is a bit much, I fear we have become puritanical about work-time alcohol. In a nation of binge drinkers, we have forgotten how to drink both with restraint and for enjoyment.

Why not a (small) glass of wine with your bloody steak? Or a half pint of high-flavor, low-octane beer — I'm thinking Victory Brewing's crisp Prima Pils — with your burger?

But evidence is everywhere to the contrary. Almost 30 years ago, when he started working at Tadich Grill, one of San Francisco's most legendary business lunch spots, bar manager Paul Lovallo could prepare a regular's lunchtime beverage before the customer opened his mouth. Teetotalers were a rarity.

"They drank not just martinis, but old fashioneds, bloody marys, manhattans, negronis," Lovallo said. "These were the stockbrokers, lawyers and the financial people."

The orders became tamer in the 1990s, he said. "Now it's all iced tea and Diet Coke."

A change evoking some regret, apparently.

"A lot of regulars come in at lunch and say, 'Boy, I could sure use a drink, but I dare not,'" Lovallo said. "I get that line frequently."

Though as Brett noted, not everyone is upset by this development. "The big winner in all this," he said, "is Lipton."

Not when I'm ordering.

jbnoel@tribune.com

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