Has anybody else lost their taste for alcohol?

New Zealand wine is excellent, and I do share a bottle with my daughter and her husband when I first arrive, and if they are having a bbq. but they have also cut down drastically on their drinking - perhaps because they, too, are now in a very happy situation.

I enjoy wine, particularly Australian, I can drink quite a lot of it and do quite often, however I find it quite easy not to drink and of late have been drinking Belvoir Elderflower Presse which is light, slightly bubbly and very refreshing. (You can get 2 bottles for £3 in Asda at the moment!). Very often, if I am the driver or on a non-alcohol phase, I drink soda and lime.

Bags - the water here in the mountains is really nice, so I often have a glass or two. I also refill my bottle on my walks from the high springs.
However, when I lived in various parts of the UK the water often had a really nasty chemical taste.

Oh dear. I definitely haven't lost my taste for alcohol, in fact since I've retired I probably drink more now than I ever have!

When I drink water I get it out of the tap. It's as good as, and better in some cases, than anything I've bought.

I do quite like the perrier with lime or lemon twist. (Panache just tastes of chemicals to me, Greatnan). On my not alcohol days I normally have a glass of milk, which I love.
We used to take masses of wine back from France to the UK when we lived there, but now we come back from the UK with Australian, Chilean and Italian wine. I hate the way the French are so smug about their wine, some of the winemakers really need to get of their backsides and wake up to what the rest of the world can do.

Anno - I have lived in, or visited, several ex-pat communities and in all of them the British drank enormous amounts of alcohol. It was understandable in Malaysia because of the boredom of the endless jungle, the heat and humidity, but in Monaco and Brussels it just seemed to be the way of life. (In which I joined, enthusiastically. Why is there always a Rick's Bar , I wonder - although in Monaco it was Flashman's?)

I find panache (shandy) is nice on a very hot day and goes well with strong flavours like curry or chilli, which would overwhelm wine.
If I do want to treat myself, I buy cheap sparkling wine and expensive fresh orange and make a Buck's Fizz. When visiting friends I take a bottle of good Chablis, as it always seems to be welcome.
Otherwise, I like San Pellegrino sparkling water - Badoit it too salty for me.
I should drink Evian, as I live close to the town but it is too flat.
MY employer in Monaco set his idle son up in a business in Bromley, selling fine wines and champagnes by the case. It failed, mainly because the son put in hardly any work and took out all the takings for his hobbies, but for several years one of my duties was to accompany my employer to the wine-growing areas of France (in the Rolls) to taste and order the wine. It was a hard job, but somebody had to do it. One thing I learned, which has now been proved, was that the most expensive wine or champagne is not necessarily the best.

When I was young and single and living in East Africa playing tennis and squash at a largely ex-pat club, I used to participate enthusiastically in the time-honoured tradition of the sundowner. Before going out for the evening, a 'wee snifter' in the bath, to get me in the mood! I'm not proud of the amount of G&T I managed to sink. I now know that I should not have been driving my little blue Beetle, but in the 60s, we knew little about the effects of alcohol on driving - if anything, I believed I was an even better driver with a few drinks inside me. Pregnancy stopped me in my tracks - I lost my taste for booze and back in UK with small children we couldn't afford to indulge, though there was the occasional bottle of Hirondelle (remember that?). Nowadays, I never drink alone, though when I go to visit my DS1's family, a glass is thrust into my hand almost as soon as I arrive. I can, as they say, take it or leave it.

Most days now I don't drink anything with dinner.

I have never been able to drink a great deal as hate the feel when you are starting to get drunk - DH used to drink pints (and pints) of beer but having IBS meant that had to stop. We in the main buy boxes of red wine from the vineyard and have one small glass most evenings with our meal. When friends come we usually open a bottle as it will be drunk. We drink a lot of sparkling water such as Badoit - the best one I find for digestion is Vichy but it does have quite a lot of salt in it. Rarely have wine at lunchtime even if in a restaurant and I have noticed also that many of the French here do not necessarily go for wine all the time. We have a variety of spirits in our cupboard which are mainly used in cooking or the occasional coffee with Amaretto - delicious!!

I didn't drink alcoholic drinks at all until I was well into my thirties. I just didn't like what I had tasted. Grew into wine then and for some years drank wine most days with lunch or dinner. Then, a couple of years ago, I stopped – partly because of expense but also because of headaches even after one glass.

I was ill yesterday and wanted a glass of wine in the evening so I routed out the white cooking wine, which I keep hidden from Mr Bags otherwise he'd drink it, and had a glass of that, on ice, with my slices of smoked venison and smoked beef. 'Twas good.

I have a headache this morning but I had one all day yesterday and the day before anyway so what the hell. It's a bug not the alcohol.

I have never had 4 glasses!!!!

Also Dorothy has no e. I need a more intelligent keyboard.

This, not thos. I and o must be too close together on the keyboard.

Elegran

Dorsetpenn do you know thos little verse ? (I think by Dorothey Parker)

"I wish I could drink like a lady.
I can take one, or two at the most.
Three puts me under the table,
And four puts me under the host"

Badoit!

Other than water - and tea, either English Breakfast or white tea, the only non alcoholic drinks with dinner that are bearable are my own home made lemonade or a tisane of lemon balm or chamomile. Sometimes.

I have a bottle of wine I think every 4-6 weeks and drink it over 3 evenings with a good meal. I cannot drink wine on its own and no more bottles of "plonk". I have never touched spirits.

When I lived in New York I socialised a great deal. The summers are very hot and humid and we used to sit in our patio area with the guys next door. We used to make pitchers of Bloody Marys, in fact quite a few pitchers and one of the guys made strong ones, quite a few were 'sunk' over the course of the evening. We used to go to a Mexican restaurant in Manhattan for supper. They made Marguerita slush - a semi frozen drink. These has a lot of tequila in them but tasted so yummy didn't seem like alcohol, but were very potent. I came out of the restaurant once with tunnel vision. So perhaps it was a good thing that my ex and I parted company and I had to return to the UK.
Now one glass of wine and I'm anybody's .

I now drink tonic water. Doesn't upset my insides and goes with most things.
I have given up hangovers...........

Just out of interest, what do people drink with a good meal? For example, this weekend we have had a mushroom lasagne (ceps picked by OH), duck with roasted vegetables and spicy stuffed mackerel. What would people drink apart from wine, bearing in mind we are in France and can't get some of the more interesting drinks I see in England. Water just feels a bit inadequate, somehow.

Alcohol disrupts my already disrupted sleep - more hot flushes. ALso having had a breast cancer once, drinking only rarely is one of the things you can do to reduce risk of getting another one.
Don't miss it much, as I have a DH who rarely drinks but just occasionally I do.

I used to drink quite a lot socially when I was married, but now just a small glass of a good red wine is enough, and that is a once a week occurrence.
One large gin and tonic in the summer maybe.

I don't miss it at all and it doesn't always agree with me either.

I drink alcohol only occasionally now. More than one glass makes me sleepy. I do like good wine or a gin and tonic, but it doesn't like me any more. I'll always put a bottle of wine or two on the table when guests are here, but if it doesn't get finished, it'll be there in the kitchen untouched for days.