......starting in about 45 minutes.

agreed - how went Dry January? :-)

You have to be strong. I am not sure I am going to put myself through that again. Good luck to everyone else that attempts it in the future! :)

Yesterday I considered giving up on the last day because a close friend literally nearly died in my arms. Had a 2 hour staring match with the bottle of whisky on the shelf. I decided it wouldn't actually solve any of the problems in hand and stopped myself. I also decided that I'm going to stay dry for now. I actually started on December 4 so this was never specifically a dry "January" for me anyway.

Had the whisky been better than Bells I could well have lost.

Today is day 23 of a 33 day dry period. I had to cut out the alcohol 3 days before starting a Whole30 because of a colonoscopy - alcohol thins the blood, the doc wants maximum clotting should he make a mistake.

I have no problem giving up alcohol for extended periods. The prohibition of added sugar and dairy are also not an issue. But I would kill for a sandwich or even a slice of bread at this point. No grains for another 10 days. I’m running out of snack and lunch ideas.

I'm so full of admiration. I rejected the concept for January as it's the most depressing month of all here in London, and I thought about February, when it's lighter and shorter. But, in the end, being stuck in prison here with no end in sight is depressing enough as it is, without being able to drown my sorrows at the weekend.

I made it through! Wasn’t terribly hard in my case, but I do want some wine come the weekend

I mostly made it as well. I had a couple beers with dinner to celebrate getting an AWS Pro certification, and then over the weekend I just decided I was done with dry and wanted some wine. It wasn't hard to abstain; the hardest part was just deciding to do it.

Regarding the thread title, although I have have been drinking occasionally (i.e. once every week or two), the pandemic has effectively nullified my drinking patterns for the better.
Admittitedly, I am ashamed to say that I was a functional alcoholic pre-Covid. :(

I would have expected the opposite. I thought people were drinking more and starting earlier in the day out of boredom. You might be the exception that proves the rule.

I have 8 days, or should I say 8 nights to go. I was drinking most nights, but only 1 beer or two beers at most. I don’t seem to get addicted to things as easily as others. I’ve quit several vices cold turkey with no problem (alcohol, tobacco, multiple illegal drugs). I’ve occasionally wondered if I could kick heroin as easily. I’m not about to try. I lost multiple friends to heroin OD’s back in the 70’s. But I still wonder.

made chili from Kitchn for tomorrow. It calls for red wine - is this wine now too old to drink? I used a cup for the chili and even used some for onions. Can I drink it okay or should I just use it for more cooking?

It’s FFC 2010 Cab Sav, maybe a $15 retail.
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...737e677ec.jpeg

https://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-mak...ekitchn-109352

I’ve heard that heroin is one of the toughest - not sure how it compares to crack for ending the habit.

Why not just taste the wine and if you like drinking it, then do so. What you used the other half of the bottle for is irrelevant ....why would it be too "old"? Why did you choose to buy that wine in the first place?
BTW, my chili cookoff winning chili uses beer as do many other chili recipes. Give it a try sometime.

Cheap California cabs don't really age...they should be drunk on the younger side. Taste it and determine whether you want to drink it. It may just be vinegar by now. Once it's opened it will oxidize and should be used within a couple days (or less). Store it in the fridge.

Actually gaobest has said that he doesn't drink wine so I don't really understand why he is asking. And everyone should always give wine a little sip before adding it to a dish....this goes for red or white or any recipe unless you are very familiar with the wine already. It would be a shame to ruin all of the other ingredients by dumping in a bunch of sour wine.