Alcohol is a funny old thing. It is psychoactive and will change your perception of the world around you. It can make you feel happy or make you feel sad and sometimes it can make you do things you’d rather forget. Such is it’s ability to affect your mind and body it would almost certainly be banned if it were invented today.

I think it is fair to say that alcohol abuse is on the increase. You only have to go out in to any city centre on a Friday or Saturday night to see how most young people view alcohol. Taste is a secondary concern, what matters most is getting hammered as quickly and as cheaply as possible.

You don’t need me to tell you why excessive drinking is bad. You now doubt know that excessive alcohol consumption has long term health implications. There is also the small matter of getting in to a fight and getting injured as result. Even if you are a placid person by nature, alcohol could make you lash out at someone who might be goading you. The result of this would not be pleasant, leading as it could to arrest or at the very least trying to explain to your employer why you have a black eye. Also, let’s not also forget that most ladies don’t take kindly to being chatted up by a drunk with slurred speech and who is having difficulty maintaining a vertical plane.

The Gentlemanly Way

A Gentleman knows how to drink with style and panache. He knows how to get the good feeling from having a few drinks, but without getting drunk and making a fool of himself.

Drink With the Right Attitude

Try not to go out with the intention of getting drunk. Instead go out to feel good. For most people, there comes a point when you feel really happy when drinking, This is the point where you feel happy, but you aren’t actually drunk and you have full control of you faculties and emotions. When you continue to drink beyond that point things will go downhill.

Choose the Right Drinking Friends

A Gentleman tries not to associate with those who would cause him to drink too much too quickly. Being part of a group of friends on a night out feels great, but you have to put up with peer pressure. If everyone else is downing the pints, then you will naturally feel compelled to follow suit. If you don’t enjoy that sort of night out then don’t be afraid to stay away and do your own thing. We all have different tolerances to alcohol, a good friend is someone who understands this and won’t pressure you in to drinking more than you feel comfortable with.

Care About the Taste

There’s more to life than Carling, Stella or any other generic lager. Try exploring different kinds of drinks that are better made and with richer, stronger flavours. A Gent is more likely to drink beers from a craft brewery or a good Scotch single malt that a pint of Budweiser.

Try to savour the flavour of what you are drinking that way you will naturally drink slower. It will also teach you more about the world of alcoholic beverages which can come in very handy when entertaining or when you are out with a lady.

Take Your Time

This should be pretty obvious, but don’t drink too quickly. Space your drinks out, my advice would be no more than one per hour. That way you give your body a chance to recover and sober up.  It also does no harm to have an occasional bite to eat in order to slow down your body’s absorption of alcohol and to also have a few soft drinks in between. In addition, drinking too quickly can affect your image and possibly lead people to think you drink too much, which is not the image a gentleman wants to portray.

To finish off I will acknowledge that official advice is to drink as little as possible. But let’s be honest we all like a drink and most people aren’t going to listen to a spoilsport government’s advice. I strongly believe that we should all be responsible for our own actions and that if we want to drink alcohol then as adults we should be allowed to make our own choices and deal with the results by ourselves.