I’m not doing dry January (why make an already hard month more miserable than necessary?) so this post is just coincidentally in January - I actually started using Drinkaware last year, but only got around to writing about it now.

These are my uncollected thoughts on it:

  • As far as doing what it says on the tin I can’t fault it: It does make you very aware.
  • It would be nice if it worked offline / without an account.
  • It would also be nice if it didn’t nag every time about enabling notifications.
  • And further, if you could edit existing entries (names, percentages, volumes, etc) rather than having to delete and replace.
  • The unit goals can only go down which I find a bit silly. Ok, yes, I am trying to stick to 14 units a week, but if I only have 10 units one week I can’t then set a goal of 14 for the next week.
  • Related: It’s not the most positively re-enforcing app. It tends to want to tell you you’ve “significantly increased your drinking” if you’ve gone from a week with 0 units to a week with 10 whereas I feel it should be saying “well done, you are under 14 units”.
  • 14 units a week is not a lot at all.
  • What’s more, 8 units in a session (any more is technically binge drinking and a session is a whole 24 hours) is really not much at all. That’s less than four pints at 4.5%. If you had two pints at lunch on a Saturday and then two in the evening you’d be a binge drinker (technically).
  • It’s really made me aware how strong drinks are. It’s hard to find craft beers under 4%. It’s easy to find beers over 5%. Similarly it’s so much easier to find wines at 13% than 10.5% (and it makes a lot of difference: You can do a whole bottle of wine at 10.5% and stay under 8 units).
  • I’ve found a new found appreciation for “bests”: Bellhaven Best and Caledonia Best are only 3.2%
  • Of course there are lots of great alcohol free beers nowadays, but I also wish there were more around 3%. Similarly with lower alcohol wines (alcohol free wines are… not good).
  • I could probably give up drinking for myself, but, like everything else in my life, I’m trying to stick to these guidelines as a compromise.
  • But I’m also doing “everything in moderation, including moderation” - I.e. I didn’t bother over Christmas (I did have a very light New Year though just by accident).