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).

Highlights of the highlights? Could I pick a top ten? I doubt it. Right now that Divorce track is stuck in my head, plus I’m loving the Honeyglaze Ghost song (which I overlooked when I first listened to the album as I was so distracted by the brilliance of Pretty Girls), but this playlist sways from Ariana Grande to Architects so it really depends on my mood. There is some great stuff on here.

The craziest thing though is, that despite there being almost six hours of tracks here, I know there will have been songs that I will love that have completely passed me by.

Looking forward to next year.