Alcohol

[Sweet Brunette]

If you drink alcohol,what is your favorite alcohol beverage and do you drink alot at home,or moreso when you go out?

[peter may]

Mine is Jack Daniels & Coke, Gin & Tonic, or Remy Martin & Coke. I dont really drink alot at home, just a couple of beers a week, but i drink more when i go to bars/clubs , etc.

[Georgia's on my Mind]

i only drink and parties and on my way to clubs, i like the green apple smiroff wine cooler thingies

[phoebe7165]

I was drinking Mike's Hard Lemonade for a while. Also, green apple Smirnoff's, White Zinfandel, Rum & Vanilla Coke. I only drink at home anymore. I got tired of the bar scene, plus it doesn't take much to register .08 blood alcohol. The last thing I need is a DUI!!

[*MIBabe03*]

Honestly, I'm almost 20 and I've never had an interest in drinking alcohol. I mean I've tried Mike's Hard lemonade, and some wine coolers. I just don't like the taste at all. I was recently diagnosed with Diabetes, so there will be no alcohol at all.

[Hollow]

alcohol is stupid and disgusting.

[MandieR1980]

I only drink wine coolers and Smirnoff Twists I can't handle hard liquour since surgery. I got drunk off of half a Smirnoff

[Georgia's on my Mind]

Originally Posted by safety pin

alcohol is stupid and disgusting.

not really.

[GARFIELDKOOL]

I prefer beer, Labatt's, Molson, Heineken, Coors Light. I only will drink liquor at bars.

[Czas na Zywiec]

For beer, Sunshine Wheat and Honey Brown are among my favorites from the states. I don't like much else. Non-domestic brands that I like are Warsteiner, Karlsberg, König, Żywiec, Tatra, and Lech.

As for liquor, just the usual Rum and Coke or Gin and Tonic will work. Burnett's Sour Apple is also really good.

[-*Forever*-]

I don't like alcohol, and I'm not legal. However, I do like margaritas and daquiris. I usually have them without alcohol - like if I'm at a restaurant, obviously. However, if my parents have them at home, and forget to make me one without the tequila or rum or whatever, I'll have one. But rum makes me sick to my stomach. I can handle tequila.

Whiskey, vodka, and beer sicken me. Literally. The smell of them make me throw up.

[Belair]

I dont drink alcohol much at all.Its never really appealed to me.When i go out,I go out to dance,and drink soft drink,juice or water all night.I dont want to get drunk in public,because I'm terrified of losing control and doing something I'll regret later...or something that could ruin my life!
My choice of drink though when I do have a little something is Kaluha and Coke.Tastes nice and doesn't get me drunk.
The only time i was really drunk was at a restaurant,when I was drinking wine and the waiter kept topping up my glass,and I couldn't keep a tab on how much I was drinking.Top ups are bad!

[snl75]

i drink very little but if i do drink i like pina colidas or once in a while i will have a glass of white wine with dinner

[dawsongirl]

Yeah, I'm 25 and I don't care if I ever drink alcohol. I've tried various wines and wine coolers, and I thought they were all nasty. I'd rather just drink soda.

[Seinatra]

Alcohol may get more expensive:

BATTLE OVER LIQUOR JUST BEGINNING
One Suit is Dismissed, But Four Others Try to Link Ads and Kids

BY MOLLY McDONOUGH

Back in 1997 when, one by one, states were entering into settlement agreements with the country’s big tobacco companies, advertising experts were wondering which industry would be next.

A big clue came from Congress when Sens. Strom Thurmond, R-S.C., and Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., asked the states’ attorneys general to take as careful a look at the alcohol industry. But it was Byrd who sent shivers through the industry when, according to Advertising Age, he expressed concern to his colleagues that tobacco’s "evil twin" was being ignored.

Byrd had little to fear. Less than a decade later, the alcohol industry is indeed on the defensive, fighting many of the same charges levied against tobacco: The industry targets underage drinkers in its advertising and promotional campaigns.

And though the defendants have changed, many of the lawyers are the same, with a few even choosing to switch from plaintiffs to defense.

One of the more prominent lawyers to cross the aisle is former Mississippi Attorney General Mike Moore, who says he’s not directly involved in the alcohol industry litigation, but is on the clock for Anheuser-Busch. He is consulting with the beer giant as part of its effort to prevent underage drinking.

So far, there are four class actions pending against the industry, the first filed in 2003 in District of Columbia Superior Court, Hakki v. Zima Co., No. 03-0009183. The others are winding their way through state and federal courts in Colorado, North Carolina and Ohio. The suits, all filed by lead attorney David Boies III of Fairfax, Va., allege that alcohol producers advertise in youth-oriented media, use cartoons to attract children to the message, and sell toys and clothes designed to appeal to underage drinkers.

Plaintiffs also claim that several of the leading beer and distilled spirits manufacturers, including Zima, Mike’s Hard Lemonade, Bacardi and Coors, have conducted "secret market research" into the drinking habits of underage drinkers. The suits further claim that the companies have concealed this research by using code words to disguise these marketing efforts targeting children.

A fifth class action, which also alleged public nuisance and violation of California’s unfair competition laws, was dismissed on Jan. 28 when a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge ruled the plaintiffs failed to show how the marketing campaigns waged by beer makers Anheuser-Busch and Miller Brewing Co. caused the plaintiffs harm. Goodwin v. Anheuser-Busch Cos., No. BC310105. The lead plaintiffs, Lynne and Reed Goodwin, sued after an 18-year-old drunken driver killed their daughter in 2003.

In his opinion, Superior Court Judge Peter D. Lichtman wrote that there is no link between the defendants’ ad campaign and the teenage drunken driver or even evidence that he consumed alcohol manufactured by the named defendants. "Plaintiffs do not explain why the intervening act of the driver (illegally consuming an alcoholic beverage, becoming intoxicated and then choosing to get behind the wheel of a car) was not the cause of their tragic loss," Lichtman wrote.

Chicago lawyer Edward M. Crane, outside counsel for Anheuser-Busch, issued a press release praising the decision.

"The judge in Goodwin twice held that it is wrong for courts to reward underage drinkers for intentionally violating state alcohol laws," the release says. "Moreover, since the repeal of Prohibition, alcohol beverages have been highly regulated by state Departments of Alcohol Beverage Control. The judge in Goodwin deferred to the DABC, recognizing that courts should not assume the mantle of ‘advertising czar’ to regulate which ads can be shown in various national mass media.

"The legal theories in these lawsuits are contrary to state alcohol laws, the First Amendment, and state tort law, and we believe even more judges will recognize the merit of our positions in the months ahead."

However, the lawyers for the Goodwins, including veteran tobacco plaintiffs lawyer Steve W. Berman of Seattle, say they will appeal and are confident they are going to win.

George A. Hacker, director of the Alcohol Policies Project at the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Science in the Public Interest, also isn’t completely discouraged by the dismissal in California.

Like the suits against big tobacco, he says, the alcohol litigation will take time to mature. "The alcohol cases are just in their infancy," he says. But he did acknowledge, "Barring the discovery of earthshaking confessions from the alcohol industry that they are targeting young people or targeting addicts, these cases have a long row to hoe."

Moore says that when he was attorney general, while wrapping up his tobacco claims, he took a really hard look at a possible case against the alcohol industry.

"The main Achilles heel in the tobacco cases was that the tobacco companies did research on what makes kids start smoking" and how to effectively advertise to them, Moore says. "That seems to be missing in the alcohol cases. I didn’t come across any documents then or now."

Moore also sees an uphill battle as the pendulum swings during the Bush administration to more conservative courts. "That probably doesn’t bode well for plaintiffs generally," he says.

Just as Moore is quick to point out differences between tobacco and alcohol industry litigation, Hacker says the similarities continue to make the litigation attractive to plaintiffs.

"The alcoholic beverage industry does everything that the tobacco company used to do in terms of hooking young drinkers, wrapping marketing in youth-oriented culture and music and humor," Hacker says. "They make very halfhearted efforts to reduce youth access to alcohol."

Hacker is rooting for the plaintiffs, and he speculates that evidence supporting their case will eventually be uncovered. "The litigation angle needs to be continued," he says. "Sooner or later, something will come up. Someone will come forward. A document will be leaked. The harm will be that much more direct."

http://www.abanet.org/journal/ereport/f11drink.html