rose wrote:One of my favorite drinks back 20 years ago was vodka & orange, west coast coolers & sub zero's. So not much has changed and we use to go to the gun fighters rest in town and have all weird sorts of cocktails yum yum. I use to bing drink its just what you do. Never got into a fight and I don't think I ever saw a fight when I use to go out. Nothing like in the article.
See I remember when west coast coolers came out, as well as when the ads for southern comfort, tia maria, bundy and all those sort of drinks started. I'm talking around the mid eighties. Prior to that I only ever noticed beer (VB and tooheys mostly) and goonbag (lindemans) ads on telly. I think the coolers and spirits on telly was something new. I say that coz my mum has commented on the same thing. That's why I said...
20years ago or more...
West coast cooler definitely was something new. There was a big outcry at the time about it too. The whole "kids will think it's just juice and adults will too".
Anyway, whether I'm right or wrong about the ads, I think hard liquor (as opposed to beer) has really taken over recently. Some of the strongest motorsport sponsorship is now by the big bourbon companies. Half of boganville has a "jack live's here" sticker on the back of their falcodoor...I know coz I live there. It also seems to becoming cheaper (werl, except for premixed drinks).
I think it's worth reflecting on the last time hard liquor was cheap and easily available, the industrial revolution. Similar things were going on. Longer and longer working hours, high labour expectations, families falling apart, etc...and then they added cheap whisky and gin.
So I can understand why people are worried about binge drinking. I think it's a social barometer of sorts. And before anyone gets blaase about the effects of alcohol abuse, try asking someone who's going to AA what it did to their life and their family. Those are the people who've owned up. Imagine the damage the others are doing while still in denial. I was at a friends place the other night and his mum is a "bottle of wine a night" drinker and no one in the family is comfortable with it...not even her. Alcohol causes more problems than any other drug.