
How to Drink All Night Without Getting Drunk - kevin818
https://shine.yahoo.com/healthy-living/drink-night-without-getting-drunk-212500989.html
======
endersshadow
I've said this in the corresponding reddit threads in /r/beer and
/r/homebrewing, but I've met Jim Koch on multiple occasions in multiple
settings, and I've never seen him not hammered. He's a functioning alcoholic,
not a magician.

He is, however, brilliant. He gets beer and marketing beer better than anybody
else I've ever met.

~~~
moron4hire
I think that's the key thing. If you don't know what true alcoholism looks
like, it can be easy to miss the signs.

~~~
thefreeman
If you know what true alcoholism looks like you should know that the term
"functioning alcoholic" is a false dichotomy.

~~~
endersshadow
I'm not sure you know what a dichotomy is, but alcoholics span the range from
functioning to absolutely crippled, and everywhere in between. Alcoholism is a
dependence on and addiction to alcohol. No more, no less.

Jim Koch is able to function fairly well as an alcoholic that many people
wouldn't be able to because of the industry he's in.

And as to your other comment, unfortunately, I'm all too familiar with
alcoholism and its many forms. There's no such thing as "true alcoholism,"
there's just addiction.

------
jpatokal
Skeptics StackExchange has a good takedown of this. TL;DR: Yeast ADH requires
a neutral to alkaline environment to work, but the stomach is extremely
acidic, so it's not going to do anything.

[http://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/20381/does-
eatin...](http://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/20381/does-eating-yeast-
stop-you-getting-drunk)

~~~
jere
What about the small intestine? I'm reading that about 80% of alcohol is
absorbed there after leaving the stomach and that most of the small intestine
has pH between 7-8.

[http://prevention.gwu.edu/alcohol-
absorption](http://prevention.gwu.edu/alcohol-absorption)

[http://microbewiki.kenyon.edu/index.php/Small_Intestine](http://microbewiki.kenyon.edu/index.php/Small_Intestine)

Anyway, I can't see the utility of drinking without the expected effects.

~~~
bwag
I go to many craft beer festivals just to "taste" new beers. My main goal when
attending beer festivals isn't to get drunk, but to taste a diverse list of
new beers. It would be a big win for me if I could sample more and get drunk
less.

~~~
rav-rdz
If your goal sincerely is to taste more instead of feeling the effects of
alcohol, why not spit the beer out? This is de rigueur among serious wine
tasters for exactly this reason.

------
Shenglong
For all the Asians who flush - I would be _very_ careful about trying this at
home. It seems like it'll have the opposite effect of what's intended.

The alcohol breakdown chain reaction in the body (I'm not a chemist) is
ethanol -> acetaldehyde -> acetic acid. The ethanol causes your to be "drunk",
but the acetaldehyde has some arguably worse effects (headache, tiredness,
flush). Asians typically process ethanol -> acetaldehyde way faster than
others, but the acetaldehyde -> acetic acid can be _really_ slow. If the yeast
is mimicking ADH and not ALDH, you're just going to suffer even more.

Again, I'm not a chemist or a doctor, but from my preliminary internet
research and anecdotal testing (though I have quite a few different data
points), Famotadine (OTC), and higher levels of APO-Ranitidine (can be
prescription) seems to slow the rate of ethanol -> acetaldehyde, balancing out
the drunkness effect more, and giving you more time to process the
acetaldehyde -> acetic acid. I typically go from maxing out at 2 drinks / 3
hour period, to about 11 drinks / 3 hour period on Ranitidine, given favorable
conditions. I've had lower levels of success with Famotadine.

~~~
massaman_yams
I would also recommend supplementing with N-Acetyl-Cysteine - try perhaps
~500mg for each two drinks you consume; experiment to find the right balance
for you.

NAC is a precursor to the antioxidant glutathione, which the liver uses during
step 2 of the alcohol metabolization process (acetaldehyde > acetic acid). It
helps by ensuring the stores of glutathione in your liver are less likely to
become depleted when you've had a few drinks or more, thus reducing the
buildup of acetaldehyde in your system.

Incidentally, it may also have some efficacy in terms of hangover reduction,
even among those unaffected by alcohol-related flushing, due to the same
mechanism.

~~~
davak
NAC causes impressive gas--both in quantity and smell. Rotten eggs or sulfuric
acid would the nicest way to put it.

I'm a doc. I believe it works but the side effects are too much for me.

~~~
paulgerhardt
Are you sure it's the Cysteine? According to this paper[1] where test rats
received an LD50 dose of acetaldehyde, those that received cysteine had an 80%
survival rate; while those that received both cysteine and thiamine had a 100%
survival rate. Thiamine and Methylthiazolidine contain sulfur (thio-/thia- is
greek for sulfur) where Cysteine does not. It follows that it would be
responsible for some _foul_ air.

It's likely that what you are taking may contain both, is this the case?

For all the bio-hackers looking to experiment tonight, it seems to make sense
to:

1) take dry yeast to help the alcohol dehydrogenase break the alcohol down
into acetaldehyde to stop you from feeling drunk

2) take both thiamine (optional) and cysteine to help the acetaldehyde
dehydrogenase break acetaldehyde down into acetic acid to stop you from
feeling hungover.

Assuming you just take a bunch of dry yeast, and that it has any effect at all
you'll probably still have a bad hangover. Then again, chaining all these
things together without a solid understanding about what's going on probably
isn't too smart either.

[1]
[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/4842541](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/4842541)

~~~
massaman_yams
Good points. It is worth mentioning that cysteine (non -acetyl varieties)
isn't as stable/bioavailable as n-acetyl-cysteine; some people sell plain
cysteine but it's not worth it- just stick with NAC if you're looking for a
supplement.

I would note NAC does have a sulfhydryl group (as indicated by the -SH in the
molecular diagram), so it does contain sulfur at some level.

And if hangover reduction is your goal, there are a number of other things
that contribute to hangover symptoms that you also need to manage in order to
reduce their effects:

\- dehydration (drink a bunch of fluids before bed)

\- depletion of electrolytes (generally speaking, make sure to eat/drink
something salty)

\- depletion of B vitamins (thiamine/B1 in particular tends to be depleted
among alcoholics - supplement with a B complex high in thiamine; some studies
show reduction of hangover symptoms with very high B6 intake(very high
levels-1200mg) source: Khan MA, Jensen K, Krogh HJ. Alcohol-induced hangover.
A double-blind comparison of pyritinol and placebo in preventing hangover
symptoms)

------
atwebb
Since it's a pretty audacious headline especially heading into the weekend,
here's a /r/homebrewing thread discussing the article:

[http://www.reddit.com/r/Homebrewing/comments/23wbeo/jim_koch...](http://www.reddit.com/r/Homebrewing/comments/23wbeo/jim_kochs_trick_to_not_getting_drunk_xpost_from/)

It may also be that he just paces better and has a higher tolerance than most.
There can also be other "side effects" of downing 1 serving of yeast + yogurt
per beer you plan to have so perhaps that helps limit his intake as well (if
he sticks to the pre-plan), heck pre-planning probably helps more than
anything.

~~~
yread
TLDR; of the thread:

\- people who know him personally say he's wasted ALL the time

\- mechanism of action is supposed to be ADH that is added to the bakers'
yeast

\- microbiologists and chemists doubt it's going to work

~~~
ch4s3
Not only that, but ingesting large amounts of live yeast can (does)cause
explosive gastrointestinal results. A problem familiar to any home brewer that
has consumed especially yeasty young beer.

~~~
AUmrysh
If you get yeast in your intestines and you're taking antibiotics, you can get
what's called Auto-Brewery Syndrome. The yeast in your intestines starts to
ferment sugars and you get drunk all the time.

~~~
polarix
Why is taking antibiotics relevant to this effect?

~~~
WalterSear
Kill off competitive gut flora, making ecological room.

------
yread
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_dehydrogenase#Yeast_and...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_dehydrogenase#Yeast_and_bacteria)

If you manage to increase the concentration of alcohol in your stomach to
levels when ADH2 kicks in (and keep sugar concentration low), it might work.
But where is the fun in drinking without getting drunk?!

~~~
dagw
I'd love nothing more than to be able to drink without getting drunk. Being
able to knock back a bottle of wine with dinner and then a second bottle after
dinner without any side effects would be dream come true. I love the
pleasurable effects of alcohol as much as the next person, but 4 times out of
5 I'm only after the flavor and being forced to stop drinking something that
tastes awesome due to the effect it's about to have on me totally sucks.

~~~
eli
Non alcoholic beer & wine does exist.

~~~
charlysisto
Yes it's called grape juice : the wine you drink because the taste is 'divine'
doesn't exist in a non alcoholic form. Don't know about beer though

~~~
dagw
The best non-alcoholic beers are, relatively speaking, better than non-
alcoholic wine, but the selection is basically limited to fairly mundane
German style lagers and even the best ones (Jever is probably the best I've
tasted) are inferior to even most mass-produced lager.

~~~
hessenwolf
Clausthaller (not the canned), Paulaner Helles and Hefe-Weiß, Erdinger Weiß,
Lämmbrau, and Hacker Pschorr Helles are all very tasty tipples. Spaten Helles
is wretched, and Löwenbrau Helles is surprisingly not too terrible, given the
regular stuff is garbage.

~~~
tripzilch
The non-alcoholic Erdinger Weissbier is probably the best non-alcoholic beer
I've tasted.

You need to get "into" it a little before you realize it actually does taste
like beer, except without the alcohol, and how much part of the flavour
alcohol actually is (even with the relatively low 5% ABV that most beers are).

Also, and this may differ per regulations where you are, but many "non-
alcoholic" beers do in fact contain up to 0.5% alcohol (including the Erdinger
Weizener). So you'd have to drink 10 of them to feel the buzz of one normal
beer, but I'd expect by that time you'd be feeling something else, over the
buzz from a single beer :-P

~~~
hessenwolf
Apparently, 0.5% is slightly less than orange juice. I'd confirm it with a
link, but I am on the work machine.

------
px1999
Make no mistake, this is one of those "one weird tip" articles.

It doesn't surprise me that the tip doesn't appear to work (based on the links
others have posted), because the article is really a (hopefully viral)
marketing vehicle for Sam Adams - in a couple of short paragraphs, they touch
on their glass, their new IPA, their social programs, their new Belgian
quadruple, and some of their existing line.

It finishes up with some "secret", broadly dismisses established science (by
stating that companies didn't pick up Prequel just because they didn't want
some liability that they wouldn't have been liable for anyways), offers no
real

What makes it interesting is that this article seems to resound with the more
technical people that I know. It's like linkbait for smart people...

------
logfromblammo
I think this is probably broscience bullshit. Yeasts produce ethanol from
sugars and tend to leave a lot of excess lying around when they finish.

If you want a biological assistant, what you really want is to swallow the
"mother of vinegar" acetobacter culture biofilm from unpasteurized, naturally
fermented vinegar, and eat it with something dense and sugary before you
drink. The acetobacters actually metabolize ethanol into acetic acid and
survive in highly acidic environments such as the stomach. As they are aerobic
bacteria, you will also need to swallow air while drinking. The amount of time
that alcohol remains in your stomach makes it unlikely that you will make more
than a tiny difference in the amount of alcohol that enters your bloodstream.

But it is much more scientifically plausible than baker's yeast.

An actual, significant reduction in drunkenness from ingested alcohol would
have to overstock the liver with ADH1B, thiamine (vitamin B1), ALDH2, ACSS2,
and n-acetyl-L-cysteine (Acetadote). This would require an intravenous
injection before you start drinking, and is probably very dangerous in the
absence of any real medical necessity.

------
doki_pen
A clever piece of marketing. The hip trend is away from IPAs and towards
Belgians, specifically Quads. In this article I learned that Jim Koch, founder
of Sam Adams is sick of IPAs and wants a good Belgian(he's hip kids!). Sure
enough, his company makes a Quad and a stout! Man, Sam Adams is cool again!

~~~
nkozyra
Well they also make about 10 variants on IPAs.

I'd say the "hip trend" is (and has been) toward lactics/sours/reds and I
don't think Sam Adams has anything invested in that yet.

------
nathanvanfleet
I had a friend who told me that drinking a glass of milk before a night of
drinking was the special secret. Either way "drinking all night and not
getting drunk" sounds more like a Twilight Zone episode to me. I don't really
drink at all, but it sounds like that would be a nightmare.

I'm also wondering about how he deals with the inevitable farts? Yeasts eating
sugars = gas which is why beer and everything else is fizzy.

------
grecy
My friends and I have found the level of drunkenness really all depends on how
quickly you drink your first 2-3 drinks. We're Australian, I like to think
we've had some practice.

If you drink them down fast, you'll get a buzz, and feel quite drunk after not
many more. No matter what you do for the rest of the night, you'll be more
drunk than usual for the number of drinks you've had.

If you drink the first 2-3 drinks slowly, you'll have one of those nights
where you're not as drunk as you normally would be for the number of drinks
you've had. Sure, if you drink a ton, you'll be drunk, but you won't be
"wasted".

Tip: If you ever find yourself in some kind of drinking contest, have two beer
before the contest even starts, but take 30-45 minutes to drink each beer. You
won't be nearly as drunk later on.

~~~
natdempk
Is there a scientific explanation that anyone could offer or a theory that you
have about this? This sounds interesting and I am curious as to why it
happens.

~~~
danudey
My theory is that the liver can only process so much alcohol at a time (or
rather, it has a rate at which it can process alcohol), via the enzymes that
it uses to do its job. If you hammer it with three drinks in rapid succession,
it uses up its ability to filter alcohol out and has to recharge its stock of
ingredients (possibly hindered by all the leftover alcohol in your system,
messing up your biochemistry and dehydrating you). If you space it out, it has
time to process the alcohol as it comes in, keeping your body from being
overwhelmed.

Kind of like how a levy can hold back millions of litres of water hitting it…
unless it all shows up at once, in which case it gets overwhelmed and all
kinds of problems stem from there.

------
jasallen
Not recalling all the details of my physiology here, but there is an
additional ethanol metabolism pathway that is not engaged or not fully engaged
until someone is very very drunk or is chronically pretty damn drunk. IIRC,
the enzyme involved does not put out the same toxins through oxidation that
affect the nervous system and give that drunk look. Instead you get the
'functional alcoholic'.

Based on what other people are saying here, my guess is, that's what we've got
going on here. My common sense says there is probably a measurable, but
insignificant effect by the enzyme in the yeast.

Edit: also, the theory is just that the stomach is a mixing bowl, so the poor
man's field test is here is pretty trivial, maybe I'll have some fun tonight
with a blender, some yeast, and a bottle of cheap hooch.

------
tmcw
And then he reaches into his bag, and excitedly holds it in his palm: The
Placebo Effect!

------
McCoy_Pauley
I'm sorry, but my first thought from the title was only drink water. Then
you'd be very sober.

~~~
peatmoss
Or tea. It's surprisingly refreshing, and contains some of the bitterness that
beer has, but plain water lacks. Now, how about a nice black tea with some
aromatic hops for finish. Delicious, nutritious, and non-intoxicating.

Come to think of it, this does sound good.

------
thezoid
This might prevent you from getting drunk, but the result is going to be some
terrible gas. Anyone who homebrews will know this because of those times
you've drank beer that still had tons of yeast in suspension or when they
accidentally drank the sediment.

------
smcl
This sounds like "bro science" to me:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXO2azb3_PE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXO2azb3_PE)

------
fabian2k
ADH is unstable and not active at the low pH values (1-2) in the stomach, this
explanation is highly unlikely.

------
jordan0day
Serious question: What is the purpose of "drinking all night" and not getting
drunk? To me, the phrase "all night" implies "a lot" or at least "relatively
frequently during the course of the evening".

Why would you want to drink a bunch of alcohol and _not_ get drunk? If not
becoming drunk was the goal, why wouldn't you just, you know, drink something
non-alcoholic?

~~~
jgeerts
Because beer and other alcoholic beverages taste good?

------
ghkbrew
I think we need to start a new meme. Something like:

Double-blind randomized control trial or it didn't happen

Anyone?

------
peterjmag
Despite the rather juvenile headline, I found this pretty interesting. Makes a
lot of sense for someone that does a lot of beer tasting and wants to stay
coherent.

------
robertharper
Depending on the type of GI yeast, the opposite effect is possible:
[http://www.medicaldaily.com/texas-man-can-get-drunk-
without-...](http://www.medicaldaily.com/texas-man-can-get-drunk-without-
alcohol-due-auto-brewery-syndrome-can-you-brew-beer-your-own-stomach)

------
haddr
Not an expert here, but what about good old olive oil? There is a rumor that
drinking a couple of teaspoons of oil before driking will make it longer to
absorb the alcohol and you might get less drunk. I wonder how true is that
technique. ..

~~~
tripzilch
Didn't they do that in _Happy Days_?

------
plg
ummm ... stupid question, but why are we drinking alcoholic the first place if
not for the usual effects?

because alcohol _tastes_ good????

sort of like, how to smoke weed all night without getting high

um why??

~~~
dagw
_because alcohol _tastes_ good????_

Hell yes! As far as I'm concerned a great wine is probably among the most
delicious things you can put in your mouth, with great whiskys, rums, cognacs
and beers coming not far behind. Being able to drink as much as I want without
any of the side effects would be a dream come true.

~~~
lutusp
>> because alcohol _tastes_ good????

> Hell yes! As far as I'm concerned a great wine is probably among the most
> delicious things you can put in your mouth ...

Wait -- your answer doesn't even respond to the OP's question, which was
whether alcohol tastes good. Alcohol (ethyl alcohol) has no taste. All the
drinks you list could in principle be created without any alcohol content, and
some of them are. Would you express the same enthusiasm for non-alcoholic
equivalent drinks?

> Being able to drink as much as I want without any of the side effects would
> be a dream come true.

But most alcoholic drinks can be duplicated without any alcohol and taste
exactly the same (because ... remember ... alcohol has no taste), so you can
get what you say you want. What remains to be seen is whether you really want
what you say.

~~~
dagw
_Alcohol (ethyl alcohol) has no taste_

But it does have a very distinct mouthfeel which is part of taste sensation.
But mainly alcohol is very good a taking up the flavour compounds of anything
you add to it. This is a really big factor in what makes alcoholic beverages
distinct. Also the fermentation process breaks things down and releases
flavour compounds from the thing fermenting in a way that is hard or
impossible to get other ways.

 _But most alcoholic drinks can be duplicated without any alcohol and taste
exactly the same_

If this actually is the case, and I very much doubt it, why hasn't anyone done
it? All non-alcoholic wines I've tested on the market today taste quite bad
and bear only a passing resemblance to their alcoholic counterparts. If
someone could make a non-alcoholic wine that could hold its own in a blind
taste test against a collection of reasonable even just $20 bottles I'd be be
beyond happy. I would probably even be willing to pay a premium over the cost
of an equivalent bottle of alcoholic wine.

If its so easy as you claim it to be why are all current commercial efforts so
incredibly far off the mark?

------
nraynaud
I think yeast makes your fart as hell (when you're lucky). And I think active
yeast would just carry on degrading sugar into alcohol in the stomach.

------
tambourine_man
One of the reasons for drinking _is_ getting drunk.

The important thing is to avoid the hangover.

~~~
err4nt
Never suffered from hangover, but I have read about it. It seems to be mostly
dehydration. If you drink one glass of water for each time you urinated the
night you drank before you go to sleep I wonder if your hydration level would
be the same.

~~~
tommorris
Might be. Think there might be some psychology too.

Sometimes I'll go out to a bar and get absolutely shitfaced drunk (8 double
G&Ts, for instance) and wake up the next morning feeling fine. I'll pour
myself one drink at home before bed and wake up the next morning feeling like
death.

A bit of energy exertion to walk to the bus stop and get home may have made
all the difference.

------
melvinmt
I wonder what the purpose is of drinking if you don't want to get drunk.

~~~
rplnt
Same as non-caloric foods I guess. The taste. I would love to drink beer at
work. But getting drunk is not what I want. Some people like wine like that. I
doubt that stands for spirits.

------
cjf4
Anyone know if this would apply to liquor as well?

~~~
hoektoe
I would assume it does, since the focus is on alchohol breakdown and not so
much the "other" ingredients

------
yezooz
How? One word: coke

------
gregorynicholas
mixin uppers (aka meth, speed, cocaine).

------
MisterMashable
Got milk?

------
yung_ether
"Forever more I'd be yet another guy discreetly carrying a white powder around
at bars. I'd advise you do likewise."

I already do!

------
VeejayRampay
Protip: Prefer alcohol-free beverages. Works all the time. Alcohol doesn't
bring anything to the table except a false sense of belonging and elation. If
you need to do that ALL NIGHT to feel good around friends and people in
general, then you might need to sit down and ask yourself some serious
questions.

