My story is attached. It ain't pretty.

Of course, it isn't about what we drank or how much, but what it did to our lives. And whether it's a thimble or a barrel, full is full.

But, because you asked -

As a kid, anything I could get my hands on. Usually, stolen beer because we could get it, my friend was a grocery clerk. I'd also sneak into my dad's Seagram's 7 bottle. I drank a fifth of vodka by myself, I found it. Drank a fifth of Boone's Farm once, it didn't even give me much of a buzz.

In the service initially, I drank a ton of beer. Sometimes, I would drink brown liquor, but it got me too drunk too quickly. I was a daily drinker, and I drank a lot of Pearl and Lone Star when I was in Texas.

Later in Okinawa, I tried some Suntory (did I spell that right?) and liked it a lot, and Japanese beer is also excellent, but mostly I did my daily drinking (8-12 beers) of American beer. Also, Okinawa was where I developed a taste for scotch. Funny, saki makes me break out in a rash on my inner thighs near my scrotum. Every time, and the only time I've ever had the rash.

Panama, I drank seco. What the fuck is seco? If you order rum in a Panamanian bar (at least places like the Ancon) you will get seco, a local rum like booze made from mangos or some shit, that is more like vodka than rum. I knew it, and ordered it, and they called me "Seco and Coke", that was my nickname in the whore bars. I'd drink a lot of beer on base. Of course, I smoked a barn full of pot in Panama. I remember early in Panama, sitting at the little bar down the street from the Ancon, me and this MP polished off a gallon of Johnny Walker over the bar.

Back to Bragg (N.C.), back to a lot of American beer and more liquor. I had developed a taste for booze. One nickname I had there was "half a gallon" because I would buy a half gallon of something good like Canadian Mist. I also started a tradition of always getting a fifth of Tequila for laundry day. I got to play around with stuff like Everclear, and got a DUI after killing most of a bottle of 151. Wild Turkey, Yukon Jack (much better than Southern Comfort), VO, stuff like that.

After I got out and started school, I was poor, and discovered and embraced the world of fortified wines. MD 20-20, and Richard's Wild Irish Rose. But something else I really liked was the Long Island Iced Tea they sold in the convenience stores. There in Fayetteville is where I got the craters in the crooks of my arms, from giving plasma so I could buy wine.

Back to Ohio, after I got going well in my job, oceans of beer and lots of brown liquor, Tonya drank the vodka sold in convenience stores, so I had my share of that, too. Of course, alcoholism is progressive, so I drank more and more as the years wore on.

I drank a lot of Busch, and a lot of Bud with one girlfriend (Tony). Later, I used to drink a lot of Little Kings in a can (?!) yes, they come that way, and are much cheaper and just as potent. One store the clerks would just grab a six out of the cooler as soon as I came through the door, which was several times a week. Some of the malt liquors I liked were Schlitz, Colt .45 (early), and yes, Old English 800 (is it 800?). Did I mention Jack?

Again, I was a daily drinker, and a frequent blackout drinker.

I only drank for 15 years, and I didn't have a hollow leg or anything. But I drank enough to get me to AA.

I am still fascinated by it. I went to the stock broker's office with my credentials to claim my inheritance, and the lady there said I could have my quarter million after she did about 20 minutes of paperwork. I decided to take a walk in the shopping center there, and there wasn't much around but Arrow Wine. I thought no big deal, I'll look at cigars and curios, but I forgot Ohio did away with state liquor stores and now places like this were liquor stores. I was face to face with all my old friends, waiting to inherit this money. I had a decision to make, to make love with these old friends for a few years, or to continue with sobriety. Of course, I chose not to put any of the wonderful delights inside me that day. But I was mesmerized. There was the Seagram's 7 that took so many years of my dad's life, that I used to steal as a child. A new Canadian Mist bottle, I liked the old one. A half gallon of Jack Daniels, that'll work! Chevas was alway pretty. Beam - yuck. Then I turned around and saw the Johnny Walker and the other scotches, and I could taste it, in a glass with one ice cube. And the rum, Jesus, the rum. I turned the corner and there was a half aisle of Tequila! Everyone has a tequila story! They even had the little airplane one shot bottles, I thought the AA's were right, one of those little bottles would be too much, but the whole inventory wouldn't be enough. Then I spotted a young yuppie looking bitch looking at the fru-fru wines, and I thought that woman has no idea the special relationship I have with the items in this store.

Favorites:
Import - Jesus, I forgot the name of the Filipino beer. The kind you get overseas sucks, but the kind they send here is very good.
Mist
Dewar's

Nothing too fancy, we alcoholics drink primarily for effect.

I could go on forever. Thanks for asking.

-Chuck, Vegetarian fanboy