When I’m asked that question in the medical context, I respond I drink socially.
I drink around holidays and if I go to a work function or dinner with friends. At best, I have 2-3 drinks. I find my max is 4 drinks.
I think if you drink every day, even just a night-cap or wine with dinner, you are a heavy drinker. Or if you drink more than 4 drinks in an outing, you are a heavy drinker.
So how do you define a “heavy drinker”?
I don’t know, but having a glass of wine a day would not, in my mind, be a heavy drinker.
Nor would occasionally having 4 or more drinks.
Me? 1 beer, 2 max in a sitting. Rarely more than once a week.
I don’t get drunk any more. I am done with that.
I have varied over the years from hardly drinking at all, a beer or two when going out to dinner or a party, to have a couple three drinks every evening for months on end. So my definition of a heavy drinker would be more than 3 drinks most every day 
that’s not a heavy drinker.
I think there is a difference, also between a “heavy drinker” and a person who might occasionally drink heavily. and 4 drinks for me, over the course of an evening, won’t get me drunk. I might have that many or a bit more than that a couple of times per year. But then I go weeks without having anything.
I don’t define it in rigid terms, but you know it when you see it.
Interesting, you might label me as a heavy drinker. I tend to open a beer daily, though most days I don’t finish it (my kids think I’m wasteful), nor do I usually reach for a second. I only drink beer too, though sometime I get he higher ABV stuff when I’m experimenting for something new. But I can go days/weeks/months without it just as easy. (honestly I can quit when I want…LOL)
I define a heavy drinker as someone who purposely drinks to get buzzed/drunk. Someone who drinks not by frequency but by volume, whether socially or solo. Or someone who will drink any kind of human consumable alcohol just to catch a buzz.
Timely topic, we have the Great American Beer Festival here in Denver. Tickets have become damn near impossible to get. Friends of ours in response are throwing their first annual Fuck you Great American Beer Festival (FUGABF) this weekend, where attendees bring a 6-pack mixed sampler from their chosen brewery. I chose Shipyard. This will be one of the rare occasions I will actually have to let Mrs mck414 drive home.
When I’m asked that question in the medical context, I respond I drink socially.
I drink around holidays and if I go to a work function or dinner with friends. At best, I have 2-3 drinks. I find my max is 4 drinks.
I think if you drink every day, even just a night-cap or wine with dinner, you are a heavy drinker. Or if you drink more than 4 drinks in an outing, you are a heavy drinker.
So how do you define a “heavy drinker”?
I like to have a drink with dinner, whether it be a beer or a cocktail. It actually only happens 2 to 3 times a week. The most beer I’ll drink in a sitting is 4, more than that and I’m hammered. This is craft beer, I haven’t had a Bud or anything like it in years. I do this probably 2 times a year when I go out with some guys from work and the 4 beers are spread out over about 5 hours or during some of the local events where it’s beer and wine sampling.
I would not consider this heavy drinking. Not sure how a night-cap or wine with dinner is heavy drinking. If that is the case then every single person in Europe are heavy drinkers. On the other hand, I work with guys who drink more than a 6-pack a night. That’s heavy drinking. Some of these guys could down a 30 pack and still be walking perfectly normal.
I think there is a difference between a heavy drinker and a frequent drinker.
Having 2 or fewer drinks a day makes you a frequent drinker but not heavy.
If you frequently are in the 3+ range you are a heavy drinker. And like Jason, frequently is not a hard and fast number, but you will know it when you see it.
And if you are over 25 and get drunk more than on very rare occasions bordering on ever, you are probably pushing into problem drinker status. Drunkenness in adults is not a good look.
I was definitely a heavy drinker in college. Unfortunately I remember everything I did, even the inconvenient stuff. Now, I have to be reminded to have a drink, just never occurs to me. So once a heavy and problematic drinker does not mean you will be forever.
I would not consider this heavy drinking. Not sure how a night-cap or wine with dinner is heavy drinking. ** If that is the case then every single person in Europe are heavy drinkers.** On the other hand, I work with guys who drink more than a 6-pack a night. That’s heavy drinking. Some of these guys could down a 30 pack and still be walking perfectly normal.
The term “alcoholic” or “heavy drinker” seems to get thrown around a lot more readily in the US than it does in Europe (OK, that reads like I’m getting defensive!).
My intake varies from multi-day or 1-2 week stretches of zero drinks per day, to a beer or glass of wine with dinner (maybe 2 if we’re at a restaurant), to 4+ at parties, more so if it’s at our house but that’s very occasional and not a regular thing. I have a 2-tap kegerator in the garage but that can go weeks without any beer poured.
When I’m asked that question in the medical context, I respond I drink socially.
I drink around holidays and if I go to a work function or dinner with friends. At best, I have 2-3 drinks. I find my max is 4 drinks.
I think if you drink every day, even just a night-cap or wine with dinner, you are a heavy drinker. Or if you drink more than 4 drinks in an outing, you are a heavy drinker.
So how do you define a “heavy drinker”?
I console myself with the fact the French sell terrible beer in 333ml bottles. If I buy a dozen I will finish them.
I probably drink beer the way some people snack. If its in the house I will open it and carry on so long as its there
Beer in the house is not good
I go through phases. I probably drank every day, at least from May.
I am a non drinker at the moment. I guess I’ve been a heavy drinker.
Neither light nor heavy really suits me
I tend to define it in a non-medicalized way, that is: if it’s causing problems—hangovers, memory loss, inhibits my ability to do the things I need to do (exercise, think clearly in the AM, etc.), then it’s heavy, or problematic. I’m a heavy drinker on occasion, often unintentionally. My off-switch is defective and two can turn into ten if I’m not careful.
A glass of wine with dinner every night, that wouldn’t really meet my definition. More than 4 in a typical outing, yes, that’s heavy. That also tends to be me.
I am under the impression the definition, medically if you will, was 14 or more drinks in a week.
Matt
I have come to the realization that I was a heavy drinker. I didn’t think I drank that much. But I got into craft cocktails and would have a few every other day or so. And more on weekends. Plus beer when the opportunity was there.They were always spaced out over time so I didn’t get drunk often. Just a little buzz.
Over the last three years, my liver enzymes were elevated. Not drastically, but enough to raise my doc’s eyebrows. I did Slowtwitch’s no-alcohol January challenge and retested in February. Two of the three enzymes dropped back into the normal range and the third dropped significantly. My doc said it certainly was the alcohol and I needed to cut back.
I needed some rules for myself. The main one was no solo drinking at home. I often would drink while cooking dinner, have a drink with dinner, and/or after dinner. Or after a rough day at work. Essentially I now only drink at parties, with friends over dinner, networking events, etc. It’s usually only beer at these benefits. I had a martini recently after a long absence and was surprised at harsh I found it. Same with whiskey. My second rule is aiming for no more than 2 drinks in a day. It’s a lot harder to enjoy the third one with the gnawing feeling that too many of these could lead to a need for a liver transplant in the future. Seven months after my last test, I tested again. All three enzymes are back in the normal range.
Looking back over the last 9 months, I realize I’ve saved alot of money. I haven’t bought any bottles of gin, Campari, rye, absinthe, etc. that I used to buy with some frequency. I also realized that some of my friends are really heavy drinkers, probably functional alcoholics, and limiting my time with them has been good. I would define myself has a social drinker now. I would have defined myself as a moderate drinker last year, but my health results would probably indicate a heavy drinker.
Timely topic, we have the Great American Beer Festival here in Denver. Tickets have become damn near impossible to get.
I really don’t get the standing in really long lines to get really tiny beers concept and how crazy popular it is…
My parents were pretty heavy drinkers IMO. Wine with dinner every night and 2-3 scotches. Some times gin and tonic in the summer evenings. When I came home they would always ask what I wanted them to stock the fridge with beer wise. Which was super kind- but I do wonder if having 4 drinks a day rain or shine contributed to my mother’s dementia. They bought handle after handle of scotch.
I enjoy a beer or glass of wine with dinner. Camping or rafting I might have three in a day/night. I think a daily consistent habit of more than two I would consider somewhat heavy.
I would not consider this heavy drinking. Not sure how a night-cap or wine with dinner is heavy drinking. ** If that is the case then every single person in Europe are heavy drinkers.** On the other hand, I work with guys who drink more than a 6-pack a night. That’s heavy drinking. Some of these guys could down a 30 pack and still be walking perfectly normal.
The term “alcoholic” or “heavy drinker” seems to get thrown around a lot more readily in the US than it does in Europe (OK, that reads like I’m getting defensive!).
My intake varies from multi-day or 1-2 week stretches of zero drinks per day, to a beer or glass of wine with dinner (maybe 2 if we’re at a restaurant), to 4+ at parties, more so if it’s at our house but that’s very occasional and not a regular thing.** I have a 2-tap kegerator in the garage but that can go weeks without any beer poured.**
So you’re not a heavy drinker, you’re a slouch. 
Sounds familiar, Elvis.
I think it depends on who you know and associate with as to what you’ll consider “heavy”. I fall into the 2-4 a night for weeks on end trap myself. More on weekends. More in group settings. More when I’m grilling. I don’t know, I like beer. But I have friends who drink minimum 6 pack a night and go through 30+ in a weekend. So I consider them the “heavy drinkers”. I have one liver enzyme that went off the normal range recently and I spent 5 months alcohol free, except for 6 beers at a work outing and 7 beers on a 3 day weekend. That was it - 13 beers in 5 months. It helped that I was training for an event. But anyway I had the tests re-done, the enzyme is still “off”. Doc says don’t worry and it definitely was not related to alcohol consumption because whichever one it is it rises and falls fairly consistently with alcohol intake.
Was this supposed to be a therapeutic thread?
If so, I’m smiling and satisfied. And ready to keep imbibing.
i think when it starts to negatively impact your life and relationships or your health then you’ve become a heavy drinker. i don’t think a beer or glass of wine each night counts as “heavy” - but as someone who has seen the consequences of going over the edge with alcoholism I’d be very worried if i thought i “needed” that beer or wine each night.
for myself - it isn’t that i don’t drink, i just couldn’t remember the last time i did.
I would say that if you drink frequently(several times a week) and after a large beer, glass of wine, or full mixed drink, and you cannot just stop there and be happy about it, then perhaps you have a problem. Not to say that you don’t occasionally have that 2nd or 3rd drink, but that it is ok for you to just have one. And if you go a few weeks or a month without a drink, it isnt even in your thoughts, and you will just break that streak when you feel like it, not because you just think you should…
At the doctors office the medical form asks if you do drink and if yes how many drinks a week. ( At least the Doctor I have seen ) my answer never prompted any follow up questions but the term heavy drinker was not on the form as a part of questioning process. To me a heavy drinker denotes both frequency and volume… daily or nearly daily and something more than a glass of wine or a beer. How much more gets grey because of the “heavy” part of it.
I’ve definitely noticed more of an addiction the last few years (its stressful having a real job, 2 kids, house, wife,etc!).
Last winter it was for sure getting to be a bit of a problem (ie. probably 3 drinks or so a night)
Last 5-6 months I’ve tried to stick to a rule of no drinking on week nights - only Friday and Sat are allowed. And on those nights keep it to a few drinks only. I’m not going to overthink it and do something silly like not drink… (like is way to short and beer/wine taste way too good)