Oldies - at what age did you notice your drinking ability tail off?

51 here. Not noticed a decline in capacity but I have noticed a decline in my wish to drink more than a couple. The latter probably means I would not notice the former.

Have you thought about taking cocaine, to help you drink more?

It seems to be pretty popular in the pubs round here

I was teetotal from age 19-21. Never recovered after that.

One pint is usually enough for me now, and still disrupts my sleep. Two is a wild night by my standards.

Me, late forties happy to go out and only have one or 2 or even non alcoholic ones. Don't like hangovers any more as they wipe me out the whole of the next day.

I used to train with pros back in the day but then I had a kid and having to get out of bed and deal with a toddler while hungover was too much. Maybe I need to get back into regular training to rebuild my stamina.

60 in a few weeks, it started to become really noticeable to me about 7 or 8 years ago.  It's really variable though, I can still enjoy an occasional boozy weekend away with mates where we are mostly drinking 3.5-4% session ales on draught. But sometimes one glass of wine or can of strong IPA can wreck my sleep and even leave me feeling mildly hungover next morning.  My tolerance for red wine in particular, which I used to really enjoy has taken a nosedive in the last couple of years. Sharing a bottle with my missus of an evening is a thing of the past sadly. A glass at most now, and even that can be risky.  I just drink a lot less all round now.  I still enjoy it too much to go completely teetotal, but I do have to be a lot more careful about what I drink.

52 here, the drinking is still the easy bit. However the recovery is getting harder each year, hence I rarely have a blow-out nowadays.

I've also noticed that mixing drinks can lead to worse hangovers now, so I just stay on the beer or wine

53 here, mainly buy / drink alcohol free beer!

Mid 50's here.
Used to be a semi pro drinker.
Now more of a weekend warrior.
Just can't seem to find any suitable training partners since we moved areas.

47 now, in the last two years really, noticed the change (and covid redesigning my social life was a factor also) but I have non-alcoholic drinks on longer nights out etc. a bad hangover lasts for 48hrs and I can't eat properly whereas I used to keep eating and burn it off with general activity.

Definitely can't drink on an empty stomach and if I go into a specialist beer place I'm glad that the stronger ones are often not pints

the fact that AF beers are decent nowadays has made it more palatable (pun intended)

Just enjoy a whiskey

About 23?

Used to (happily) drink 10+ beers and shots, most nights thursday through sunday if i wanted. Managed Uni and then first couple of years of work like that. Then started training again (stopped pretty much all sport at 18) so was only drinking once a week if that, still no ill effects. Then i started getting hangovers, just little ones where i knew  i'd been drinking, but no other ill effects. By the time i was 25, I needed 18 hours of sleep after a session, so no more sessions.

Since then it's got worse and worse, 50 now and a couple of beers with a big meal and a long night (so 3-4 hours to drink a couple of beers) and i'll know i've been drinking.

Much more than that and i'll be wiped out the following day.

Only exception was when i was in the depths of undiagnosed depression, when i would drink steadily/continually for entire weekends and abuse myself in so many ways i didn't know where the hangover finished and the damage started... Thankfully over that now.

Spent my youth drinking copious amounts and getting into bad states. Alcohol was always a bit of an issue for me. Not an alcoholic but definitely too much binging.

Im pushing 40 now and for whatever reason I just decided I was done with booze and had my last alcoholic drink in October.

Been pretty easy to be honest. Think I intend to never drink again, saying that sounds insane. My 40th birthday will be a big test I expect.

In my late forties started to get really low mood/depression and feeling really angry for several days after drinking.  Decided to try a dry January about 8 years ago to see if not drinking helped.  I haven't had a drink since (now 58) and now I (and my family) don't have to cope with the moody/angry bloke that I'd turned into.

When the liver lab told me I had 3-6 months to live. Apparently it was the drugs (pain relief) as much as the alcohol that was to blame.

Never been a massive drinker to begin with but I don't really have drinking ability any more, couple of reasonably large glasses of wine and I'm asleep.

I don't suppose anyone has managed to find an AF wine that tastes like, ya know, wine, rather than ribena or elderflower cordial?

I think it was the other way around in my case - my tolerance dropped after I stopped (well, cut down massively) aged 39.

I cut out booze for a year when my wife was pregnant with our 2nd, both as a way to support her and as a way to help myself because drinking had become way too routine for me.

I felt so good and slept so well that I never wanted to go back to serious drinking, but I also found that I couldn’t take more than 1 or 2 glasses 1 or 2 nights a week anyway.

I made up for it by trying to spend the same amount of money on booze as I did before. Now we just share one really nice bottle a week. It usually takes us two nights to finish it!

Edit: my wife also stopped drinking for her 1st pregnancy, just in case that wasn’t clear!

The only reason wine tastes like wine, is that it contains alcohol...

Always been a hangover sufferer.

At peak fitness though the hangovers were terrible. I’m now fat and 50 and still a sufferer. I’ve discovered 4 pints of Guinness is my max for no hangovers. Lagers absolutely kill me as does Rum. I had a can of Guinness and two glasses of rum and Coke on Friday night, Saturday I was too rough to go for a ride.

I have a friends retirement do coming up, he and the rest of the colleagues are proper drinkers….ive booked into a hotel for an extra day/night so I’m not hungover at home.

Never drunk much - three pints would see me asleep! Since COVID destroyed my sinuses, I suffer with just two glasses of wine now. Can't smell it, so red wine isn't really very satisfying - can barely taste it. Guiness Zero is my recovery drink of choice, although the occasional pint of something alcoholic makes a change. I could give it up and not miss it. My offspring however, seem like mid-20's semi-pros (except the youngest can't drink anything within 12h of work 😀 ).

My,already limited, capacity for coherent thought is noticeable impacted after pint 1.

Since I turned... 15?

51 still seems I have it. However, I’ve reduced it over the last few months. When I say reduced it’s very relative.

56...April 10th 2022....when I was hit with pancreatitis (I hasten to add I had half my pancreas removed due to cancer in 2020) After 2 weeks in hospital and after the consultant had told me that 85% of pancreatitis is caused by alcohol...I quit...dry January is a doddle now

I retired before the legs started to go - like Aguero.

No reason you can't perform at a reasonable standard into your 50s, though it takes commitment and consistency of approach. But if you're struggling with a bottle of wine between two it might be time to hang things up. Sounds like you should either up your intake to get back to respectable bevvying standards, or cut it down to nothing. A no-mans land of having half a bottle of wine really weigh on you isn't worth it.

63(today!) max out at 1pint cider not had big session for prob 10 yrs ..after the jaegerbomb incident 🤮 don’t miss it at all tbf

Yeah but cider could be "basically apply juice" or "I am going to shit myself in 13seconds flat, I have just gone blind, someone take me to the shitter"

Ability to drink hasn't fallen off, but the hangovers are getting so bad it's less worth it, entire day written off following a decent session...

Stopped drinking frequently at about 30 due to work. Spent 2 years going out once a month.Usually I tried to drink my months allowance or more in one session. Eventually realised how stupid that was and packed in drinking altogether. After 2 years I realised that when I packed in drinking I had also packed in socialising So at 34 I started going to the pub again but only now and then and only three òr four drinks, been that way ever since despite my love of whisky
Edit age 62 now drinking mostly at home , now and then = once or twice a month

Hangovers definitely get worse as you get older. I remember in my early 20s being absolutely smashed, going snowboarding the next day, getting home, chucking up everywhere, then going out for more beers. No worries.

Now I'd just be hiding under the duvet for the day.

I've already mentioned on the not drinking thread that booze really affects my sleep and resting heart rate, so massively trying to cut down. Went to see some friends over the weekend and before I would have been on it. Instead it was 2-3 Guinnesses and a glass of red. Slept badly and felt tired all of Sunday.

Edit: To actually answer the question I'd treat myself as an amateur drinker now and would require some serious training before being promoted to the higher leagues. Currently in my mid 40s

i still love a drink.   and i mean i really do enjoy it.

used to go out for a good drink once a week.

but now it is more like once a month.

and the gallon has become 4 or 5 pints

and then only after a good bike ride.

and i like to be home for 7.30pm for food.

2nd (3rd,4th?) the messing up sleep thing. Even a couple can do that for me these days. I'm still stupid enough to do it though!

As other have said it's much more variable now in that sometimes I can drink a fair amount and be ok and others I can have 3 beers and feel shit. I've come to the conclusion it's more down to how tired or stressed I am in general rather than anything else.

56- no drop off in drinking capacity. Was a 2 pint light weight and still am!

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My ability to drink hasn't dropped off yet at the ripe old age of 43 but I do remember being 33 when hangovers after a big session started to be brutal, full day affairs.

I was 37 or 38 when drinking anything at all started ruining my sleep.

I enjoy a drink and also the odd session, I accept the consequences. What does annoy me is even one glass of red or one beer affects my sleep and I feel groggy all day. I might as well have 6 and go all in which is ridiculous. I do really enjoy a sober night sleep. I used to drink a little most nights but I’ve shaken that habit which is really pleasing.

Never had the messed up sleep but hangovers got worse.  Now i have virtually stopped drinking and two drinks now make me tipsy when i do.

I love a nice beer but it makes me depressed nowadays if I get drunk so it's one or max two for the taste

About 17 here. Always had a low tolerance to booze and limit my drinking to the occasional bourbon for the last 15 years or so.

Ability hasn't dipped, mind you I've been in training for a good few years. Just hate the broken sleep, don't even really get hangovers just sometimes feel a bit shabby.

Quit nigh on a year ago. Too much, too often was equalling feeling shite all the time. At 52 it was obvious I couldn’t handle the volume and frequency as I could.

Anyway I quit. Miss it sometimes, sunny afternoons in the garden, sitting by fire on a cold winters evening. But bollocks to it, it’s poison. Does no good to body at all.

As with so many things in life, the Daily Mash has nailed it. Its after you're 35...

Hangovers now include terrifying existential dread, discover over-35s

“I don’t know what was worse, the sense of misery and agitation that persisted all day, or the thought of staying in for the rest of my life watching Coast.” 😀

53 here and have a love hate relationship with booze these days. Like you it kills my sleep.

I usually do Mon to Thursday booze free and feel great, then begin to ruin my sleep on a Friday.

I recently did 9 days of drinking while on holiday and felt like death by the end of it. I need to try a AF in the pub to get over that hurdle I guess. They do Erdinger at my local and I like that one, especially with a slice of orange.

I can't honestly say that I've been a great drinker though.

46 here, my tolerance to alcohol at 44 was very good, I'd easily get through a bottle of Sambucca most weekends.

It was never going to be as good as back when I was teen/20's because my body (or brain) developed a safety mechanism to limit my drinking, where I would fall asleep wherever it was engaged.

However, it would ruin the night sleep for me, I'd regain consciousness after a couple of hours and then be awake for the rest of the night with heart palpitations and adrenaline surges.

This was 1 of many reasons that it was time for me to call it a day on alcohol, there are too many good things out there that alcohol would ruin for me now.