"I just like it"

Some readers will have got this far slightly irritated, because none of it describes them. You don't drink for courage or to cope. You like a cold beer after mowing the lawn. You like a good red with a roast. You like it the way you like cheese.

I believe you, and I'm not going to claim the pleasure is an illusion. A well-made drink at the right moment is a real pleasure, and of all the things the glass gets credit for, this is the one I'd argue with least.

Look at where the pleasure sits, though. For most people it sits at the front. The first few mouthfuls of the first drink are vivid. You notice the cold, the taste and the small sense of occasion. The rest of that glass is pleasant. The second is fine. By the third you aren't tasting much, and if someone swapped it for a cheaper bottle you might not spot it.

That third glass wasn't chosen the way the first was. You chose the first one with a clear head, for the taste. By the third, the choosing was being done by someone with two drinks in them, whose judgement had been loosened in the way chapter 5 described. Wanting the next drink seems to be one of the things a drink produces, though that's my observation and I haven't cited a study for it. Momentum poured that one, and pleasure had little to do with it.

If you have a drink this week, you can check this for yourself. As you finish each glass, give it a mark out of ten for how much you enjoyed it. Be honest about the later ones. Most people find the marks fall quickly.

If yours do, there's a plain conclusion. Even on pleasure's own terms, regular drinking is poor value. Most of the enjoyment comes from a small share of the units, and the remainder is paid for at full price in money, sleep and the day after. Someone who has one good glass with Saturday dinner gets a large part of the pleasure you get from a week's worth. Because they've lost their tolerance, they also feel it more.

That points to a perfectly respectable place to end up, which is drinking occasionally, for the taste, in small amounts. This book isn't trying to talk you out of that. I'd add two cautions.

The first is that "one good glass" is a harder rule to keep than "none tonight". The reason is mechanical. The first drink loosens the judgement that was supposed to stop the second. Plenty of people manage it. Plenty find that a plain no is less work than a nightly negotiation, and there's no shame in being either kind.

The second is that you can't judge any of this well from inside a daily habit. While the ten to seven cue is firing and tolerance is high, "I just like it" and "I'm used to it" feel identical. The way to tell them apart is to step away for long enough that the habit quietens. Then see what you still want.