Nathan Davies: Many are choosing not to imbibe at all. And here’s the important thing – nobody cares

Australians have finally realised you don’t have to “get on the piss” to be welcome, writes Nathan Davies.

I don’t mind a beer. I’m also quite partial to the odd glass of red, and once a year on my birthday I break our the Patron and make a few margaritas.

But my relationship to the old liquid courage has changed markedly over recent years.

Once, back in the deep, dark days of my late teens and twenties, the idea of drinking a pub dry and then moving on to a club to attempt to do the same genuinely sounded like a good plan.

Then sometime around 30 the hangovers started. Then they became two-day hangovers. Then they became what a friend refers to as “metaphysical hangovers”, a concept she borrowed from English writer Kingsley Amis.

“When that ineffable compound of depression, sadness (these two are not the same), anxiety, self-hatred, sense of failure and fear for the future begins to steal over you, start telling yourself that what you have is a hangover,” Amis wrote.

“You are not sickening for anything, you have not suffered a minor brain lesion, you are not all that bad at your job, your family and friends are not leagued in a conspiracy of barely maintained silence about what a shit you are, you have not come at last to see life as it really is and there is no use crying over spilt milk.”

Heavy, I know, but we’ve all been there.

On top of the hangover there was always the nagging knowledge that the wallet was significantly lighter than it was the day before, and that there were many better things I could have spent that money on.

A scene from the classic Australian film Wake In Fright.

So as the consequences for a big night out became more harrowing the big nights out became fewer and further apart to the point where, now, months might pass with no big nights out at all.

My lovely wife, a far more disciplined soul than me, even came up with the novel concept of Monday through to Thursday being completely alcohol-free and, mostly, we’ve stuck to that.

We’re not zealots about it – if we’re at a show on a Wednesday and there’s good champagne floating about then it would seem almost wrong not to have a glass, but by and large we’ve followed that rule.

The result? We wake up feeling better in the mornings, we spend less cash on alcohol and that first beer for the week on a Friday night tastes extra good.

But I’m not alone here. Australia, it seems, is re-examining its relationship with alcohol.

It’s a trend being driven, like many positive trends, by young people. Drinking in this country reached a peak in the early 2000s and has been on the decline ever since.

All the stats point to the kids indulging far less often than we did, or having one special cocktail with friends and then calling it a night. Many are choosing not to imbibe at all.

And here’s the important thing – nobody cares. Whereas once Australians were shamed for not drinking – see the famous “What’s wrong with you, you bastard? Why don’t you come and drink with me?” scene from the classic movie Wake In Fright – these days people barely bat an eyelid if someone orders a Coke or a zero alcohol beer.

And those zero alcohol beers are actually pretty bloody good these days.

I recommend the Desi Driver by Big Shed if you’re a fan of a hoppy craft beer that comes in at under half a per cent. Pirate Life’s Point Nine is also a great drop.

It’s a trend being capitalised on by outfits like Heaps Normal, an Aussie non-alcoholic drinks start up founded by a bunch of mates including professional surfer Jordy Smith with the aim of producing “coldies” that can lubricate a social situation without adding grog.

Heaps Normal co-founders Jordy Smith, Andy Miller, Ben Holdstock & Peter Brennan. Picture: Nikki To

“We’re normalising mindful drinking by brewing beer that tastes so good, you won’t miss the alcohol,” they say. “We’re not here to talk about being sober or hold that up as the end goal. Whether you’re taking a night off or ditching the booze for life, we reckon it’s time to talk about something more interesting … like the epic stuff you’re doing instead of getting wasted.”

And despite fears that the pandemic and lockdowns had us all reaching for that forgotten bottle of Frangelico or mixing white Russians for breakfast, it seems this isn’t the case at all. The latest census results show that only one in ten Aussies are drinking more, with a full 25 per cent saying their drinking actually went down in 2020-21.

I have several very courageous friends who well and truly fell under the spell of the booze and, through hard work and determination and the support of those around them, came out the other side and left it behind. Every one of them says their life is better now.

I have another close mate who, while never having a problem, just decided drinking wasn’t for him anymore and now doesn’t touch a drop.

He loves a dawn surf and the two don’t go together well. He works in a super blokey industry where “getting on the piss” at the end of a hard week was very much de rigour, but his colleagues accept his choice and get him a kombucha when they buy a round.

So if you’re currently in the middle of Dry July then good on you, keep up the good work.

And if you’re off the booze permanently or you’re drinking less than you used to or you want to order a Fanta on the rocks at the bar then good on you too.

Nobody’s judging you these days, and that’s a great thing. Cheers.