Each week, we post short interviews with interesting people about their thoughts and feelings on women and drinking. There is such a wide array of perspectives about this topic, and we are excited to gain insight into as many as possible and to share them with you.

Letty Cottin Pogrebin is a writer, lecturer and social justice activist. A founding editor of Ms. magazine, she is the author or editor of nine books, most recently the novel, Three Daughters, and the memoir, Getting Over Getting Older. Her articles have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington post, The Nation, Huffington Post and dozens of other publications. She is a past president of the Author’s Guild. She lives in New York and is presently working on a book entitled, How to Be a Friend to a Friend Who’s Sick.

Drinking Diaries: How old were you when you had your first drink and what was it?  

Letty Cottin Pogrebin: I had sips of Manischewitz kosher wine at Sabbath dinners and Passover seders from earliest childhood. But that was ritual wine and it tasted like grape juice so maybe it doesn’t count. First real drink I remember is the Brandy Alexander my father made for his friends at the bar in our “finished basement” in Queens. When I took a little sip, I remember thinking it tasted like a really yummy chocolate milk shake. He made it with brandy, crème de cocoa and heavy cream. I drank it in college when I couldn’t think of what else to order that wouldn’t make me sick. I hated Scotch Sours and Rye and Ginger, which was all anyone drank.

How did/does your family treat drinking?  

I grew up in a Jewish family in which food was the main event. Booze was entirely incidental. In fact, I remember many get-togethers in my extended family at which no one drank hard liquor at all. For years, my parents kept two bottles—Canadian Club and Schnapps—on the top shelf of the linen closet and only took them out for toasts on special occasions. When we moved to a bigger house that came with a finished basement with a knotty pine-paneled bar, the two bottles came out of the closet and were joined by dozens more. My parents bought liquor based on the shape of the bottle. I remember a round stubby Crème de Menthe, and a tall slender bottle with a long neck and yellow stuff in it. No idea what it was.

How do you approach alcohol in your every day life?  

I only drink in company or when out at restaurant. My preference is straight ice cold Grey Goose or Kettle One vodka. Sometimes a California chard or cabernet, or a good merlot or reisling. I also like Guiness and other dark beer. No interest in drinking alone.

If you have kids, how is the subject of drinking handled? Do you drink in front of them? With them?

We had no compunctions about drinking in front of our three kids who are now grown. But, again, we rarely drank unless we had company .

Have you ever had a phase in your life when you drank more or less?  

No, my drinking has always been casual and social.

What’s your drink of choice? Why?

Vodka for the last five or so years, because I discovered I can hold it very well. I enjoy the buzz, and it never gives me a hangover. But it has to be straight, not with Vermouth. Sometimes, a bloody mary.

Can you tell us about the best time you ever had drinking?  

I always have a good time drinking because I drink in very pleasant settings—nice restaurants, when we travel, on some balcony overlooking a lake, etc. I have fond memories of drinking excellent wine during a couple of hiking trips in France and Italy. The setting really adds to the experience. I can’t imagine enjoying a drink in a dank corner bar.

What about the worst time?  

In Natasket, Massachussetts, when I was a sophomore in college. I went with a boyfriend to a beach party that turned into a binge drinking spree and I got very blotto and very sick. I’ve been drunk a few times since—in the sense of feeling the world spin around and feeling myself lurch across a room—but I’ve never felt as absolutely rock bottom awful as I did during that beach party and I hope I never do again.

Has drinking ever affected—either negatively or positively—a relationship of yours?  

No.

Has culture or religion influenced your drinking?  

I’m sure it has though not consciously. In my experience, Jews don’t socialize around drinking but rather around food. No Jew I know ever lauded another Jew for holding liquor. That’s just not in our DNA.

Do you have a favorite book, song, or movie about drinking?  

“Sideways”

What do you like most about drinking?  

The sociability. The ritual. (I always need the right glass for the right drink. I don’t enjoy vodka in a wine glass the way I do in a martini glass.) The taste. And the buzz.

How has alcoholism affected your life?  

Not at all. I never had an alcoholic in my family and never dated one. Neither did my husband or kids.

If you could be any drink, what would it be? Why?

I guess a martini, because of the literary and period associations.

Each week, we post short interviews with interesting people about their thoughts and feelings on women and drinking. There is such a wide array of perspectives about this topic, and we are excited to gain insight into as many as possible and to share them with you.

Susan Orlean is the bestselling author of eight books, including My Kind of Place; The Bullfighter Checks Her Makeup;  Saturday Night; and  Lazy Little Loafers. In 1999, she published The Orchid Thief, a narrative about orchid poachers in Florida, which was made into the Oscar-winning movie, “Adaptation,” written by Charlie Kaufman and directed by Spike Jonze.  Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend, a sweeping account of Rin Tin Tin’s journey from orphaned puppy to movie star and international icon published in 2011, was a New York Times bestseller and a Notable book of 2011.

Orlean has written for Vogue, Esquire, Rolling Stone, and Smithsonian, and has been a staff writer for the New Yorker since 1992. She has covered a wide range of subjects – from umbrella inventors to origami artists to skater Tonya Harding – and she has often written about animals, including show dogs, racing pigeons, animal actors, oxen, donkeys, mules, and backyard chickens. She lives in upstate New York and Los Angeles with one dog, three cats, eight chickens, four turkeys, four guinea fowl, twelve Black Angus cattle, three ducks, and her husband and son.

Drinking Diaries: How old were you when you had your first drink and what was it?

Susan Orlean: I was probably about 13, and the drink in question was Vandermint — a chocolate mint liqueur, which was very sweet and very awful.

How did/does your family treat drinking?

My parents drank very little. My dad usually had a scotch on Friday nights, and occasionally on a week night, and my mother never drank except when we would talk her into having a few sips of wine. We weren’t a very alcohol-centric family.

How do you approach alcohol in your every day life?

I think of it as an entertaining beverage. Nothing more, nothing less. I’m not very interested in the whole range of wine, for instance — I’m happy having a glass of wine, but I’m not fascinated by wine as a product or a gourmet experience. I sometimes read cocktail menus and think different cocktails sound tasty, but in the end, I can take ‘em or leave ‘em.

If you have kids, how is the subject of drinking handled? Do you drink in front of them? With them?

My son is seven. He sees me and my husband having wine with dinner. He knows what wine is, and he’s tasted it (and of course, hated the taste) and we’ve talked to him about people who drink too much — although I think he’s too young to really understand what that means. All he knows is that in certain cartoons, there are characters who can’t walk straight and have bubbles circling their heads, which is what he thinks being drunk is all about.

Have you ever had a phase in your life when you drank more or less?

I drank a lot in college, which seems to be almost a graduation requirement. It was a way to be uninhibited and ridiculous and experimental, especially with regards to boys. And like all college students, I drank awful stuff — Diet Coke and rum, whiskey sours made with the cheapest, worst whiskey, and lousy beer. But the point was to be together, get tipsy, and be a wild college student, so it worked.

What’s your drink of choice? Why?

I drink white wine — Pinot Grigio, usually. I used to like red wine, too, but now it bothers my stomach, so, sadly, I usually don’t drink it anymore. I rarely drink hard liquor except for the occasional margarita. Wow, do I sound boring!

Has drinking ever affected—either negatively or positively—a relationship of yours?

I had two — yes, two! — alcoholic boyfriends, which was, in both cases, incredibly difficult and ultimately ruined the relationships. I came to appreciate how vicious alcoholism is, and how devastating. It’s made me very wary of people who drink with a bit too much gusto.

What do you like most about drinking?

There’s a tiny relaxation switch that gets flipped when I have a glass of wine — maybe it’s mostly psychological, really, but I feel like I’m loosening my collar and rolling up my sleeves. That’s the way I drink now, compared to the way I drank as a college kid, where drinking was the beginning of a wild party. Now, it’s the beginning of a wind-down, the quieter part of the day. Funny how a few decades changes things, isn’t it?

Each week, we post short interviews with interesting people about their thoughts and feelings on women and drinking. There is such a wide array of perspectives about this topic, and we are excited to gain insight into as many as possible and to share them with you.

Mary Morris is the author of fourteen books – six novels, including Revenge, three collections of short stories, and four travel memoirs, including most recently, The River Queen. Her numerous short stories and articles have appeared in such places as The Atlantic, Narrative, The Paris Review, The New York Times, and Travel+Leisure. The recipient of the Rome Prize in Literature, Morris teaches writing at Sarah Lawrence College.  For more information go to her website, www.marymorris.net.

Drinking Diaries: How old were you when you had your first drink and what was it?

Mary Morris: Do Shirley Temples count?  I had a lot of those.  I can’t remember my first actual drink, but I do remember being in my early teens at a slumber party where we ransacked a stash of champagne.  The next morning wasn’t a pretty sight.

How did/does your family treat drinking?

Well, I’m from Chicago and my dad grew up during Prohibition.  That is, he grew up spending a lot of time in the speaks with black and tans.  So drinking had kind of a nice cache.   When I was little, my parents gave big parties.  Lots of cheese puffs and Rob Roys which was my mother’s drink of choice until one night I think she had one too many.  I remember her being very sick.  And she never drank again.  My father, however, until he was over 100 years old (he lived to be almost 103) had his vodka with a twist of lime every night.  So alcohol has always been in my life.

How do you approach alcohol in your every day life?

For better or worse I drink coffee every morning and wine every night.  This became more the case after I quit smoking about fifteen years ago.  I’ve tried to have alcohol free days, and I’ve certainly had them enforced upon me when I’m on the road in certain places like Morocco where in the souks as I walked by men whispered, “Grass, hashish,” and I was wishing they were whispering “Merlot, Chardonnay.”  But it’s rare that I end my day without a glass of wine.

If you have kids, how is the subject of drinking handled?

My drinking never bothered my daughter that much when she was small or even now.  (She did hate my smoking which I quit for years but took up again when she was about five.  I had to sneak smokes because she was like a narcotics agent so finally I just quit).  But the drinking she saw as something social that I enjoyed and didn’t interfere with our lives. Once, as a wise teenager, she said that she felt I had a wine habit, but not a wine problem.  And I think this is true.

Do you drink in front of them? With them?

Both.

Have you ever had a phase in your life when you drank more or less?

I’ve gone through various phases of mild substance abuse.  Nothing horrific, but stuff I could have controlled more. I definitely drink more now since I stopped smoking.

What’s your drink of choice? Why?

I have come over the years to love a nice dry, crisp bottle of rose.  Hard liquor makes me sick.  I don’t like red wine and white doesn’t usually do it for me.  But there’s something about rose.  Whenever I tell friends who invite me for dinner that I’ll bring a bottle of rose, they invariably say, “Oh no, we don’t like sweet wine.”  I have to prove to them that rose isn’t a sweet drink at all.

I find it so satisfying to eat chicken or fish on a summer night with a really good rose from say, Provence or Umbria or Navarra.

Can you tell us about the best time you ever had drinking?

Also I travel a lot, and travel, food and wine come together for me.  Many of my best memories are tied up in journeys.   The vineyards of Sancerre, and Napa where I went on an amazing assignment, the North Fork of Long Island.  We have friends who have a wonderful vineyard in Eastern Ontario.  Some nice white wine I enjoyed in Turkey.  I love all of these experiences.  But there is one that stands out…a few summers ago Larry and I were staying in the town of San Pedro near San Sebastian in Northern Spain.  We’d taken a little ferry across a channel to the town of San Juan where there were some good seafood restaurants.  We went into one where we sat by a porthole, overlooking the town where we were staying and the sea.

We ordered fish – the local catch – and asked if they had a bottle of rose.  The waiter, who was also the owner, returned with a perfectly chilled bottle without a label.  It was from his grandmother’s vineyard.  3 euros.  Not sure I’ve ever had anything that good – before or since.

What about the worst time?

Well, this is just one of those I’m never going to forget.  And I’ve never really told…but it definitely stands out as the worst.  I feel as if I am confessing to my sins, but here goes.  Many years ago I was engaged to be married to a Frenchman.   We were both graduate students in Cambridge and we’d gone to France together to meet his friends and family.  We were staying with a friend of Marc’s.  A really lovely man who had an incredibly kind manner.   I liked him a lot and I think he liked me.  He had a kind of loft bed which he gave to us.  He slept on the sofa downstairs.

One night I went to Les Halles with Marc and some friends.  It was one of those dinners I’d never really had before that starts with Champagne and moves on to lots of courses and wine pairings.  The kind of thing the French do. Actually the rest is so embarrassing I can’t finish…but let’s just sum it up by saying I was sick all night.  My boyfriend passed out and the friend with whom we were staying helped me clean up.  At one point he turned to me and asked, “Why are you with him?”

It was, quite literally, a sobering moment.  I stayed with Marc a few more months before he left me.  I always thought that I would have liked to have been with his friend and I’ve wondered over the years what became of him.

Has drinking ever affected—either negatively or positively—a relationship of yours?

Not really.

Has culture or religion influenced your drinking?

No

Do you have a favorite book, song, or movie about drinking?

Billy Joel’s “Piano Man.”

What do you like most about drinking?

I like the taste.  I like the way it relaxes me.

How has alcoholism affected your life?

It’s something I think about.  I’d like to drink less.

If you could be any drink, what would it be? Why?

A dry, crisp rose from Italy or Spain, preferably by the sea.

Each week, we post short interviews with interesting people about their thoughts and feelings on women and drinking. There is such a wide array of perspectives about this topic, and we are excited to gain insight into as many as possible and to share them with you.

Angela Elson is the author of I Want You to Like Me: A Foreigner’s Memoir of Bravery, Beer and Japan, a (soon-to-be-finished) humorous depiction of the three years she spent teaching English, falling in love and making an ass out of herself in Osaka. She holds an MFA in creative writing from Spalding University, and her work has appeared in Oil and Water and Other Things That Don’t Mix, a charity anthology benefiting the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

Drinking Diaries: How old were you when you had your first drink and what was it?

Angela Elson: I was six. My mother had come home from work and decided to unwind by practicing the piano while sipping a generous glass of Coca Cola on ice, which she kept on the coffee table behind her to mitigate the risk of its spilling on the keys. Coke was forbidden in our house, and I remember being—in my sneaky, stubborn, childish way—jealous. I wasn’t going to let her get away with flaunting her adult-derived ability to drink soda on a whim, so while she played, I drained the glass in one long, deliberate gulp. It was possibly the grossest thing that ever happened to me. I blame the developers of Kahlua for making it look just like Coke. Who does that?

How did/does your family treat drinking?

My family loves to drink! It’s partially in the genes—my parents grew up in European homes—but also I think my family uses booze as an excuse to get together and shoot the breeze. Now that I am “of age,” we drink together all the time. But even when I wasn’t, I remember my parents having cocktails every night after work, and my brother and I would sit in the living room with them like adults and talk about our day. When we were teenagers, we were allowed a beer (if we wanted one) during these occasions, or wine with dinner—it was no big deal. When I tell people this, I fear they’ll assume we’re all a bunch of alcoholics who can’t have fun without sauce. But then I think, “Growing up, sure, my family drank every day, but we also talked every day, and we still have a great time together.” How many families can say that?

Have you ever had a phase in your life when you drank more or less?

When I was 21, I moved to Osaka, Japan, to teach English for three years. This was done with the intention of finding myself and becoming a responsible, all-loving citizen of the world, but on my first day there I discovered you could buy whiskey at convenience stores, and the situation devolved rapidly from there. I attribute this to many things: I was young. I got off work at 9 in the evening. I was alone overseas in a land where I couldn’t understand the TV. I belonged to a thriving ex-pat community of mostly handsome young pub enthusiasts with British-derived accents. But mostly, I think I drank because it made the stranger parts of being a foreigner overseas seem less surreal. I loved Japan, but it’s hard not to belong anywhere. Get enough 7/11 whiskey in you, though, and every place can feel like home.

Can you tell us about the best time you ever had drinking?

I was trying to screw up the courage to seduce this Australian guy who taught English with me in Japan. We were with a bunch of friends at our favorite 50-square-foot bar in Osaka, where everybody literally knew our names. Five beers, four gins and tonic, three tequila shots, two flasks of sake and a bottle of wine later, I was having a blast. I went home with the Australian and never left: we’ll be married five years next June.

Has culture or religion influenced your drinking?

Culturally, the Japanese are firm believers in the bonding powers of getting sloshed with your workmates and friends, which is a custom I adopted with gusto. It’s easy to trust people and tell secrets when you’re half in the bag: you can skip whole years of friendship development with a good night at the bar. Sometimes now when I meet people, I think, “Hey, we should all go out and get tanked!” But then I have to remind myself binge drinking beyond a certain age is frowned upon in the States, and I confess that’s a small disappointment. Because sometimes (not often, but sometimes) it hits the spot. It really does.

How do you approach alcohol in your every day life?

Growing up watching Mr. Rogers, I think I developed this whole complex about the “come-home” ritual: you take off your shoes, you change your sweater and then you have a drink. OK, I made that last part up, but I think there’s something psychologically satisfying about getting home and having a beer—maybe because it’s not coffee or soda or anything you can have at work. My husband and I usually have at least one drink in the evenings, and we see friends for a beer maybe twice during the workweek as well. Life’s too short to save the good times for the weekend. As long as you continue to be a functioning, well-liked adult, I don’t see the problem with having a drink every day.

How has alcoholism affected your life?

Mostly I worry that I might actually be an alcoholic, but I’ve been told that if I was a real alcoholic, I wouldn’t be so self-conscious about it. So that’s cheerful.

What do you like most about drinking?

I like the social aspect of drinking. It’s really one of the only pastimes in the world (besides eating—another favorite) that hasn’t evolved. All you need is a porch or a pub and a few pints and some people to pass the time. In these days of texting and Facebook and other forms of faux communication, I think it’s crucial to the preservation of society that we continue the time-honored tradition of hanging out and hoisting a few. It’s civilized. It’s fun. And above all, it’s real.

What’s your drink of choice? Why?

Being from Kentucky, it has to be bourbon on the rocks: easy, clean, respectable, earnest. I am still of an age where some of my friends don’t like their alcohol to taste like booze, and for some reason I judge them for that. With bourbon, there’s no escaping the taste: it’s there, it’s intense and it takes a while to sip, which is good because you can spend more time drinking with the people you love (or the people you just love to drink with).

Each week, we post short interviews with interesting people about their thoughts and feelings on women and drinking. There is such a wide array of perspectives about this topic, and we are excited to gain insight into as many as possible and to share them with you.

Stefani Jackenthal is the author of Wanderlust Wining, an adventure journalist for print, TV, and radio and an elite international endurance racer. She has contributed to The New York Times, Wine Enthusiast, Outside, Conde’ Nast Traveler, Shape, Women’s Health, Fitness, Prevention, Runner’s World, Marie Claire, and Oxygen amongst others. Stefani penned The Complete Idiot’s Guide Rock Climbing and has contributed to books including The New York Times Practical Guide to Practically Everything. She has also reported for NPR’s “Weekend Edition Saturday” as well as reported on-air for TV. Stefani is the founder and president of the wine events company NTS Wine Tasting, LLC, which produces corporate and private wine tastings, dinners and educational wine series. You can learn more about Stefani on www.stefjack.com and www.wanderlustwining.com

How old were you when you had your first drink and what was it?

I come from a drink-enjoying family, so my exposure to adult-bevvies goes deep. My first memory of tasting booze must reach back to when I was around 4 years old, licking the whiskey sour off the Maraschino cherries passed to me from my Mom, Grandmother and Aunt Guggy at our Sunday night family dinners at Moby Dick Seafood restaurant in Rockland County. It continued from there. In addition to raiding my parents’ liquor cabinet when I was 13 years old, my mom remarried. Her second husband moved into our home, which was an old fieldstone structure, and he built a wine cellar in the basement (fieldstone keeps temps cool for wine storage) and wine become a part of many of our meals and weekends watching Sunday football. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I suppose my growing up with wine as a “food group” was somewhat European and has given me my love for the fruit of the vine.

How did/does your family treat drinking?

It’s an important part of every family gathering and a celebration. But the palate discrimination varies. My Dad likes “a bargain,” so my brother Ron and I know when we’re visiting Dad we better bring wine if we want drink anything decent. The guys like to kick off the festivities with martinis, while I like my bourbon on occasion – I prefer to stick with wine.

How do you approach alcohol in your every day life?

In addition to running a wine tasting company and writing about wine, I’m a competitive endurance athlete so cannot (nor would I want to) drink every day. I love wine, sake … OK, well-made bourbon and vodkas too … but I don’t consume every day. When I go out to dinner, wine’s (or sake with Asian) typically part of the meal. And, spirits every now and again. But I almost never open a bottle of wine alone at home or pour a drink. I most enjoy alcohol when I’m sharing it with a friend or boyfriend.

Have you ever had a phase in your life when you drank more or less?

I was a hardcore drinker in college, often drinking myself black and passing out. All of the energy I put into endurance racing later in life (think Adventure racing, Ironman, 6-day running races across South Africa’s Kalahari Desert) was put into drinking earlier in my life. After college and before going to business school, I scared the hell out of myself by getting wicked drunk and crashing my car on the Tappan Zee Bridge. It was a wake up call that pulled me out of my self-destructive ways and made me realize how lucky I was to be alive – and that I may have a problem. I initially took 6 months off drinking to clean out and do a check-in for what was going on emotionally and chemically. I went a year and half without touching alcohol and during that time discover endurance cycling. Finding happiness with cycling as a means to get my “ya-yas” out, my life blossomed and I ultimately realized that my hard-core drinking was emotional (not chemical) and I slowly incorporated alcohol back into my world – but for fun and enjoyment rather than abuse.

What’s your drink of choice? Why?

I just love wine! It’s part of my soul. Its such an alive thing that takes patience, artistry and a lot of help from Mother Nature to develop into something truly special.

What do you like most about drinking?

I love sharing drinks with friends, and absolutely love sharing a bottle of outstanding wine with friends who love wine as much as I do.

If you could be any drink, what would it be? Why?

I would be sassy, sexy Burgundy crafted by a brilliant winemaker from a tiny chateau in France.

Each week, we post short interviews with interesting people about their thoughts and feelings on women and drinking. There is such a wide array of perspectives about this topic, and we are excited to gain insight into as many as possible and to share them with you.

Karen Karbo is the author of the novels, Trespassers Welcome Here,  The Diamond Lane and Motherhood Made a Man Out of Me. She wrote a memoir, The Stuff of Life, about the last year she spent with her father before his death. Her short stories, essays, articles and reviews have appeared in Elle, Vogue, Esquire, Outside, the New York Times, Salon.com and other magazines. She is a recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in Fiction, and a winner of the General Electric Younger Writer Award.  
How Georgia Became O’Keeffe is the third and final installment in what she calls her kick ass women trilogy. How to Hepburn, published in 2007, was hailed by the Philadelphia Inquirer as “an exuberant celebration of a great original”; and the best-selling The Gospel According to Coco Chanel was published in 2009.  Karen grew up in Los Angeles, California and lives in Portland, Oregon where she continues to kick ass.

Drinking Diaries: How old were you when you had your first drink and what was it?

Karen Karbo: I’m going to say 15–a bottle of Boone’s Farm Strawberry Hill.  It’s somewhat amazing that this was not also my last drink, given the miserable outcome.  There was so much throw-up on the side of my mother’s car we had take it through the do-it-yourself car wash at 1:00 a.m.

How did/does your family treat drinking? 

They were monkish in their devotion to Martoonie Hour (Vermouth waved over the glass; onions, not olives).

How do you approach alcohol in your every day life?

I’m like some grizzled old barrister at his gentleman’s club in 1948, by which I mean I like my single malt Scotch, neat.  The Man of the House is partial to parasol drinks and whenever we go out, one hundred percent of the time the bartender or waiter puts the Scotch in front of him, and the Fuzzy Navel or the Panty Ripper in front of me.

If you have kids, how is the subject of drinking handled? Do you drink in front of them? With them?

We’ve offered wine with dinner to the kid since she was sixteen, a sure way of inoculating her against the exotic allure of Strawberry Hill.  We pour ourselves a drink while we’re cooking dinner.  It’s a complete non-issue.  I suppose if we were bigger boozers it would be.

What’s your drink of choice? Why?

I only drink single malt Scotch. I worship at the altar of Lagavulin. I love Jura and Ardbeg. In a pinch, I’ll do Laphroig. The smokier the better. The peatier the better. The more I feel as if I’m drinking a campfire, the better. I wish I was someone who loved red wine. It seems as if all the people on earth who know how to live and how to enjoy life love red wine. But one glass gives me a headache, not to mention dingy teeth. Scotch is to the point. There’s a no bullshit quality about it that appeals.  Plus, I’ve never had a Scotch hangover.  In this way, it’s perfect.

Can you tell us about the best time you ever had drinking?

Two notable drinking moments–both quite different–spring to mind. Long ago, when I was just old enough to go into a 7/11 and buy my own can of beer, I had a date with a boy I loved. A lot. It was a cold, clear California night in December. An hour before the date I bought a bottle of Heineken, and sat on the hood of my car in the parking lot and looked up at the black sky and thought that life couldn’t get much better.  This is the LA version of Flaubert’s professed best memory: of walking through Paris on his way to the bordello. I don’t remember that particular date, but I do remember that beer. The other best time occurred on a dive boat off an island in the Maldives; the bar on board had Lagavulin, which I first tasted one evening while we were crossing the Kardiva Channel. Look up ‘bliss’ in the dictionary and you’ll find me sitting on the stern, watching the sunset and sipping my drink.

What about the worst time?

It’s quite possible I almost killed myself doing shots of tequila in Tijuana twenty years ago.  I’m still not completely recovered.

Do you have a favorite book, song, or movie about drinking? 

There’s a book called Round Ireland With a Fridge that really captures what I’ll euphemistically call pub-life in Ireland. An Englishman named Tony Hawks made a drunken bet that he could hitchhike around the circumference of Ireland with refrigerator (like one of those ones kids have in their dorm rooms).  Not only is he able to easily achieve his goal, he becomes a folk hero in Ireland where, as we know, people love a mouthful of the Guinness.

What do you like most about drinking?

It’s a grown-up excuse for those of us who are not smokers to give ourselves a time out.

Each week, we post short interviews with interesting people about their thoughts and feelings on women and drinking. There is such a wide array of perspectives about this topic, and we are excited to gain insight into as many as possible and to share them with you.

Colleen Mullaney is the author of many lifestyle books, including It’s 5 o’clock Somewhere, The Stylish Girl’s Guide to Fabulous Cocktails, and Punch.

Drinking Diaries: How old were you when you had your first drink and what was it?

Colleen Mullaney: I was about 8 and I had a sip of my grandmother’s sherry.

How did/does your family treat drinking? 

My parents used to drink pitchers of Manhattans with the neighbors on the weekends (I had a sip and thought they tasted like gasoline) and there was always a lot of drinking going on at family gatherings. They drank spirits–vodka and Scotch–very 60′s.

Now they don’t drink anymore. My dad will maybe have a Scotch during the holidays. My mom stopped drinking years ago.

How do you approach alcohol in your every day life?

When I’m writing a cocktail book I’m experimenting with cocktails, or testing them, and I’m out shopping for new spirits, wines, or liqueurs for my recipes, but the testing in done in small batches.

But in my normal everyday life, I love wine, so it’s always around. I love to cook, and so I’ll use it for cooking as well. But I don’t drink every day, usually end of the week and weekends. I really try to lead a healthy lifestyle through diet and exercise, and cocktails every day  doesn’t fit.

My go-to cocktail would be a really good margarita in the summer, or a fun cocktail, like the one I made this weekend when we had friends over. It had vodka, St. Germain, pomegranate  juice, and was topped off with Prosecco. They were tasty!

If you have kids, how is the subject of drinking handled? Do you drink in front of them? With them?

I have three children who know what I do (although many of my books/articles/videos are not about cocktails!). They know that having some friends over means opening up some wine or mixing cocktails for the adults, and whipping up a pitcher of Shirley Temples for them. I never think of handling the subject. I hope I’m showing them by example.

Have you ever had a phase in your life when you drank more or less?

When I was single and living in the city, I would go out and drink wine with work friends, and have no problem getting up and working the next day. Now, forget it, I don’t have half the energy I had back then! There’s too much I need to focus on: my family, my kids, my work. I have to be on my toes!

What’s your drink of choice? Why?

My favorite drink is white wine. It’s easy, smooth, enjoyable, and is just strong enough. I used to only drink chardonnay, but I’m branching out to other whites and reds.

Can you tell us about the best time you ever had drinking?

I don’t have one specific time but many, and they are always with friends.

What do you like most about drinking?

Its social tendencies.

Why do, or don’t you, choose to drink?

Because I enjoy it.

How has alcoholism affected your life?

It’s put warning flags up for me. I know what is good for me and what is not.

If you could be any drink, what would it be? Why?

A margarita on the rocks with salt and lots of fresh lime (Patron, Grand Marnier, fresh lime juice, splash of pineapple juice), because I would be on a beach somewhere with great island music playing in the background.

Each week, we post short interviews with interesting people about their thoughts and feelings on women and drinking. There is such a wide array of perspectives about this topic, and we are excited to gain insight into as many as possible and to share them with you.

Eva Tenuto is a writer, actor and director. She studied acting at American Academy of Dramatic Arts and went on to found The Women’s Experimental Theater Group. Based out of New York City, The W.E.T.G.irls wrote, directed and produced original material based on real life experiences for over a decade. After receiving a masters in Elementary Education, Eva focused on using self-created theater to increase the self-esteem of teenage girls in a pre-college curriculum at Barnard College. She has raised thousands of dollars for various women’s organizations directing The Vagina Monologues starring Academy Award winner, Melissa Leo. Her latest venture is the TMI Project, a non-profit organization she founded, which empowers teens and adults through writing and performance workshops.

Drinking Diaries: How old were you when you had your first drink and what was it?

Eva Tenuto: I was 13. The 28-year-old who worked at the pizza place across the street from The Middle School gave me and my best friend a free pitcher of beer. I loved the effect from the very first sip. I was so uncomfortable in my own skin and that first drink made me feel like everything was right in the world. I silently vowed to myself I would continue drinking for the rest of my life.

How did/does your family treat drinking?

My mother is the daughter of an alcoholic. Her father and all of his brothers (with the exception of one who got sober) died of alcoholism before the age of 55. Because of her extreme experience as a child and her cultivated denial, she never thought my drinking was a problem regardless of the many times I expressed concern and asked her for help. When I finally stopped, she said, “I thought you just drank like a normal teenager.” To which I replied, “Mom, I am 32 years old!” That explains a lot.

How do you approach alcohol in your every day life?

I prefer not to be around it. In the beginning of sobriety it was because I felt too tempted. Now it just gets irritating after a while. Especially toward the end of a party. I don’t like seeing people get fuzzy, overly affectionate and lose their inner light. I also prefer to have conversations people will remember.

Have you ever had a phase in your life when you drank more or less?

Clearly.

What’s your drink of choice? Why?

In my drinking days, I went through phases.  The West Village Cosmopolitan Phase.  The Upper West Side Gin and Tonic Phase.  The San Francisco Wine Country Chardonnay Phase.  The Upstate New York Beer and a Shot Phase. I was dedicated to a fault to each drink of choice until I could not stand to take another sip.

Currently, my “mocktail” of choice is sparkling water with a lemon or lime.  It’s refreshing and does not announce itself as a non-alcoholic beverage.  I prefer not being asked, “Why aren’t you drinking?”

Has drinking ever affected—either negatively or positively—a relationship of yours?

In my last relationship we were both active; in my current relationship we are both sober, so I can say with certainty, yes and yes.

What do you like most about drinking?

The feeling that comes with the first drink or two. Taking the edge off. The mental lunch break. The sigh after a long day that is encouraged by a glass of wine.

Why do, or don’t you, choose to drink?

I like the feeling of the first or second drink. I choose not to drink because once I start I don’t know when I am going to stop and the consequences of the 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th are not really that cute or sexy. The repercussions of the 6^th, 7^th and 8^th are downright disastrous!

How has alcoholism affected your life?

It has affected my life in every way. I always wished I was a normal drinker. I wanted that more than anything. But now that I am a sober alcoholic instead of an active one, I am fine with the hand I have been dealt. It has given me the opportunity to meet fascinating people, work with those still in need and have no choice but to live in a way that requires being present for everything. It is actually pretty incredible.

Each week, we post short interviews with interesting people about their thoughts and feelings on women and drinking. There is such a wide array of perspectives about this topic, and we are excited to gain insight into as many as possible and to share them with you.

Susanna Sonnenberg is the author of the memoir, “Her Last Death.” She was born in London in 1965 and grew up in New York. Her essays have appeared in Elle, O, the Oprah Magazine and Parenting, among other magazines. She lives in Montana with her husband and two sons.

Drinking Diaries: How old were you when you had your first drink and what was it?

Susanna Sonnenberg: Perhaps this wasn’t my first taste of alcohol, but my first whole drink, ordered just for me by my mother, was a Bellini–fresh peach juice and Champagne–on the Piazza San Marco in Venice, for my 12^th birthday.  No drink would ever taste that way again–thrillingly sweet and dense and grown up.

How do you approach alcohol in your every day life?

I try not to worry about it. For myself or for others. This is a discipline.

If you have kids, how is the subject of drinking handled? Do you drink in front of them? With them?

I think–hope–we have a French attitude about children and alcohol. We drink in front of them, and from time to time let them taste the wine. We discuss the pleasures and perils of alcohol with them; try to address things with a combination of inarguable fact and parental tyranny.

When I first had a baby I was terrified that any alcohol in my system would impair my ability to keep him safe. (I’m not talking about nursing here; I didn’t drink while I was nursing.)  People who grow up with addict parents tend to think this way: all or nothing.  I had a rule for myself–absolutely no alcohol until I was sure he was asleep.

Have you ever had a phase in your life when you drank more or less?

A few days after my father died in 2010, I was wandering around New York and I had the curious thought that I wished I was a sober alcoholic, so I could head into a bar and get blind drunk. I wanted a kind of self-destructive oblivion. I wanted to not know with such clarity and consciousness all I knew about acting out.  I just wanted the damn escape.

What’s your drink of choice? Why?

In the winter, red wine, because it feels sustaining.

In the summer, Campari with soda and lime, because it’s pretty.

At artists’ colonies, it’s whiskey, which feels writerly to me.

Can you tell us about the best time you ever had drinking?

It’s never as good a time as you intend it to be.

What about the worst time?

Unforgettable, unfortunately:  Three giant vodka martinis on top of new anti-depressants. I suffered a vile episode of hallucinations and spins for six or seven hours. But what really made it bad was that I was afraid my kids would see me like that and hate me. They were asleep, though.

Has drinking ever affected—either negatively or positively—a relationship of yours?

When I was a teenager I used to warn my friends about how much they’d had to drink. Oh, brother. I’m sure that affected my relationships!

One man, with whom I had no business getting involved, wooed me with very fine single malt scotch. Any tension or disagreement we had dissipated as soon as he pulled the elegant bottle down from the cabinet. There was something so governing and reassuring about the civility of the drink and the way he poured it for us.

Many of my very closest friends are recovering alcoholics. I met them after they got sober. I guess I just trust them–they’ve done the work, they’ve fought for themselves and the people they love, they are connected to their emotional experience.

Do you have a favorite book, song, or movie about drinking?

Probably something by Billie Holliday. All that ruin. And I love the line in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof–Brick explains that he drinks because he’s waiting for “the click.”

What do you like most about drinking?

The click. Even though I haven’t felt that click. I know it’s a ghost.

Each week, we post short interviews with interesting people about their thoughts and feelings on women and drinking. There is such a wide array of perspectives about this topic, and we are excited to gain insight into as many as possible and to share them with you.

Linda Yellin spent most of her responsible adult years writing advertising in Chicago for shampoos and burgers. Then she fell in love, got married, and moved to New York, going through as many changes as a person possibly can without entering the Federal Witness Protection Program. Along the way she published short stories in Redbook and a novel, “Such A Lovely Couple.” Her first reply letter ever came from an editor at Good Housekeeping who said she wrote in “much the same style as Dorothy Parker.” She now writes humor pieces for More magazine. Her memoir, “The Last Blind Date” was released in October and she is being called “The Midwest Nora Ephron.”

Drinking Diaries: How old were you when you had your first drink and what was it?

Linda Yellin: Whatever year I was first allowed to drink wine instead of grape juice at the family Passover seder. Probably age 11 or 12. And if you’ve ever tasted kosher wine, you’ll know why I wasn’t impressed with the concept of drinking.

What’s your drink of choice? Why?

I’m a sucker for a good margarita – sans salt. It’s attractive, tastes sweet and citrusy, and often includes a cute paper umbrella. Unfortunately, it also often includes a bad mariachi band.

Can you tell us about the best time you ever had drinking?

Well, it started out as the best time, but four piña coladas later, it was arguably the worst time…

Has culture or religion influenced your drinking?

Yes. Back to that Passover seder…kosher wine has the taste and consistency of cough syrup. It was years before I discovered there was such a thing as good-tasting wine. Same thing happened with champagne. I never knew what all the fuss was about until the first time I tried expensive champagne and realized the stuff served at all my relatives’ weddings was closer to gasoline.

Do you have a favorite book, song, or movie about drinking?

“100 Bottles of Beer on the Wall” – it can get you from Chicago to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin all in one car trip.

What do you like most about drinking?

The ritual. The toasts. The way that rabbit opener always works. Listening to my friends use words like “woody” and “oaky” and “California.”

Why do, or don’t you, choose to drink?

As much as I enjoy wine with dinner, it wakes me up at night. Two a.m. and I’m wide-eyed. Okay, so lots of nights I’m awake at two a.m.–I’m not a great sleeper. But when I drink in the evening, insomnia’s a sure bet. The wine must metabolize or something because wham! It’s time to turn on the Home Shopping Network.

If you could be any drink, what would it be? Why?

Sloe Gin Fizz. I look good in red.

Each week, we post short interviews with interesting people about their thoughts and feelings on women and drinking. There is such a wide array of perspectives about this topic, and we are excited to gain insight into as many as possible and to share them with you.

Elise Blackwell is the author of four novels: Hunger, the Unnatural History of Cypress Parish, Grub, and An Unfinished Score. Her work has been translated into several languages, and her books have been named to numerous “best of the year” lists, including the Los Angeles Times. Her short stories and cultural criticism have appeared in the Atlantic, Witness, Seed, Global City Review, Quick Fiction, and elsewhere.

Drinking Diaries: Has culture or religion influenced your drinking?

Elise Blackwell: I grew up in southern Louisiana. Where indulgence in food and drink is part of the culture, you also see the negative effects of overindulgence, particularly among those who aren’t accustomed to it. New Orleans is the only U.S. city I know of where you can get a “go cup” for your drink. I think growing up in that culture led me to view drinking as something enjoyable, social, and fun—something that combines well with food, music, and dance—while also giving me a strong dislike of obnoxious drunks.

How did/does your family treat drinking?

Most of my family members are light or moderate drinkers. My Louisiana grandparents would offer cocktails (“How about a highball?”) to guests. Wine was on the table for holidays. Occasionally my grandfather would have exactly one beer while watching football.

How old were you when you had your first drink and what was it?

Very young—maybe eight or nine or ten—I was given a little wine on special occasions, such as Christmas Eve. Just a finger or two in a regular wine glass or enough to fill a tiny crystal glass. Once my cousin and I surreptitiously drank a couple of flutes of champagne at a family wedding and wound up outside rolling down a grassy hill in our dresses. Not exactly drunk but definitely tipsy and silly. We were maybe fourteen or fifteen. But I drank very little before becoming an adult. I worked as a bartender for awhile when I was eighteen (which was still the legal drinking age in Louisiana at the time), but that inclined me to drink less rather than more.

Have you ever had a phase in your life when you drank more or less?

I rarely drank while trying to conceive a child and none at all while pregnant and in the early nursing days. I also abstain for stretches periodically for various reasons, such as to trim down. The older I get, the more I find that alcohol interferes with sleep quality, which also encourages periods of abstention.

What’s your drink of choice? Why?

Wine, champagne, or mineral water, because I love the way they taste. Bourbon a couple of times a year, such as when the mint returns to the garden in the spring and a julep sounds like a good idea. I have no taste at all for beer, Scotch, or gin. If any of those are all that’s on offer, I drink water.

Can you tell us about the best time you ever had drinking?

In 2003, a teetotaling friend who had inherited a nice wine collection gave me a bottle of 1982 Pauillac and told me to save it for a special occasion but not to wait too long. The day I sold my novel my husband and I uncorked it. After I had taken one sip my agent called to tell me he’d persuaded the publisher to increase the advance. I finished the glass. Then we took the rest of the bottle to a restaurant—I was living in a BYOB town then—and someone pointed to it and said, “I wish I was having that.” It was probably the most delicious wine I’ve ever had and I got to be seen having it, which was hilarious because it’s not a bottle that I could have or would have purchased. It was the day one of my longest-held dreams came true, and I was glad to mark it as special.

Has drinking ever affected—either negatively or positively—a relationship of yours?

Yes, both.

What do you like most about drinking?

It’s celebratory, and it helps me access that often submerged part of me that is extroverted and not socially awkward. I have no interest in drinking alcoholic beverages I don’t like the taste of, such as Scotch, but I really like the taste of (decent or good) wine.

If you could be any drink, what would it be? Why?

Fine champagne. It’s celebratory, and people are almost always happy when they see it. People may cry into their beers, but they laugh and smile and wish each other congratulations and good cheer over champagne.

Each week, we post short interviews with interesting people about their thoughts and feelings on women and drinking. There is such a wide array of perspectives about this topic, and we are excited to gain insight into as many as possible and to share them with you.

Julia Sexton is a former cook and New York based food writer who has written for The New York Times and the Boston Globe. Currently, she is a restaurant critic for Westchester Magazine, for whom she also writes a CRMA Award-winning food blog, Eat Drink Post. When not hitting the Negronis, she works at home in Westchester with a highly energetic daughter, husband, cat and fig trees. You can follow Sexton’s travels on Twitter @JuliaSexton

Drinking Diaries: How old were you when you had your first drink and what was it?

Julie Sexton: I’m pretty sure that I was six when I first sipped Harvey’s Bristol Cream.  One January, my mother had driven us to our grandparents’ house on Long Island with a broken car heater.  When we arrived, my four siblings and I were shivering with cold – I remember that my fingers were completely numb.  My grandfather was of the doughty generation that gave strong liquor to cold people, bless him. So he lined us up – ages 6, 8, 10, 12 and 14 – and gave us each a pony glass of Harvey’s sherry. I loved it: the taste, the fancy glass, the flushed feeling. And, I’m sorry to admit that afterward, I pestered him for sherry whenever we visited.

How did/does your family treat drinking?

My father drank small amounts of very expensive, single malt Scotch; my mother drank large amounts of very cheap white wine. I’m in the middle: I drink large amounts of very expensive, single malt Scotch. That’s actually not quite true – scotch is very expensive – but when my siblings all get together, there’s always loud music, beer and wine.

How do you approach alcohol in your everyday life?

As a restaurant critic, drinking is part of my job – just as, come to think of it, it was when I was a chef. When I’m reviewing, I drink moderately. Imbibing too much can blunt my palate and memory. It also makes me sleepy, which is a serious problem because mine is night work. Also, I have a four year old at home – so there’s no hope of sleeping in. That said, it’s important to drink a little when I review; a restaurant’s beverage program is as important as its food.

If you have kids, how is the subject of drinking handled? Do you drink in front of them? With them?

My daughter is four, so I don’t drink with her … yet.  And because her nightly ritual of bath and books is so demanding, I rarely have time for a drink until she’s bedded down for the night. I’m happy with this situation, and sure that an attempted tipsy reading of Green Eggs and Ham would end in disaster. Also, I think so much of good parenting is self-censorship, which is the first thing to go on me after a couple of drinks.

Have you ever had a phase in your life when you drank more or less?

After college, when my boyfriend (now husband) was in grad school at Yale, I was feeling a sort of dreadful career inevitability. My father was a college professor, and now my partner was going the same route–somehow, inevitably, I could feel myself sliding toward a Ph.D program. I hated the idea of a life spent cramming Wordsworth into bored marketing majors, but I graduated with an English major and an Art History minor. What else was there to do?

In my dithering, and to keep body and soul together, I worked for a caterer. We were a high-end wedding factory, stamping out brides and grooms every weekend. It was cynical and fun, mocking spoiled Bridezillas on their special day, and the work was well suited to my night-owl rhythms. I fell in with the chef, and started helping him in the kitchen, which triggered my 15 year love affair with professional cooking. Working in restaurants was fun, and there was always drinking, on and off duty–as well as screaming, vicious name-calling and, sometimes, conflict resolution through sex.

Working on the line trains your body to handle the stress with an adrenaline spike that peaks at 9 pm, or even later if you work in Manhattan. When service ends, your body is still vibrating with fight-or-flight hormones; it’s as though you’ve just jumped out of an airplane, and now you’re supposed to go to sleep? Not likely. Like most of the other sweaty, elated, exhausted cooks that I worked with, I wound down with a few drinks. The good news is that it was a team-building ritual that erased work-related animosity. The bad news is that there were periods in my twenties when I drank every night.

What’s your drink of choice? Why?

My drink of choice evolves. I’m a serial monogamist when it comes to cocktails. There were times when I regularly craved the low-alcohol refreshment of Prosecco, and other times when I dug the oily zonk of an icy martini. Currently, I’m drinking a lot of Negronis and Sazeracs – there’s something about their attack that I like. Serial monogamy suits my work; I feel like I can thoroughly explore each drink before moving to another.

Can you tell us about the best time you ever had drinking?

Driving with my husband through Wales, I winged the rental’s rearview careening through a twisty medieval town, no doubt while arguing about directions. Shaken, we washed up in a remote B & B that was operated by a creepy woman who fed us the worst meal of our lives.  It was so bad, and so pretentious, that I remember her presenting with a flourish “peaches brule-ie”– a canned peach half plopped in a gritty pool of packet sauce. Overcome with post-stress giddiness, James and I couldn’t meet each other’s eyes without laughing. The kicker was that the meal and two drinks were extortionately expensive: after it finally ended, we had to get out. And it was only 6:30 pm.

Nowhere to go, nothing to do – and definitely not up for further left-side driving – we walked the mile down the hedgerow-crowded lane to the town pub. They welcomed us! They knew the B & B lady – and they thought she was nuts, too! We had a lovely time. The town’s Morris dancers, just back from a competition, recreated their winning routine right in the crossroads. We hung out with everyone in the village that night, from the Grandads that remembered The War to the kids that wanted to talk about pop music. The party was so great that publican held a “lockdown.” He bolted the lock on the front door to dodge then-strict English drinking laws, effectively opening the taps and turning the pub into a house party. We went all night. Might have crawled the mile to our beds.

What about the worst time?

Derby Day.  Mint Juleps.  And that is all I care to remember.

Has culture or religion influenced your drinking?

No.

Why do, or don’t you, choose to drink?

I see alcohol as part of living a full life until something goes horribly wrong in your constitution.  My analog is that bread would be the staff of life (unless you have celiac disease); drinking is a part of life unless you’re an alcoholic.

Photo source

Each week, we post short interviews with interesting people about their thoughts and feelings on women and drinking. There is such a wide array of perspectives about this topic, and we are excited to gain insight into as many as possible and to share them with you.

Janice Eidus has twice won the O.Henry Prize. Her books include the novels, The War of the Rosens and The Last Jewish Virgin, and the story collection, The Celibacy Club. With her husband and daughter, she divides her time between NYC and Mexico.

Drinking Diaries: How old were you when you had your first drink and what was it?

Janice Eidus: I was in college, and was hanging around with friends who drank socially or, should I say, drank too much socially. My first drink was a Tequila Sunrise. I drank them whenever I went out with friends. I loved how sweet and almost child-like a drink it was. Nowadays, I could never drink something so sweet.

How did/does your family treat drinking?

My parents were teetotalers, so when I drank – even a half glass of wine – I felt both guilty and rebellious. I loved the rebellious part.

How do you approach alcohol in your every day life?

I drink less and less since becoming a parent, and I desire drinking less. Prior to motherhood, I drank happily about twice a week. Back then, my husband and I looked forward to having two very dry martinis on the weekend, either at home or in a restaurant/bar. But since becoming a mom, I find myself too vigilant to want that buzz I used to feel from drinking. I want to be alert and not “hazy” for my daughter. Maybe motherhood is its own high.

If you have kids, how is the subject of drinking handled? Do you drink in front of them? With them?

My daughter is nine, and she’s seen me drink now and then. Much more than the drinks themselves, she’s fascinated by the glasses from which I drink – narrow champagne flutes, hefty wine glasses, martini glasses decorated with polka dots, brandy snifters, stocky little tequila glasses.

Have you ever had a phase in your life when you drank more or less?

Right after college, and then again in graduate school, I drank more than I ever have before or since. The freedom from work and family that being a full time student afforded me made me into more of a drinker than is typical for me.

What’s your drink of choice? Why?

One favorite is Luxardo Amaretto. I drink it on the rocks, with one ice cube, once or twice a month. One of my dearest Mom friends turned me on to it. Sometimes, when her twins and my daughter are having a playdate, she and I sit and have our own private amaretto playdate. However, when I’m in San Miguel de Allende, a wonderful town in the mountains of Mexico, where I spend at least a few weeks every year, I drink more than I do the rest of the year. My family enjoys the luxury there of having a full-time housekeeper who had been a bartender in Mexico City. She serves powerful margaritas to our friends who visit, while my husband and I indulge ourselves almost every mid-afternoon with her tequila con sangrita, served with her spicy guacamole and chips. In Mexico, I let my hair down in a way I no longer do in New York.

Can you tell us about the best time you ever had drinking?

When my husband and I were still “just friends,” we went to a now defunct bar on West 4^th Street in the West Village, and we drank enough that we both got tipsy and were able to move beyond being “just friends.”

What about the worst time?

A year or so after college, I spent New Year’s Eve with my then-boyfriend at a party where I drank and drank, mixing drinks without a thought or care in the world. On my subway ride home the next morning, I experienced my first hangover. Everything was spinning, and my head and stomach hurt. The train was crowded, and I was standing up, clinging to the pole, wedged between several other passengers, when I felt an acute need to throw up. I managed to hold it together until the next subway stop, where I ran off the train and threw up on the platform.

Has drinking ever affected—either negatively or positively—a relationship of yours?

A very close family member is both a drug addict and an alcoholic. We’ve been estranged from each other for years. This person has never sought help, and is tragically lost to me.

Has culture or religion influenced your drinking?

My parents were very politically left wing. For them, drinking was both bourgeois and pretentious, and they had absolutely no interest in liquor of any sort. They didn’t even sip Manischewitz on Jewish holidays. I’ve inherited their politics, so I’ve had to rebel in other ways. And one of those ways is the fact that I do drink.

If you could be any drink, what would it be? Why?

A cool, dry martini, shaken not stirred. If it’s good enough for James Bond, it’s good enough for me, although I consider myself a feminist, and haven’t seen a James Bond movie in years. 

Each week, we post short interviews with interesting people about their thoughts and feelings on women and drinking. There is such a wide array of perspectives about this topic, and we are excited to gain insight into as many as possible and to share them with you.

Brenda Wilhelmson has written for the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Reader and Advertising Age’s Creativity. Diary of an Alcoholic Housewife is her first book.

Drinking Diaries: How old were you when you had your first drink and what was it?

Brenda Wilhelmson: I was in the 6th-grade. A friend of mine snuck into his mother’s liquor cabinet and brought a thermos of room-temperature vodka to school. It tasted horrible! Little did I know vodka would become my favorite drink.

How did/does your family treat drinking? 

My mother, an extremely religious Seventh-day Adventist, never ever took a drink. My father was a party boy. My apple fell at the bottom of his tree.

How do you approach alcohol in your every day life?

I don’t drink anymore, but I don’t mind being around people who do–as long as they’re not plastered and acting stupid.

Have you ever had a phase in your life when you drank more or less?

I drank more as the years went by. When I was pregnant and nursing, I stopped drinking. But when I was done, I picked up where I left off.

What was your drink of choice? Why?

Vodka. I loved wine, too, but vodka got me buzzed quicker.

Can you tell us about the best time you ever had drinking?

I had lots of good times. There were a lot of “best times.”

What about the worst time?

When I realized I was pissing my life away by anesthetizing myself every night and waking up with a wicked hangover every morning.

Has drinking ever affected—either negatively or positively—a relationship of yours?

Drinking and quitting drinking have affected my relationships negatively and positively. No getting around that.

Have culture and religion influenced your drinking?

Culture and religion definitely influenced my drinking. Seventh-day Adventists don’t drink, so drinking was a great way to rebel. And I wanted to be chic like Bette Davis.

Do you have a favorite book, song, or movie about drinking? 

“Because I Got High” by Afroman. It’s a song about pot, but it could be about drinking.

What do you like most about drinking?

How it allows me to feel like I don’t give a damn.

Why do choose not to drink?

I don’t drink anymore because I drink alcoholically. I like to get messed up every time. Ironically, I’m a health nut, and I see no good reason to damage my body with booze unless I’m going to get a good buzz.

How has alcoholism affected your life?

I could write a book about that. Wait, I did!

If you could be any drink, what would it be? Why?

Water. Hands down it’s the best drink.

Each week, we post short interviews with interesting people about their thoughts and feelings on women and drinking. There is such a wide array of perspectives about this topic, and we are excited to gain insight into as many as possible and to share them with you.

Kate Rockland is the author of the forthcoming novel, 150 Pounds, and Falling Is Like This. Kate lives in Hoboken, NJ with her husband, son, and cat, Elizabeth Taylor. She is a frequent contributor to the New York Times. She weighs 150 pounds.

Drinking Diaries: How old were you when you had your first drink and what was it?

Kate Rockland: I remember drinking wine coolers in eighth grade. I think my favorite flavor was peach. I’d also sip from my parents’ alcohol cabinet, which was really gross. Bottles of brandy that had spiderwebs on them and were about 30 years old. I’d fill up the bottles with water to make up the difference. I think my mom eventually put a lock on it sometime around freshman year.

How did/does your family treat drinking? 

My dad lived in Madrid for years and my parents are both well traveled throughout Europe. Europeans have a much healthier attitude towards drinking. My parents would give us sips of wine with dinner whenever we felt like it, so when it came time to experiment with alcohol I never really ran amuck with it the way some of my friends did. Plus, we are Jewish so we’d drink Manischewitz every Friday night, which always gave me a little buzz around the candlelight for Shabbat. 

How do you approach alcohol in your every day life?

I’m pregnant right now, and I also have an 8-month old son. With my last pregnancy I felt wonderfully, and I’d drink a glass of wine quite often, but just the one glass. I’m a one-glass-a-day kind of girl, but with this pregnancy I’ve felt pretty nauseous and that gorgeous bottle of Marques de Riscal is just sitting in the cupboard, looking sadly at me.

If you have kids, how is the subject of drinking handled? Do you drink in front of them? With them?

Well, the 8 month old is a lot of work so I have a glass of wine in front of him and that helps me relax. We’ll always drink with our kids, and not make a big deal out of the whole thing. I found in college it was the kids whose parents told them “No!” all the time who went the craziest when it came to drinking too much. I won’t be the mom getting arrested for serving alcohol to my kids’ friends, but my kids are welcome to have wine with dinner if they choose to. They’ll probably think its lame, anyway.

Have you ever had a phase in your life when you drank more or less?

Yes. In my twenties I drank way too much wine. I was very insecure, and it led to a lot of scary, risky behavior. Drinking gave me courage, made me bold. But then I’d overdo it. I ended up in the hospital once with alcohol poisoning, not fun. Then luckily, I met my husband and calmed down, realized I was loved for who I was, and began to have a much healthier attitude towards alcohol.

What’s your drink of choice? Why?

I absolutely love white wine from California, and red wine from Spain. I don’t drink red wine anymore because it gave me migraines, so I thoroughly love to have a glass of white wine on summer evenings, with dinner. I’m weird though–I like it room temperature. When its been in the fridge, it tastes kind of like apple juice to me.

Can you tell us about the best time you ever had drinking?

Hands down the best time I ever had drinking was in Logan Airport in Boston. My flight had been delayed three times, there was fifteen inches of snow outside the windows, and I hunkered down to warm up at a cheesy little airport bar. Sitting across from me was the man who would become my husband. I had three glasses of Pinot Grigio, got on the plane, and had the courage to strike up a conversation with him. It was love at first sip!

What about the worst time?

Probably the worst time I ever had drinking was when I let a friend of mine get into a cab at a party and she was way too drunk to make it home by herself. Luckily the cab driver was kind, and helped her get into bed without laying a finger on her. But it could have ended up really bad, and I was too drunk to know that I should have gone home with her and helped her more.

Has drinking ever affected—either negatively or positively—a relationship of yours?

I dated a man once in my early twenties who was much older than me and I thought at the time, more interesting. He’d traveled the world in a band and it seemed like nothing would surprise or interest him. I would drink too much when we would go on dates, and instead of being my smart, funny self, I was trying way too hard. He knew it, and eventually moved on. I think if I’d just drunk less and been awkward and nervous instead, it would have been a better time for me, but that’s okay because I didn’t end up marrying that one!

Has culture or religion influenced your drinking? 

When I was in my early twenties I was working at Rolling Stone magazine and going to concerts three times a week. There was a big drinking culture associated with going to these shows, and drinks were often free, so I’d drink too much. I think that was a culture I was a part of for a brief time but then realized wasn’t for me. I’m much happier now in my dorky, homebody culture of hanging out in my apartment with my family and drinking wine!

Do you have a favorite book, song, or movie about drinking? 

I love the movie “Dazed and Confused.” Also, the Rolling Stones make me want to sip wine. When I was watching all the episodes of “Mad Men” in a row, that definitely had me drinking more then one glass per night; they are drinking in just about every scene!

What do you like most about drinking?

I like having control over my drinking, and enjoying my one glass. I still love a warm, rowdy Irish pub with live music.

Why do, or don’t you, choose to drink?

Wine makes me happy!

How has alcoholism affected your life?

I do have family members I am close to who are alcoholics. Alcoholism is so far apart from drinking that the two words are day and night from one another. Alcoholics, I don’t think, even really enjoy drinking. They do it because they have something inside them forcing them to, and its horribly sad to watch someone you love break apart from your family.

If you could be any drink, what would it be? Why?

I would be a Shirley Temple with a splash of vodka. I’m sweet, with a twist!