Drink Up!

Remember that advice on safe levels of alcohol consumption? No more than 21 units of alcohol a week for a man and 14 for a woman? Well it turns out to have been bollocks. There was never any good data at the root of this advice - the health brigade basically made the numbers up - but studies conducted subsequently have established that you can probably drink more than this without any ill effects. Moderate alcohol consumption is not just "not bad for you", it's positively healthy. In fact you are much better off drinking than not drinking (unless, I suppose, you are a recovering alcoholic); there is one study which shows that the "break-even" or the point at which you are no better off drinking than being a non-drinker is 63 units of alcohol per week.

Think about this - you would be better off drinking thirty pints of beer a week than not drinking at all. Now I'm not suggesting you drink and drive - people who do this are wankers - but it would appear that you should get a few drinks in for the good of your health. Funny how you never heard that advice from your doctor isn't it?

Anyway, if you're going to drink you could do worse than the sixteen year-old McClelland's Highland malt whisky I had the other day. It's not that it was a great scotch (I tend to prefer more peaty Islay varieties) but it was very drinkable in a leafy fall setting. Plus it's not too expensive, and at up to sixty shots a week you'll want to watch that!