Where to drink

A while back, I was talking to

?about the merits and demerits of drinking in a pub, as against drinking at home. While I was firmly of the opinion that drinking at home is superior, he seemed to be extremely biased towards pubs.

His main argument was that the ambience is simply not there when you drink at home, and that reduces the fun quotient by a big way. Other arguments I could think of in favor of pubs included the availability of cocktails and expert bartenders, and the fact that nobody’s house would get messed up with all the partying (I don’t care if people return after a party and end up ruining their houses).

Yet another argument is exclusivity – if there are people at home that don’t drink, or discourage drinking, then you can’t drink at home and have to go out somewhere. And that naturally sends you to the pub. Also, if you are drinking with a bunch of colleagues or acquaintances, you need to do it in a neutral spot, for no one will be willing to host the rest. Once again, the pub scores.

On the other hand, I could think of several reasons for drinking at home. For starters, it’s infinitely cheaper. The premiums that the pubs charge are way way too high for my liking, and that gets eliminated. And if you are talking about cocktails, I think most of them are just that – cock. Highly over-rated and overpriced. And not as if any of them taste spectacular. Most can be made at home with a few simple ingredients. And the less you think of the snakes to go with the drinks, the better! The margins on that are way too huge.

Then, there is the bit about things like music. At a pub, you are forced to listen to what everyone else wants to listen, and though pubs sometimes segment themselves by the genre of music they play, you are still constrained by the choices of too many unknown people. Pubs can also at times get worryingly noisy, and that can impede the potentially wonderful drinktime conversation. Then there are the other side effects, which again come down to personal preferences – such as smoke.

The most important thing, i think is that if you are drinking at someone’s house, especially a friend’s house, you don’t need to worry about your way back home. No worries about drinking too little because you have to drive, or about booking that cab, or about getting someone to drop you back, and related issues.

I must mention here that in case no one in the drinking group has any place to offer (living with non-drinkers/anti-drinkers, or group not close enough, etc.) then the group has no option but to come together and go through the pub process. But for this kind of a scene, however, I strongly think drinking at home is significantly superior to drinking in a pub. What do you think about it?

Disclaimer: I don’t drink much. In fact, my orkut profile says “Drinking: No”. It’s almost a year since I had my last drink. More than a year since I partied. A year and a half since I got drunk. So my argument is mostly based on perception. But then, perception matters more than reality right?

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