Alcohol and I are no longer friends

I have been battling for some time with the knowledge that alcohol is no longer the friend it used to be.

From as far back as I remember I have liked a drink, nothing new there, so do 70% of the UK population but I have also worked in the alcohol industry my entire career to date, in fact I had carved out a little niche for myself - the start-up, craft beer, agency guy.

I went 'narrow and deep' in this industry I set up 5 businesses, exited 1 and have coached and consulted with 100's of others. We had an agency, Elastic, solely focused on alcohol businesses, we set up and ran one of the biggest Craft Beer Festivals in the UK and my daughter was even born in a pub, The Old Nun's Head (31.10.2010), it is fair to say I went all in.

However, the time has now come to move on.

If I am honest with myself, I have always struggled to get a balance with booze, I was never a blackout drunk, but have had my moments and was often the last man standing. As we mature, we naturally understand that there is no positive correlation between effectiveness and alcohol consumption it simply does not exist - however I now know for a fact that a life without booze has significantly more upsides and no downsides.

As well as my own tumultuous relationship with the bottle my ex-wife Louise passed away from decompensated liver disease and cirrhosis at the end of 2022. Louise had been dealing with alcoholism for well over a decade and there is no doubt this is a severe illness and one that is totally self-diagnosed, and leaves those around the alcoholic feeling extremely helpless.

Societal norms, and the industry at large did nothing to help Louise and the countless other adults struggling with their relationship with alcohol, and in here lies the challenge for me - I feel in some ways I have been part of the problem - but going forward I want to be part of the solution. 

This is a personal decision - so I wanted to emphasise the fact, I am not anti-alcohol, far from it, but I am pro-choice, pro presence, pro creativity, pro good mental health, pro clarity, pro consistency, pro full weekends, pro being the best version of yourself, pro-life.

You do not have to be an alcoholic to stop drinking, I am not, I have simply made a lifestyle choice and as a result I have been sober now for 17 months. 

A further consequence of not being friends with alcohol anymore is that I can no longer work with classic booze brands and businesses. The good news for me is that the alcohol-free economy is just peaking and there is a whole world still to explore in the alternative alcohol space - so I plan to keep extremely busy.

However, I wanted to put it out there and explain why alcohol and I are no longer friends both personally and more profoundly for me also professionally.