tl;dr how does someone get into the "drink" hobby?

As someone who didn't drink till they were 21, despite growing up with friends who started at 13 I can say I know the feeling.

I've always worked in bars and restaurants (even when I was 18 - that's right before i started drinking).

A few things that make the difference for me:
1) Find a drink you actually like. Because of my bar background I've tried a lot of different types. For me its Rum. I have to drop £30-50 on a bottle I can drink straight and enjoy. But I drink to enjoy - not to get drunk.

2) You don't *need* to drink to enjoy yourself. If you have friends that force you to, or say that you have to be to have a good time. They don't respect you and there are plenty of people like this. Usually they are so hung-up on their own inhibitions that the very idea of you not drinking fills them with anxiety that you are shaming them.

Personally I find going to bars or to pubs really boring. I go out to drink and dance or I go out to chat with my friends. Bars are usually too loud to do this and pubs are generally not my scene since it feels too much like going to work.

For me thats the bonding. Dancing like a loon to some good music, sometimes sober, sometimes tipsy.

Otherwise I would rather be at home, on the vidya, chatting random shit. Find your peace OP ;)

>>24784105

Putting tl;dr before a wall of text is pretty redundant, but your use of quotation marks is inconsistent and pompous.

What are you, drunk?

>>24784105
You go to your local bar at about 9 o clock on a Friday or Saturday, sit down and order a drink. Sometimes you meet fun people and sometimes you don't. In all honesty I'm burnt out on drinking and the bar scene already and I'm a couple years younger than you. Sure it's fun but hanging out with people and getting drunk but it really isn't productive and got very dull

>>24784268
>2) You don't *need* to drink to enjoy yourself. If you have friends that force you to, or say that you have to be to have a good time. They don't respect you and there are plenty of people like this. Usually they are so hung-up on their own inhibitions that the very idea of you not drinking fills them with anxiety that you are shaming them.
this
If I could be doubles' advocate though
>but usually it is sipping on alcoholic beverages that don't taste good while listening to people talk about various sports or things. Is that all drinking is?
there are literally thousands of alcoholic drinks, saying all alcoholic drinks taste bad is like saying all movies are bad, you've clearly not tried actually finding something you like and probably just got shitty fucking beers some dope bought for 30 cents a can to get hammered on.
And you don't need to talk about sports while drinking, you can play video game, card games, board games, just talk, write, read, shower. It doesn't fucking matter.
>how do people bond over it?
it's just a social activity, most people find that getting buzzed to drunk lowers inhibitions just enough to be more social.

>>24784105
Go to the pub with a close friend or people you trust that have similar interests and have a few drinks before a steak dinner then a few more after. The funest part of drinking is the crazy conversations you have just talk some shit bro it's a good time. Also different drink give different drunks e.g. beer makes me chill out and relax while rum gives me so much energy and that party feeling

>>24784268
>>24784283
Thanks for your input

>>24784314
Just wanted to save some folks time, and the quotes are because I posted this after seeing how people put drinking as a hobby on Facebook and other places, though there is some snob there, I find it frustrating since I don't really understand it.

>>24784322
Just that simple huh?

>>24784343
>you've clearly not tried actually finding something you like and probably just got shitty fucking beers some dope bought for 30 cents a can to get hammered on.

This is true. I'm thinking I might just go to a bar tonight like >>24784322 said and just try it for a while, and maybe try some drinks. I'll be alone though, and it seems from what most people are saying it is best to go with your friends already.
How many people have met good friends at a bar or something?

>>24784356
For some of us yes it really is that simple. There's no science behind it. You drink to get drunk which feels good and you have a good time because of that. I get it though that drinking is a strange connecting factor between people. Now that I don't drink anymore I have a large group of people that I have no interest in being around because listening to and watching somebody who's shit faced hammered is pretty annoying. If you want to get into it don't be afraid to try different drinks. It's kind of like coffee. You don't really know why or how you came around to liking it but after some time you do now

>>24784381
To add to your new post I have never made a long term friend or even short term with anybody I've met at a bar, night club or house party. But I've met plenty of people who were great company in the time we were together. Shit I remember meeting this Asian guy and his female coworker who kept buying my friend and I drinks just because we sat down next to them and said hi. They were hilarious because they were so trashed you couldn't not enjoy it. At the end of the night his coworker took off and he told us how how he really likes her and was trying to take her home. He asked where she went and I told him she went to some random guys car to trade weed for a favor. The look on his face was priceless, we closed our tab and went home. Never heard from or saw them again but they were great company

>>24784105
I'd like to know this too.

I'm 24, but I've never so much as set foot in a bar. I never really liked alcohol anyways, but now that college is over and I'm somewhere near and don't know anybody, I need a way to meet people my age.

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I enlisted straight edge, didn't drink or smoke.

Really enjoyed smoking with other guys, everyone had common sufferage and was okay with killing myself seeing how I could die anyway.
Met some great friends at the smoke pits and even some single serving friends.

I quit now because I didn't die so it's retarded to keep at it.

Feel pretty left out, now.

Never saw the point of drinking till after my first deployment and found something I could drink easily to get drunk.

Been riding that high for awhile now. Worked at a couple breweries.

To my point though...
Drinking allows the words to flow and same to the imagination. I go everywhere alone and find a drink. Most folks can be interesting after a beer but it seems to boil down to idle talk and fun discussion that you never think about again once you're sober.

Once I saw that, I grew weary of drinking with others.
Having had enough time alone, I've gotten pretty good at self medicating and rolling with those ambitions through it. Fuck, I'd love some D&D.