What’s in a pint?

What’s in a pint? The answer to this question is more than 473.146 cubic centimeters of beer. It’s more than 208 calories, seven percent of your daily value of magnesium or a loaf of bread’s worth of carbs. Why is the beverage, which some refer to as laughing juice, others refer to as aiming fluid and most simply call “beer,” such an important part of life in Ireland and all over the world? While abroad in Dublin, I have conducted extensive research on this matter, and I believe that I finally have the answer (although additional study will most assuredly be needed).

Drinking is a central component of Irish culture, as evidenced by the presence of the average four pubs per street block in the nation’s capital. And each pub doesn’t only serve beer, but rather has anywhere from six to twenty different brews on tap, so that one can fill up on barley soda any way they want. But why would anyone want to do that? Why do we consistently fill ourselves with obscene quantities of an extremely fattening liquid that impedes brain function and makes us feel sick as a dog with food poisoning riding the teacups in the morning?

The most popular reasons for imbibing alcohol, which I have heard, concern a desire to be social. I have heard the phrase “I am a social drinker” quite a lot, especially considering that, as a college student, a disproportionately large percentage of my social life revolves around drinking. Having consumed alcohol every day for the past week, I need to ask if the drinking culture is something that we take part in because we genuinely enjoy alcohol so much or something that we do to fit in. Whether it’s the pint of beer to go with lunch or the sixth shot of Jameson that night, we feel as if we don’t drink that drink, we are not achieving our full social potential.

According to AlcoholEDU, two to four “standard drinks” is all one needs to achieve the social confidence that we seek from alcohol; however, not having a drink in one’s hand is missing out on the opportunity to become even more social. Awkwardness forces us to cough up that extra five dollars for that drink that we really don’t need, as we consume a volume of alcohol more akin to the “swimming pool full of liquor,” which Kendrick Lamar prescribes for social confidence, than two to four standard drinks.

Upon entering an Irish pub, one is overcome with its charm. Every one of the 751 registered pubs in Dublin has its own character, and each attracts its own crowd. Between the signs that decorate the furnished wooden walls, the music that is played (often live) and the countless number of individuals each with different experiences and views on the world, there is no shortage of opportunity for discussion. We could easily pick ourselves up out of our seats and talk to other people or even talk to each other, yet we feel the need to pound beers and rip shots before we can begin to make conversation.

So I’ve figured out what’s in a pint: mostly water. Water accounts for 95 percent of beer, which means that the vast majority of the liquid courage that catalyzes conversation and makes us feel comfortable approaching new people is already in us. Precisely 60 percent of our body weight is water, which leads me to the conclusion that we had this ability to be social all along. What exactly prevents someone from starting a conversation with a stranger or even talking with friends on any given night? It’s not an absence of alcohol. Sure, that little bit of may help unlock that ability, but in the end what’s starting up that conversation and creating those relationships is water, i.e. you.

Alcohol is fun. But there is no reason for us to completely center our social lives on it. At school, abroad and especially in Ireland, it is easy to orient your day around drinking; but in doing so, we deny ourselves the opportunity to partake in a myriad of other experiences. Going out for a drink with friends is a good time, but so is hiking, murder mystery themed dinners or playing Settlers of Catan. We are missing out on so many other experiences that are just as conducive to conversation as alcohol because we feel obligated to artificially supplement our social potential.

I urge everyone to dare to be social on your own because we all have that potential already. Instead of relying on beer, whiskey or a nefarious concoction of jaeger and Red Bull to converse, dare to just say, “screw it,” and bring up sports, the election or even bird watching if that’s what you’re into. I am sure that others will want to talk about, and you won’t need the effects of alcohol to get going. Have the conversation in a park, at a concert or while the sound of a movie on Netflix provides background noise. Better yet, trade out that pint of Guinness for a pint of Ben and Jerry’s—your liver will thank you.

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