Why the drink you pour to keep the buzz may be ending it
Posted by: Alastair Cassie | Alcohol Reduction Coach™
TL;DR
- Alcohol does not produce one steady experience across an evening. On the way up, effects are stimulant-like: warmth, sociability, and a reduction in the friction of the day. On the way down, sedation takes over. Most people are drinking for the first phase without realising they have already passed it
- The urge to refill arrives before the feeling has gone. Dopamine fires in response to cues associated with reward, the near-empty glass, the familiar rhythm of an evening, not because the glow has actually faded. The urge is anticipatory, not diagnostic
- For habitual drinkers, regular drinking alters the biphasic response over time. The early lift may arrive and depart more quickly. Some people are chasing a version of the buzz that no longer behaves the way it once did
- The experiment is simple. The next time you are one drink in and the feeling is good, notice the moment before reaching for the refill. The urge will arrive. The question is what it is actually reporting
- This applies to grey area drinkers, not to dependent drinkers. If stopping brings on shaking, sweating or significant anxiety, speak to your GP before making any changes
The drink you pour to keep the buzz going may be the one that starts to dull it.
Alcohol does not produce one steady experience across an evening. Its effects shift, and the research literature distinguishes between stimulant-like and sedative-like phases.
On the way up, as blood alcohol rises through the lower range, the effects are predominantly stimulant-like. Warmth, sociability, and a reduction in the friction of the day. This is what most people are drinking for.
Historically, that was often the point of alcohol: not intoxication for its own sake, but loosening. Lowering the guard just enough for conversation, trust and connection to come more easily.
The research measuring these subjective effects, using validated scales developed specifically to track the distinction, consistently confirms that the lift clusters around this ascending part of the curve.[1][2]
On the way down, as alcohol accumulates and the curve begins to fall, the profile changes. Sedation becomes more prominent. The warmth flattens. Cognitive sharpness drops. This is a recognisably different experience from the one that preceded it, and for most habitual drinkers it is the part of the evening they remember less clearly, if at all.[2]
Some studies place the shift around 0.05 per cent blood alcohol concentration, very roughly somewhere around a couple of drinks for many people, but that is not a personal threshold. Body weight, biological sex, food intake, drinking speed, tolerance, and context all shift it. What is consistent is the direction: up is one thing, down is another, and many people who keep refilling past the early lift end up in the heavier, duller part of the curve without noticing the transition.[1][2]
Curve is illustrative, based on biphasic alcohol effects literature. Timing can vary by individual. See sources [1][2].
Blood alcohol concentration (approximate).
Why the refill urge arrives before the feeling has gone
The brain’s reward system does not wait to confirm that a feeling has faded before sending the instruction to replenish it. Dopamine, the chemical most commonly described as a pleasure signal but more accurately understood as an anticipation signal, fires in response to cues associated with reward. The near-empty glass. The familiar context of an evening drink. The rhythm of a social occasion. These cues can trigger the wanting before you have consciously checked whether the feeling has actually changed.
Research into how alcohol-associated cues generate craving and seeking behaviour, from both animal studies and human trials, confirms that this anticipatory system operates independently of whether the person is actually in deficit.[4][5] The refill urge is not reporting that the glow has gone. It is predicting that more alcohol will protect it. In many cases, the glow has not gone at all.
The urge to top up is not proof the glow has gone. It is the habit loop doing what habit loops do: firing the refill instruction before you have checked whether you actually need one.
Think of it like filling a paddling pool. Once it is full, turning off the tap is the point. Keeping the hose running does not make it better. It lowers the temperature, makes a mess, and spoils the thing you filled it for in the first place.
For habitual drinkers, there is a further complication. Regular drinking alters the biphasic response over time. Some people develop reduced sensitivity to the sedative effects, a stronger reward response, or a less reliable early lift.[3] They may be chasing a version of the buzz that no longer behaves as it once did, and drinking past the peak not because the peak was satisfying, but because it arrived and departed more quickly than expected, leaving the anticipation system still running.
The experiment
Curiosity is the only requirement. You are not trying to calculate your blood alcohol level, monitor yourself through the evening, or turn one drink into a test of discipline. You are simply noticing what happens in the space between feeling good and automatically reaching for more.
In thirty years of working with wine professionally, the most reliable way I found to pace a gastronomic dinner and actually fully appreciate each wine was to take a water course between dishes rather than a wine course. At home, I can still feel the lift from a first gin and tonic an hour later. In the meantime, I don’t mind refilling with just tonic in the same glass.
The next time you are one drink in and the feeling is good, notice that moment before reaching for the refill. The urge will probably arrive. It usually does. The question is what it is actually reporting.
For some people, the answer is longer than they expected. For others, particularly those who have been drinking heavily for some time, the answer may be less reassuring, which is itself useful information.
The value lies in closing the gap between what the brain predicts and what is actually happening. That gap is where Choice O’Clock™ lives: the moment before the refill is poured, where the decision is still genuinely available, before the autopilot has executed the sequence and the glass is already full again.
So, the question for the day is: next time you are having a drink and thinking of pouring another glass, how long can YOU last?
A note on who this is for
The biphasic effect, and the experiment built around it, applies to grey area drinkers: people who drink more than they intend to by habit rather than physical compulsion. It is not a clinical strategy, and it is not suitable for everyone.
If stopping or cutting down brings on shaking, sweating, or significant anxiety, that is a different picture from habitual drinking, and the right first call is your GP. Specialist support is available through WithYou at wearewithyou.org.uk
If the experiment raises questions about the broader pattern driving your drinking rather than dependence, the further reading below is a useful starting point. A more structured approach is available through the BAC System™.
Further reading from ARC
Choice O’Clock: reclaiming the moment before the pour
The Autopilot Gap: why moderation fails and what the science actually shows
Autopilot drinking or alcohol dependence: why the difference matters more than you think
Can you actually moderate your drinking? The evidence vs the slogans
Is drinking good for us? Edward Slingerland’s Drunk makes the case
Sources
1. Martin CS, Earleywine M, Musty RE, Perrine MW, Swift RM.
Development and validation of the Biphasic Alcohol Effects Scale. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research. 1993;17(1):140–146. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8452195/
2. Addicott MA, Marsh-Richard DM, Mathias CW, Dougherty DM. The biphasic effects of alcohol: comparisons of subjective and objective measures of stimulation and sedation. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research. 2007;31(11):1901–1909. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17949393/
3. King AC, de Wit H, McNamara PJ, Cao D. Rewarding, stimulant, and sedative alcohol responses and relationship to future binge drinking. Archives of General Psychiatry. 2011;68(4):389–399. PMID: 21464363. Full text: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4633413/
4. Valyear MD, Villaruel FR, Chaudhri N. Alcohol-seeking and relapse: a focus on incentive salience and contextual conditioning. Behavioural Processes. 2017;141(Pt 1):26–32. [Animal model evidence on alcohol-predictive cues and conditioned alcohol-seeking.] https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beproc.2017.02.019
5. Marsden E, Campbell J, Leeman RF, Copeland AL, Murphy JG. Alcohol cues increase behavioral economic demand and craving for alcohol in nontreatment-seeking and treatment-seeking heavy drinkers. Alcohol: Clinical and Experimental Research. 2023;47(12):2361–2371. https://doi.org/10.1111/acer.15190
6. UK Chief Medical Officers. UK Chief Medical Officers’ low risk drinking guidelines. Department of Health. 2016. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a80b7ed40f0b623026951db/UK_CMOs__report.pdf
About the author:
- 32-year wine trade veteran
- Founder, Alcohol Moderation Coaches Association™
- Member, ACO (ADHD Coaches Organization)
- Trained coach in alcohol moderation, ADHD and behavioural science
- CPD Approved Provider
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