Defining binge drinking

How to define a binge?

I don't agree with defining it by a certain number of drinks that you have at such-and-such a time. It's not about the quantity - it's about how you approach the drinking session. There are those nights when you go to a quiet restaurant with friends and share a few bottles of wine and have a very pleasant time and are still able to drive home....

....and there are those nights where you start by lining up tequilas on the bar and shooting your way from one end to the other. Some of those nights end badly. Some I have no recollection of. But there are times when one feels an urge to splurge - and that is how I define a binge. When you really cut loose and hit it hard. That is a binge. Drinking many cans of VB at the pub and then moshing to the Rollins Band - that's a binge.

Having a couple of sherries when you get home from work is not a binge.

A binge to me is an event where ones gets completely and thoroughly hammered, and it is something that doesn't happen very often. I don't think it is possible to binge drink every night - by definition, that should be impossible. That is just regular, heavy drinking. A binge is drinking heavily, but on the odd occasion. Alcoholics don't binge in my book - they just get hammered every night. Bingeing is where a normal person drinks like an alco for one night.