> > Some might think that this is heavy alcoholism, but trust me when I say that having 1–2 drinks everyday in New York is more than normal.
It is alcholism, maybe not heavy, but alcoholism nonetheless.
It is alcholism, maybe not heavy, but alcoholism nonetheless.
A carefully made cocktail (e.g. in the stricter European countries where the measures must be accurate) might contain 40-60 mL of spirit (2 US fl oz ≈ 60 mL), depending on the standard measure in use. Taking 50 mL, each drink is 20 mL of ethanol (40% × 0.05 L).
That's 75–140 mL/week, up to 280 mL/week if it's two cocktails a day.
The medical recommendation in the UK is not to drink more than 140 mL/week.
This is the low estimate. In the USA my experience is the barman pours in a bit extra (got to earn those tips!).
I'm not sure how we define alcoholism, but with the other mentioned drinks (beer, wine etc) at minimum the author was drinking at the UK recommended limit, in likelihood somewhat more than that.
Drinking 1-2 cans of coke doesn't make you dependent on coke as an example. You can simply enjoy coke even though you don't need it.