Around the time she turned 40, Amy Filbin’s solo drinking accelerated. One bottle of wine per night grew into two, which grew into more. It reached the point where she was hiding her daytime drinking and worrying that her beloved nephew could smell the stuff on her breath while they played together.
The day finally arrived when Filbin wanted to run and swing and play with her nephew but couldn’t get past her own feeling of sickness and self-loathing. That was the day, about three years ago, when Filbin started turning her life around, she said.
She didn’t keep it private; what she learned and remade about herself, she wanted to share with others. As an eager new life-and-recovery coach, she said, she considered it important to spread the word about the “silent drinking epidemic among women.”
According to a 2017 report by the Journal of the American Medical Association, problem and high-risk drinking among women are rapidly accelerating. The Journal found a “remarkable” 84 percent increase in alcohol use disorders among women between 2002 and 2013.
If You Go
What: The Happiest Hour, featuring a nonalcoholic ‘mocktail’ menu.
When: 5-7 p.m., today.
Where: WareHouse ’23, 100 Columbia St., Vancouver.
Cost: Free, but drinks are for sale.
Did You Know ?
• The medical community’s definitions of high-risk drinking and alcohol-use disorders have been updated since these statistics were collected by the Journal of the American Medical Association.
• For women, heavy or high-risk drinking is defined as more than three drinks on any day or seven per week; for men, it’s more than four drinks on any day or 14 per week. The more heavy drinking days you have, the more of a problem it is.
• An alcohol use disorder is based on self-reported symptoms such as craving alcohol to the exclusion of all else, feeling out of control and unable to stop drinking, and spending too much time suffering aftereffects.
• To learn more, visit www.rethinkingdrinking.niaaa.nih.gov/
That’s a real emergency, Filbin said. “Raising awareness is what I want to do, and it’s catching on,” she said.
You can catch on too, today at WareHouse ’23 in downtown Vancouver, where Filbin’s inaugural “Happiest Hour” is on tap. Wisely abstaining from alcohol shouldn’t mean that you must sacrifice happy hour, she said, or be forced to order lame “virgin” versions of real cocktails.
Instead, Filbin has worked with a mixologist in Big Sky, Mont., where she often travels for work, and the staff at WareHouse ’23 to develop a thoughtful, handcrafted, nonalcoholic happy hour menu. It’s got tasty offerings like a pineapple spritzer, a vanilla lavender lemonade garnished with mint, and The Root Chakra, a shaken, lemon-based beverage with fresh ginger root, ginger ale, simple syrup, cayenne pepper for a little zing and topped with basil.
“It is refreshing to say the least, but the ingredients are also known for their healing properties,” Filbin said.
The first Happiest Hour is set for 5 to 7 p.m. today at WareHouse ’23, 100 Columbia Street. Filbin is looking forward both to rolling out this new menu of ‘mocktails’ – and to meeting the special, smart, sober folks who are drawn to her Happiest Hour. The event is aimed at women, but men are welcome too of course.
