THE NIGHT IS YOUNG: One for the road, but make it a big one.Subject: POLITICAL/GENERAL NEWS^SOCIETY/COMMUNITY/WORK^SOCIAL ISSUES^ALCOHOLISM POLITICAL/GENERAL NEWS^SOCIETY/COMMUNITY/WORK^DEMOGRAPHICS^YOUTHSource: SPH They’re hitting the bottle at a younger age – and hitting it hard. Teenagersare swigging large amounts of hard liquor like vodka, brandy and whiskyTWO Fridays ago during her usual night out at Zouk, Carol downed three glassesof whisky green tea, two glasses of bourbon Coke and a jug – equivalent toabout four glasses – of vodka Ribena, all within a span of four hours.“I was very wasted and when I woke up the next morning, I couldn’t remembermuch of what I did,” she says sheepishly.But she did recall “puking so much after I left the club that in the end, I wasjust puking bile”.Still, she does not regret the binge. “Since the holidays are coming to an end,I wanted to make the best of the final days before school starts.”Carol, you see, is 18.A second-year polytechnic student, she declined to reveal her full name “incase my parents find out”.Although she’s now within the legal drinking age of 18, she says that she hasbeen drinking hard liquor since she was 14.“Most of it was stuff like vodka Ribena that I mixed at friends’ houses. But Idon’t drink beer because I don’t like the bitter taste.”While New Year’s Eve may be an annual excuse for countdown parties and drunkenrevelling, here’s a sobering thought: A whole generation of young Singaporeanslike Carol – in their early 20s and below – are growing up very at home withhard liquor.Eschewing milder beverages like beer and wine which provide “no kick”, they areheading straight for the hard stuff.Industry players say the trend gained momentum in the past decade, thanks – orno thanks – to a burgeoning club scene, old-man liquor brands that have becometrendy and the increased acceptance of drinking as a social habit.After a night of clubbing, the livers of these youngsters swirl with vodka,whisky, brandy, rum – hard spirits which boast an average alcoholic content of40 per cent compared to between 5 and 20 per cent for beer and wine.Nightlife industry veteran Dennis Foo, chief executive officer of St JamesPower Station, says: “In the old days, you would start with beer, then maybetry a white spirit like vodka, then brown spirit like scotch. Now spirits arevery big.”Peter Wong, former owner of Madam Wong’s who now works at the pub as aconsultant, says “things are different now”.“Most parents don’t know what youngsters are drinking. They would be shocked tosee the bottles they are buying,” he says.But he adds that most young people should learn how to hold their liquor as“they need to learn how to drink to mix around or entertain clients”.Says student Ethan Ho, 19: “Maybe you’ll drink beer when you’re watchingfootball at a pub. But if you’re up for a night of clubbing, stuff like vodkaand whisky give you a better high.” High spiritsACCORDING to British research house The International Wine and Spirit Record,party-goers here would have consumed 275,000 cases of spirits last year.The figure has held steady over the past few years, with about 264,000 casesand 299,000 cases consumed in 2005 and 2004 respectively.But more tellingly, whisky and vodka – spirits popular with the young crowd –are gaining a big following.This year, about 90,000 cases of whisky were swigged, compared to about 82,000in 2005 and 70,000 in 2004. Similarly, party-goers here drank 38,000 cases ofvodka this year, more than the 35,000 and 33,000 cases they had in 2005 and2004 respectively.Club managers say that young drinkers are easy to spot. They tend to drink toget high rather than because they enjoy the taste. This means they are likelyto mask the bitter taste of liquor with sweet mixers like Ribena, green tea orCoke.Says Mr Foo: “It’s what I call the ‘sweetener effect’, which makes the drinkmore palatable in the beginning.”Despite their age, they aren’t necessarily penny-pinching drinkers in search offree flow promotions.At the Ministry of Sound (MoS), for instance, senior club manager Sanjay Josephhas seen 20-year-olds spend up to $1,000 in one night buying bottles of liquor.Quite predictably, their choice poisons are the hip drinks of the moment:whisky and vodka, thanks to easy-to-recall mass brands like Chivas Regal andAbsolut.At MoS, where the age for entry is 18, 600 to 800 jugs of vodka Red Bull flyoff the bar every Friday and Saturday. Of all the drinks sold, 40 per cent areliquor, 35 per cent beer, 15 per cent cocktails and 10 per cent wine.Similarly, at rival club Zouk, where the average age of clubbers is about 19,400 to 500 jugs of vodka Ribena or vodka Red Bull are chugged down on weekends.Liquor forms 60 per cent of sales, followed by beer at 25 per cent, wine at 10per cent and cocktails at 5 per cent, says its beverage manager Francis Lau.However, clubs like Thumper, which cater to older crowds, sell about 10 percent liquor, with the rest of sales split evenly between wines and beers, saysmanager Ashur Jahari.Says Mr Joseph: “Entry-level drinkers think they can take on the world. Theythink they are invincible. There’s ‘cheers’ all around and within half an hour,that person is the happiest one in the room.”Young drinkers are the ones who boast of “downing” copious amounts of liquor,and like war heroes, regale friends with stories of projectile vomiting (“doingthe Merlion”) outside clubs.National serviceman Joseph Chee, 19, recalls waking up in his bed after a nightof drinking with “puke all over my shirt”.“I was so sloshed I didn’t even realise I had thrown up in my sleep,” he says.Many young people are also getting boozed at a young age. A poll whichLifeStyle conducted on the Stomp website last week found that 32 per cent ofthe 60 people who responded had their first taste of hard liquor below the ageof 15.Youngsters LifeStyle interviewed shared similar experiences. Says a 15-year-oldgirl who declined to be named: “I drink at my friends’ houses when theirparents are not at home. There’s nothing wrong if we don’t get into troubleoutside.”Student Pamela Teo, 20, thinks it’s “bad” to drink hard liquor at a young age“but I drink anyway. It’s a peer influence thing. Everyone drinks together andgets happy together”.Mr Dave Sim, 23, who studies in Australia, says young Singaporeans are “quitecivil compared to Australians. They love their beer and don’t stop until theyget drunk”. Compared to vices like drugs, he says drinking “is the lesser oftwo evils”. Social drinkersSO WHO’S to blame for the rise of Singapore’s hard-drinking generation?Admittedly, it’s not easy to point fingers, especially when drinking is nolonger considered much of a vice.Instead, alcohol is seen as a kind of social lubricant. Saying “would you likea drink?” is a surefire way to starting a conversation, and a cocktail or twomakes everyone seem friendlier.Psychiatrist Brian Yeo, who is also an alcohol addictions counsellor, says: “Ifyou go partying, you don’t go there for lemonade. Nowadays, the ‘start point’is different, it is very unusual for people not to have something alcoholic.”Still, there are clear reasons for the trend.With the nightlife scene booming, clubs, bars and all manner of watering holesare easily within reach. Last year, 3,431 public house licences – permitsrequired by any establishment wanting to sell alcohol – were issued by thepolice, compared to just 1,876 in 2001.There are now at least 1,000 pubs and clubs in Singapore. Last November, about1,500 global frequent travellers voted Singapore as the second best country fornightlife, second to the United States.This year also saw the opening of mega nightspots like St James Power Stationand The Cannery.Engineer Tan Teck Hua, 26, says: “When I was in my teens, there weren’t so manyplaces to go. If I couldn’t get into Zouk, that was it.“Now, you have places like St James Power Station, MoS and not to mention allthe seedy neighbourhood pubs which won’t turn underaged people away.”Liquor brands have also gone hip over the last decade, no doubt contributing tothe notion that nursing a glass of whisky or brandy is no longer just thereserve of old men.Whisky brand Chivas Regal, for example, has gone from old school to sponsoringtrendy music events here like Womad.Cognac label Martell VSOP is a regular party-thrower, organising events likeits Rise Above Party at Mount Faber in June.Officially, though, liquor companies say they don’t target younger drinkers.Chivas’ clientele is 25 to 35, while cognac brand Martell’s is 25 to 40, saysMr Raymond Koh, marketing director of Pernod Ricard Singapore, whichdistributes both labels.The Singapore Code for Advertising Practices also prohibits alcoholadvertisements from targeting or depicting anyone below 18.Diageo, the umbrella company for whisky brand Johnnie Walker and vodka brandSmirnoff, says it only uses models over the age of 24 in its promotionalmaterial.Still, the young are sucked into the “adult cool” image of these brands.Student Cindy Koh, 20, first learnt of vodka when she saw some Absolut printads in a magazine a few years ago. “I became curious and wanted to try it.”Young men, especially, see drinking as a show of bravado or initiation intoadulthood. Says student Dave Sim: “You often see young people spending $200 to$300 on bottles simply because they want to look cool.”But Mr Andrew Ing, chief operating officer of St James Power Station, counters:“Yes, image has a lot to do with it. But this is something you are putting inyour mouth. If you don’t like the taste, it doesn’t matter how cool theadvertising campaign is.” Ugly drunksMORE often than not, inebriation brings out the ugly side in young drinkers.Club managers tell of young men who get overly aggressive, coming to fisticuffswith strangers, and young women who “become a little too easy”.To their credit, nightspots have policies not to serve those who are alreadydrunk. Staff also keep an eye out for those who plan to drink and drive,offering to call taxis for them instead.There are also possible long-term consequences to hard-drinking at a young age. Ms Noor Haslinda Ibrahim, a counsellor at the Community Addictions ManagementProgramme at the Institute of Mental Health (IMH), says this may lead to anincreased tolerance to alcohol, leading them to drink more to get high.This, in turn, may result in an overdependence on drink at a later age.At IMH and Dr Yeo’s clinic, most alcoholics are in their 30s to 50s, but theyshare a common trait – they started drinking in their teens.Health effects of excessive drinking also include liver and heart diseases (seefacing page).But apart from a handful of seriously hardcore ones, most young hard-drinkerseventually tire of their lifestyle and leave the phase behind.This is when they start drinking less and rather than mindlessly chug, theygrow to appreciate their liquor.“People in their early 20s are still exploring. But as they get older, they areno longer drinking to get drunk and may be more discerning with what theydrink. For example, they may ask for something like Glenmorangie single maltwhisky,” says Mr Ing.Like marketing co-ordinator Lisa Low, 25, who has put her “wild years” behindher.“I still ‘chiong’ (Hokkien for ‘party’) but I got sick of hangovers a whileback,” she says.“I’m happy with a nice glass of wine, or I go to a bar for a premium glass ofwhisky.”
` said on. Friday, January 19, 2007
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