The Drinker's Manifesto

 
Nearly every negative consequence associated with alcohol is the result of drinking too much. In today’s culture, drinking to excess is glamorized as a fun, harmless, and required rite of passage. Particularly for college students, it’s a social norm created by peer pressure emphasizing that you’re not cool unless you drink—a lot. However, a dangerous learning curve exists that has the propensity to go from bad to worse if we don’t consider what’s at stake. If we can educate people to drink better and live healthier then all of those disastrous experiences go away.

 

The Drinker’s Manifesto is an honest, approachable conversation at eye-level with college-age novice drinkers, binge-drinkers, and non-drinkers about what a healthier relationship with alcohol looks like. Started by a group of friends sharing their stories about their experiences with alcohol, Better Drinking Culture (BDC) has grown into a social impact grassroots movement that is shifting our culture’s relationship with alcohol in a healthier and more positive direction—a lifestyle free from pain, harm, and regret. Because hangovers suck.

This book is an easily digestible, practical guide to mindful drinking and moderation. Divided into three main parts, it includes perspectives on how alcohol affects our health and relationships, teaches the basics about how to make informed choices about choosing to drink, and encourages personal accountability in taking care of ourselves, our loved ones, and where we live, work, and play.

BDC believes that alcohol should be a choice—not an expectation. Regardless of where you are in your journey with alcohol, this is an invitation to anyone who reads it to put their health, safety, and well-being first. Should one choose to drink or be in the company of friends who do, The Drinker’s Manifesto empowers people to make better decisions because life is too short to forget or regret what happened last night. The current generation has the influence to set a better example for the next one.

No longer can we avoid the uncomfortable discourse that something needs to change about our drinking culture. The Drinker’s Manifesto is that conversation—one that calls out the absurdity of a culture that glamorizes over-consumption and instead replaces it with ownership in answering for ourselves. 

For students, parents, universities, communities, public health, and the alcohol industry, The Drinker’s Manifesto is a call to challenge our culture and inspire change.

 

About the Author

Jason Ley

Ley's the CEO of Better Drinking Culture and author of The Drinker's Manifesto. While it's is his first book, as a freelance journalist he's written for Condé Nast affiliate October, MittenBrew, and Experience Grand Rapids. Ley is also the creator of Emmy-nominated Modern Ahabs, a Certified Cicerone®, and a Stave & Thief Society Executive Bourbon Steward. And, with over a decade of professional experience in the service and hospitality industry, Ley regularly consults on operational strategy, branding and marketing, and the holistic guest experience.

Camden Brieden

A social impact entrepreneur, Brieden co-founded Better Drinking Culture with a group of friends in 2015 after having been inspired by shared stories of alcohol's impact in their lives. Brieden directed The Drinker's Manifesto, and is also the Founder/CEO of New Way Recovery, a 501c3 nonprofit initiative that includes brands Wait 21 and Crave 21-practical curriculum programs focused on youth addiction education and prevention.