Ditto, I moved from startup-landia to Google about 2 years ago and have really enjoyed the decreased focus on alcohol.

Alcohol isn't banned, but the company in general does not pay for booze in the office outside of company events, so there aren't fridges or kegerators free-flowing with booze, unlike most of the startups I've worked at before.

Some teams keep celebratory stashes that they pay for themselves, which IMO strikes a good balance between letting people drink but discouraging a heavily alcohol-focused work culture.

I didn't find startup drinking culture tiresome until I left it, and I'm glad I did.

I really liked the drinking culture in my early to mid 20's but by my late 20's I got a stomach condition that put an end to that. Now I am in my early 30's I have lost any inclination to even want to partake. There are many things I now enjoy more being sober.

I've never been more productive and my mind has never been so clear.

I miss it now(mid 20's I guess), I used to work at a company with a big drinking culture and I made a big social circle around that, then I moved to a different country where I don't know anyone outside the office and the lack of this type of activities make it much harder for me to socialize, I feel very lonely sometimes.

I totally get this. I have many non-drinking coworkers and I always see a little pain in their eyes when the team suggests we go out and grab drinks.

Do you ever speak up for them? Does anyone?

That sounds dismal, regularly seeing a little pain in the eyes of your coworkers.

Replying to my own comment : I'm gonna make a ask hn post tomorrow about this.

It's pretty trivial to land yourself in a position where no one invites you out for drinks. Once you arrive in that place, no one invites you anywhere. Then you age out, and nothing ever happens again, and you continue your treadmill of employment until death.

Welcome to this world.

Do it. Drinking culture in tech is incredibly rampant...