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DeVliegendeHollander comments on Stupid Questions March 2015 - Less Wrong Discussion
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Does your at-work brain confuse thirst with alcohol cravings too?
So test this by drinking something that isn't beer or water but matches your other criteria for good thirst quenchers. Carbonated water with lemon or lime juice in it will meet the criteria that you listed, but actually staying hydrated with water will just prevent you from getting thirsty in the first place. Seriously - ginger ale, lemon-lime or orange soda, etc.
What? You're suggesting that you should train yourself to associate the taste of beer with satisfying your craving for hydration here, so the association that you're trying to de-train is the one between beer and satisfying alcohol cravings? That's crazy, dude. Look at how much energy you've put into thinking about ways to keep drinking beer while avoiding satisfying alcohol cravings and put the same amount into thinking about ways to not drink beer. That will be an easier way to decouple the satisfaction of your cravings for hydration alcohol.
I'm an alcoholic and have been sober for about 7 years now so take that into account. My advice is that you quickly try all the ways you can think of to control your drinking. Make notes about what you're trying and how well it works. Track stuff like servings of alcohol consumed, etc. so that you can look at how well your control mechanisms work. Spend some time with no control mechanism in place and just track your consumption for a baseline if necessary (maybe even do this for a week or two in between trials to see if your baseline fluctuates). Make notes about things that trigger cravings. If something works, tweak it or stick with it. If none of them work, consider that you'll either need to abstain entirely from alcohol (and avoid things that trigger cravings for a little while) or that you're just going to slide further into alcoholism and make the necessary adjustments in your life to do those things. Gather information and be honest with yourself.
Update: the following worked for me for two days in a row now: Friday, a bit too much beer, finally convincing my brain it does not need a drink stronger than that to be sloshed. Being disgusted with myself and sticking to non-A beer for the weekend, thus taking care of the thirst part, without getting an effect.
In the meantime, I realized this is very similar to the cigarettes -> e-cigs wit nicotine -> e-cigs without nicotine, just harmless sweet flavoured mist -> nothing progression. Maybe there is a theory behind this progression. Such as "change one variable at a time".
Another good advice in the thread was to try to do the opposite of what you do at work after it. Since I tend to not socialize at all at work, and even after only with my wife and child mainly talking about everyday things, I am trying to overcome my slight annoyedness about music (or sounds in general) and will try to listen to music on the way home with interesting lyrics, maybe this works as a talk-simulator.
I also upgraded my exercise habit to about 3x, trying to become fanatical in it, because I think another obsessions is as good idea for people with obsessive or addictive personalities, and the trick to it is to keep simple, it must be one very, very simple and repetitive thing so that it gets etched in. I think I will simply become a push-up monster, already 50 in the morning and will try another 50 in the evening, eventually aiming at 1000 a day. By that time if things go well it becomes another addictive obsession and can counter the old one.