Brewer’s droop: why you can’t get hard after drinking

Brewer’s droop is the British name for not being able to get hard, or stay hard, after a drink too many. If you can’t get hard after drinking but everything behaves when you’re sober, you’re far from alone, and the glass is the first suspect, not you.

What brewer’s droop means, and its other name, whiskey dick

Collins files the phrase under “British humorous” and defines it as “an inability to get an erection because of excessive alcohol consumption”. The other name you’ll meet, in headlines from health sites such as Healthline and Medical News Today, is whiskey dick.

The word doing the work in that definition is “excessive”. Two drinks with dinner and a ten-pint stag do (a bachelor party) are not the same night.

Why you can’t get hard after drinking

Drinkaware, the UK alcohol charity, puts the mechanism in one line: alcohol depresses the central nervous system, which can make it difficult for some men to get, and keep, an erection. It also dulls sexual sensitivity, and it can delay orgasm or stop it altogether.

Erections during sleep held up

The more surprising evidence comes from a small Australian study published in 1990. Researchers monitored 11 healthy young men over three nights and gave them alcohol on the third, enough to reach a blood alcohol level almost twice the drink-drive limit in England. Their erections during sleep did not change in size, duration or number.

The findings suggest that alcohol may interfere with arousal and perception without necessarily suppressing the underlying erection reflex. Eleven men is a tiny sample, so this is a clue and no more.

Shakespeare’s Porter had a line for it

The Porter in Macbeth (Act 2, Scene 3), who has been drinking into the small hours, says drink “provokes the desire, but it takes away the performance”. Drinkaware backs the second half and corrects the first: many people mistakenly believe alcohol is an aphrodisiac.

How much drink does it take?

Nobody can give you a number that holds for every man, and any site that does is guessing. The only figure we found comes from one small laboratory study: in 1976, 16 young men’s erection response was markedly suppressed once blood alcohol reached 0.05% or more. That is 50mg per 100ml of blood, the drink-drive limit in Scotland. It is a result for 16 men in a lab; individual thresholds differ.

How many drinks gets you there? The UK government’s drink-drive page says it’s impossible to say exactly. It depends on your weight, age and metabolism, on what you’ve eaten, and even on how stressed you are.

What the NHS does give you is units (one UK unit is 10ml, or 8g, of pure alcohol), which at least lets you count honestly:

• a pint of lower-strength lager, beer or cider (3.6%): 2 units
• a pint of higher-strength lager, beer or cider (5.2%): 3 units
• a standard 175ml glass of wine (12%): 2.1 units, and a large 250ml glass: 3 units
• a single 25ml measure of spirits (40%): 1 unit
• a 750ml bottle of wine (13.5%): 10 units

The NHS counts more than 8 units in one session as a binge for men. Three pints of strong lager comes to 9. If last night went past that line, the drink is the obvious suspect.

Once, every time, or sober too: what it’s telling you

What happened	What it usually points to	What to do
Once, after a heavy night	The NHS puts occasional failures down to stress, tiredness or too much alcohol, and says they’re nothing to worry about	Nothing medical. Sleep, and try again sober
Most times you drink	Alcohol is the common factor	Cut down (the NHS advice is no more than 14 units a week on a regular basis), and see a GP if it keeps happening
Sober as well, or it keeps happening	The NHS says frequent problems may come from a condition such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, depression or anxiety, or hormone problems	See a GP or go to a sexual health clinic; many clinics take walk-ins

The third row is the one that matters. In the NHS’s own words, repeated erection problems “might be a sign of a health condition that can be treated”, and treatment can usually help.

What helps tonight, and what doesn’t

None of the sources we used offers a way to switch an erection back on once alcohol has switched it off. If it has already happened, stop drinking, get some sleep and try again sober. For keeping the next night’s drinking down, the NHS advice on a single occasion is short:

• set a limit and stick to it
• drink more slowly
• eat with it
• alternate alcoholic drinks with water or soft drinks

What doesn’t help is “one more for courage”, or treating the next attempt as a test you have to pass. Stress sits first on the NHS list of everyday causes, and a man watching his own erection like a kettle is under plenty of it. Other kinds of intimacy don’t need one, and the morning is a better offer than a fourth try at 2am.

If you take something for erections and you’ve been drinking

Sildenafil (Viagra)

The NHS is direct about it: “It’s best to avoid drinking too much alcohol when taking sildenafil because it can make getting an erection more difficult.” So a pharmacy tablet doesn’t cancel out a heavy night either. Sildenafil is one of the main medicines the NHS lists for erectile dysfunction, and you can buy it from a pharmacy. No food supplement is on that list. The NHS also asks you to tell your doctor about any herbal remedies or supplements before taking it, so don’t stack products on a night out. We set out how Varomax and Viagra compare on a separate page.

Varomax (a food supplement)

Libidiol, the site you’re reading, sells Varomax, so what follows is our own product description rather than independent evidence. Of our two capsules, only Varomax is described for use after a few drinks. You swallow it with water or even alcohol, it still does the job if you’ve had a few, and the effect lasts up to 36 hours. One a day at most. Varomax capsules are 100% herbal and registered with the Thai FDA as a food supplement, which, as the product page itself says, is not an assessment of effectiveness.

Read “a few drinks” literally. Nothing in a capsule undoes a heavy night, and nothing here changes the NHS advice above. If you take nitrates or blood-pressure medication, or have a heart condition, ask a doctor or pharmacist first. And if it happens when you’re sober, see a GP before you buy anything.

If it’s happening to your partner

Don’t take it personally. The NHS puts occasional misfires down to stress, tiredness and drink. Nothing on that list is about you. Talk about it the next day. If it happens every time he drinks, or when he hasn’t been drinking at all, the kindest nudge is towards a GP.

Questions

Can a guy not get hard if he’s too drunk?

Yes. Being very drunk can stop him getting an erection or keeping one, even when he wants sex. NHS inform lists drinking too much alcohol next to stress, tiredness and drug use as the usual reasons for an occasional failure, so one drunk night tells you little about him or about the two of you. The questions worth asking are whether it also happens sober and whether it keeps happening, because either one is a reason to see a GP.

What can I drink to get hard easier?

No source we used names a drink that makes an erection easier, and alcohol pulls the other way. If you want a number for your general health, the NHS low-risk guideline caps it at 14 units a week, spread over three or more days; 14 units is about 6 pints of average-strength beer. The NHS calls that “low risk” rather than “safe”, because there’s no safe drinking level.

How long does brewer’s droop last?

It’s temporary, but none of our sources gives a set recovery time. Gov.uk notes that how much you drink, along with your weight and metabolism, changes how alcohol affects you. The NHS adds that alcohol can help some people fall asleep quickly but can disrupt sleep and stop you sleeping deeply, and it lists tiredness among the everyday causes of erection problems.

Can alcohol cause permanent erectile dysfunction?

It can cause longer-term erection problems, though none of our sources says they are permanent. Drinkaware warns that drinking heavily over an extended period can turn a temporary condition into longer-term impotence, and that heavy or long-term use can lower testosterone and libido. Neither the NHS nor Drinkaware puts a timescale on recovery after cutting down. NHS inform suggests contacting your GP practice if symptoms have lasted more than a few months, self-help hasn’t worked and they bother you.

Does it matter what you drink?

Mainly through how much alcohol it holds, as far as our sources go. Gov.uk lists the type and amount of alcohol among the things that change how a drink affects you, and none of our sources ranks beer, wine or spirits against each other for erections. By the NHS figures, a large 250ml glass of 12% wine holds the same 3 units as a pint of 5.2% lager, or three single 25ml measures of 40% spirits.

This is general information, not medical advice. If it keeps happening, see your GP or a pharmacist.

Sources

1. NHS, Erectile dysfunction (impotence)
2. NHS inform, Erectile dysfunction (impotence)
3. NHS, Sildenafil (Viagra)
4. NHS, Calculating alcohol units
5. NHS, The risks of drinking too much
6. NHS, Tips on cutting down alcohol
7. Drinkaware, Is alcohol affecting your sex life?
8. GOV.UK, The drink drive limit
9. Morlet A et al. Effects of acute alcohol on penile tumescence in normal young men and dogs. Urology, 1990 (PMID 2336768)
10. Farkas GM, Rosen RC. Effect of alcohol on elicited male sexual response. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 1976 (PMID 4660)
11. Collins English Dictionary, brewer’s droop
12. William Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act 2, Scene 3 (Folger Shakespeare)