History Main / DrowningMySorrows

!!Examples:

When characters get frustrated, they [[INeedAFreakingDrink need a freaking drink]]. But when they are depressed, they get drunk.

A well-known TruthInTelevision. It is often played for sympathetic laughs, but it can also be dramatic, embarrassing or angsty, especially if it goes with OffTheWagon or in Real Life cases of alcoholism. A character who is usually very stoic or tough but turns into a pathetic drunk can be very pitiable, showing just how much they miss somebody, but be careful not to keep it going for too long or they may lose characterisation as a tough guy.

* ''{{Machinima/Anon}}'': Chelsea's go to solution for any hardship she faces is to get drunk, unfortunately it almost always leads to her verbally or physically assaulting whoever's closest to her.

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* During the Christmas special of ''Anime/{{Aggretsuko}}'', when Haida thinks Retsuko found a date for Christmas Eve, he grabs a bottle of liquor that was set for him at the bar and chugs it.
* Sayoko from ''Manga/AhMyGoddess'' does this every time she loses to Belldandy at something. So she must be tanked 24/7.
* Lampe and Kim san Kaku go out and get plastered at the end of the intro comic of ''Manga/AstroBoy'' Volume 5 after they learn they were both designed after Creator/OsamuTezuka's dorky elementary school classmates.
* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'':
** Izuru Kira and Rangiku Matsumoto are seen drinking after Kira's captain and Rangiku's old friend, Gin Ichimaru, leaves Soul Society with the BigBad, Aizen. Kira later does the same with Shuuhei Hisagi, whose captain Kaname Tousen also left (only in the anime, since in the manga, he decides to have tea when Rangiku offers it to him). [[RuleOfThree He's seen doing it again]] in the last episode of the anime, but it's now PlayedForLaughs since this happens [[spoiler: because he doesn't approve of Rose as his captain]]; Iba and Yumichika watch over him and are rather comically peeved.
** The final chapter of the manga has a very tragic example with Kyouraku and Ukitake, the latter of whom was [[spoiler: killed by HeroicSacrifice in a last ditch effort to protect the Soul King]]. Ukitake's [[spoiler: death]] hits Kyouraku ''hard'' and it's shown after the 10-year time-skip that he visits [[spoiler: his grave]] every day, [[LibationForTheDead usually drinking and talking to the stone as if his best friend is still there with him]].
* David from ''Anime/BloodPlus'' after [[spoiler:the Red Shield's headquarters was sunk in order to kill Diva]] and the associated trip beyond the MoralEventHorizon.
* ''Manga/CaseClosed'':
** Kogoro Mouri is an AlcoholicParent, but he's rarely seen straight-up invoking the trope. It does happen once in a while, however, especially when he's got cases [[ItsPersonal that personally trouble him]]; he does so in a {{filler}} case where it looks like [[spoiler: the sweet girl he once was a tutor for [[BrokenPedestal has become a murderer]] ]] and that sends him into a depressive fit. [[spoiler: For worse, he's right ''and'' the poor girl's reasons [[FinancialAbuse are very dramatic]].]]
** PlayedForLaughs in a White Day-related case, where [[spoiler: Inspector Megure]]'s wife Midori gets toasted when it looks like her husband has forgotten to get her a gift. [[spoiler: He ''did,'' he just forgot to tell her.]]
* Although it isn't with alcohol, Jeremy from ''Manga/ACruelGodReigns'' falls into this. He buys drugs (they appear to be LSD) from his classmate to help alleviate the pain from being beaten by his stepfather. Later on in the series, Jeremy becomes a [[spoiler: HookerWithAHeartOfGold]] and a [[spoiler: FunctionalAddict]], and is driven to heroin use to help him cope with the flashbacks he experiences and with the guilt from accidentally [[spoiler: killing his mother along with his stepfather.]]
* ''Anime/DarkerThanBlack'':
** [[TimeSkip Between the two seasons]], Hei starts doing this, complete with PermaStubble BeardOfSorrow and [[TookALevelInJerkass a serious attitude problem]].
** There's also Huang, who would love to do this [[NeverGetsDrunk if he could ever get drunk]].
* In ''Manga/DearBrother'', [[spoiler:Prof. Misonoo]] does this in his {{backstory}} when [[spoiler:his first wife left him and she took their child, Takehiko, along with her.]] This thing happens in real life too, as recently divorced spouses often respond by drinking in order to forget about the whole thing, and in his case it's worse because [[spoiler: according to Japanese family laws, there's a good chance that ''he'd never see his son again, or at least for many years''.]]
* Tsuzuki in ''Manga/DescendantsOfDarkness'' during an especially angsty moment in the Kyoto arc when he starts questioning his own humanity.
* [[ChivalrousPervert Cross Marian]] in ''Manga/DGrayMan''. Hoshino says he's "closest to the truth", and that he lives hiding bitter things. His old room at HQ is filled with wine bottles, plus a face drawn on his wall. Then it's outright a given when we get his character quote in the fanbook from Hoshino.
-->"Sake is the best medicine."
* Lunch reacts like this in the ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' anime after the death of Tenshinhan and subsequently catches ChuckCunninghamSyndrome. (Note that this, of course, was {{filler}}. In [[Manga/DragonBall the manga]], she disappeared earlier than that.)
* In the first ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist'' series, Roy Mustang frequently goes to get himself drunk at local bars with best friend Maes Hughes. It's seen that he has a tremendous amount of angst over the things he did in Ishval (in this version [[spoiler:he's the one who killed Winry's parents under higher-orders, which back then almost drove him to [[AteHisGun eat his gun]] on the spot]]), and one would assume that he usually gets drunk for that reason.
* In ''Anime/FutureGPXCyberFormula ZERO'', Kyoko Aoi is seen drinking some few cocktails at a bar after she sees Shinjyo and Kaga fight. In the bar, she talks to Kaga about how she first met Shinjyo and how much he's changed since then.
* In ''Anime/GrimmsFairyTaleClassics'', after the doctor’s attempt on setting himself free from Death after saving the king in "The Godfather Of Death", he is seen depressed and anxious as he drinks a whole bottle of wine.
* Although we only see Yukiji's HardDrinkingPartyGirl tendencies in ''Manga/HayateTheCombatButler'', it's made very clear that she was doing this in regards to the debt her parents left with her and her sister, and her subsequent dealing with the issue, that led her down the path to the humorous path we see in the story.
* ''Webcomic/HetaliaAxisPowers'':
** England and China do this, mourning and sobbing spectacularly about their younger brothers America and Japan, both who had rebelled and separated from them. In the second case, China's mourning is [[MoodWhiplash derailed]] when he finds out that [[ItMakesSenseInContext the panda he was drunkenly ranting to]] was... [[MasterOfDisguise Russia in a disguise.]]
** Finland does this after Sweden [[BoisterousBruiser calls off a battle with Lithuania and Poland]].
* ''LightNovel/{{Higehiro}}'': In the very first episode, after Gotou rejects him, Yoshida gets very drunk.
* Kaoru from ''Manga/ICantUnderstandWhatMyHusbandIsSaying'' used to spend most of her free time drinking and smoking to deal with her loneliness and a job that she hated. The key words here are "[[HappilyMarried used to]]".
* A G-rated version appeared in episode 8 of ''Manga/IsTheOrderARabbit''. Chiya brought Sharo to three coffee houses in a row to drown away the latter's sorrow of being found to be a very poor ScholarshipStudent and that she was lying about being [[TheOjou rich]]. Sharo has very low tolerance on caffeine and has been seen to be [[DrunkOnMilk drunk on coffee]].
* In ''Manga/LuckyStar'', Yui apparently did this before visiting her uncle and cousin when she thought her husband, with whom she has a commuter marriage, wasn't going to be home for their anniversary, which was going to be their special night.
* On ''Manga/MaisonIkkoku'', Godai and Mitaka have decided to duke it out once and for all for the hand of the fair Kyoko. Too bad this is Tokyo, where it seems like every street corner has a cop waiting to book you for causing a public disturbance. The guys end up at a beer vending machine drowning their sorrows.
* In ''Manga/MarchComesInLikeALion'', Yasui, one of Rei's opponents, is known to become a violent drunk whenever he loses a shogi match.
* [[spoiler:Lisa Kujoh aka]] Sumeragi Lee Noriega in ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam00'' personally implies that her constant drinking is for this single purpose.
* A realistic occurrence takes place in ''Manga/{{Monster}}'', after Tenma is demoted and then dumped by his [[RichBitch cold bitch of a fiancee.]] And said fiancee, Eva, does it as well... [[LadyDrunk for years.]]
* ''Franchise/{{Naruto}}'':
** Before she became the Fifth Hokage, Tsunade is seen several times gambling/getting drunk from sake to get her mind off of having lost her brother Nawaki and boyfriend Dan, who both died horribly and apparently very painfully.
** In ''Anime/NarutoTheMovieNinjaClashInTheLandOfSnow'', Yukie is seen drinking in the beginning of the film, lamenting how difficult the life of an actress is. This ties into her grief over losing her father and country to her uncle's betrayal, which has left her traumatized and bitter for years.
** Naruto does it in ''Shippuden'' episode 183 when Sakura berates him for sneezing at her, only [[FrothyMugsOfWater he does it by overeating ramen]].
** Kuroda in ''Manga/Naruto1997'' is an [[TheAlcoholic alcoholic]] who constantly drinks. He's lost in fate in friendship after [[spoiler:his jealous best friend literally stabbed him in the back and then killed himself]].
* In ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'' one of Negi's fellow teachers [[UnsuspectinglySoused accidentally gave him some sake]] while eating in Satsuki's restaurant. The scene quickly degenerated into this trope as a drunken Negi cried out his troubles.
* {{Inverted| Trope}} with Misato Katsuragi from ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion''. For most of the series, she is bordering on being TheAlcoholic, but after [[spoiler:the murder of Kaji, her boyfriend]], she quits drinking alcohol and instead switches to copious amounts of canned coffee.
* ''Manga/OnePiece'':
** Kokoro took to the bottle after her friend and employer Tom (the mentor to Franky and Iceburg) was arrested by the government and taken away to Impel Down for building Gold Roger's ship, the ''Oro Jackson'', with the implication that Tom eventually died in prison. When the Straw Hats first meet her, her LadyDrunk status appears to be just a character quirk, until the arc's back-story is eventually revealed.
** Even as an adult, [[spoiler: Doquixote Doflamingo]] still suffers from nightmares of his [[DarkAndTroubledPast hellish childhood]], so to cope with it, he drinks generous amounts of alcohol.
** [[spoiler: [[TheDreaded Kaido]]]] is seen hitting the bottle after [[spoiler: Caesar Clown and Doflamingo,]] two of his main sources of revenue and [[spoiler: artificial Devil Fruits,]] are taken out by Luffy. He's shown to be a '''''terrifying''''' MoodSwinger when he's off his ass, [[InelegantBlubbering bawling like an infant]] one minute and ''[[TwinkleInTheSky literally sending one of his men FLYING]]'' with a humongous club the very next.
* In ''LightNovel/{{Overlord}}'', [[spoiler:Shalltear]] falls into a guilt-ridden state after she became mind-controlled and learned she actually tried to kill Ainz. She spends her time in Nazarick's bar continuously drinking, though because of her resistance to poison, the alcohol barely makes her drunk and gives her ExhaustedEyeBags.
* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'':
** Mallow drowns her sorrows with [[DrunkOnMilk Pinap Berry juice]] in an episode of ''Sun and Moon''. The Oranguru tending the G-rated bar is willing to hear out her frustrations about her father overworking her in the restaurant.
** Later in the same saga, in "Acting True To Form", Meowth goes to the same bar to drown himself in Pinap juice after being borderline replaced by an Alolan Meowth.
* In ''Manga/PrincessJellyfish'', Tsukimi tries to fall asleep to forget her broken heart, but can't. She asks one of the girls at the boarding house she lives in for advice and is given a one-word response: booze. She ends up falling unconscious after one cup of sweet sake.
* Episode two of ''Anime/{{Punchline}}'' has Rabura drinking heavily because a customer had called her exorcism skills into question.
* ''LightNovel/RebuildWorld'': A hunter who followed Akira to a ruin he discovered to beat him to the LostTechnology relics inside, after accidentally triggering the automated tram inside and flooding the ruin with monsters left him SoleSurvivor, he resorted to selling the location of the ruin to pay for drowning his sorrows over getting his friends killed.
* Jeanne takes to drinking vodka by the bottle in ''Manga/TheRoseOfVersailles'' after the Affair of the Necklace. Oscar is also occasionally seen surrounded by empty wine bottles.
* ''Manga/RurouniKenshin'': Tomoe Yokishiro became a LadyDrunk after the death of her fiancé and FirstLove Akira. She once walked away drunkenly from a pub and ended up stepping into one of Battousai!Kenshin's fights, leading to their first meeting.
* ''Manga/SailorMoon'' features two examples:
** The first one is played straight, and it comes from in the ''R'' season,: Usagi notices that Mamoru has a "new" girlfriend [[spoiler:(he doesn't, but since he believes he cannot be with her, he behaves like a jerkass and [[MistakenForCheating doesn't correct her mistaken impression]])]] and she tries to [[ComfortFood drown her sorrows in dumplings]]; when a worried Luna tries to reprimand her, she cries and says she's too depressed to care about getting fat.
** The second is far more PlayedForLaughs and happens in the SuperS season, when Naru is manipulated into dating Tiger's Eye for three months after he claimed he was going to die, her boyfriend Umino goes on a drinking binge ''with fifteen [[DrunkOnMilk milkshakes]]''; Chibiusa is grossed out and [[LampshadeHanging comments on this]], even pointing out that saké is the traditional beverage for such behavior.
* Kazehana, resident HardDrinkingPartyGirl of ''Manga/{{Sekirei}}'' does this during a Season 2 episode after [[spoiler: the death of Uzume]]. Much to her annoyance, she can't get drunk.
* [[spoiler: Reiko Ookochi]], Sakuya's mother from ''Manga/SensualPhrase'', who does this after [[spoiler: her husband abandons her]]. So much so that she [[spoiler: drank herself to death.]]
* In ''Manga/SkipBeat'', Tsuruga Ren does this when [[spoiler: he is unable to fully understand his character, Katsuki.]]
* ''Anime/SuperDimensionFortressMacross'':
** Misa Hayase goes to a bar and gets blind drunk in despair after she misinterprets [[spoiler:Hikaru giving Minmay a place to stay for the night as him rekindling his romance with her.]] She's found by Claudia, who talks to her about [[BetaCouple her own relationship with]] [[BigBrotherMentor Roy Fokker]] over a couple of glasses of wine.
** Roy was this before he met Claudia, which is explained in prequel ''Anime/MacrossZero'' [[spoiler:with the death of his lover Iris in the events of ''Zero'' causing a long segment of depression]].
* The ending of the YuriGenre one-shot ''Tender Tear'' ends with the protagonist going out drinking with an old classmate as they both bond over the fact the women they fell for [[IncompatibleOrientation had boyfriends]]. Riku is under the drinking age so she couldn't actually ''drink'' herself but the effect is the same.
* ''Anime/UmiMonogatari'' has this as a crucial plot point, though no alcohol is involved. Instead, there's a soothing song the island priestess sings; it even calms Marin out of her HeroicBSOD. [[spoiler: And the ocean. The islanders' tears and a ritual involving tossing stones that represented their sorrow into the sea formed Sedna out of their collective grief]].
* In the ''Anime/UruseiYatsura'' movie "Always My Darling" after being depressed that Ataru has fallen under the influence of a love potion and tells her he only loves Princess Lupica, Lum goes to a space bar with her friends Oyuki and Benten downing drinks with pickled plums inside which makes her species drunk.
* ''Manga/YandereKanojo'': Being underage, Reina drowns her sorrows by eating pickled vegetables instead of drinking alcohol.
* ''Manga/Zom100BucketListOfTheDead'':
** Akira used to only drink to dull the pain and exhaustion he felt from his SoulCrushingDeskJob. He only realizes just how tasty beer is to him once he's freed of said job and can drink it for relaxation.
** One of the first things Reika says on panel is how she [[INeedAFreakingDrink needs a drink]] to cope with the ZombieApocalypse. Even after she's turned into a zombie, she still has a bottle of whiskey in her mouth until she lunges at Maki to turn her.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* In ''ComicBook/AllFallDown'', Portia resorts to this after the loss of her powers, as do several superhero wannabes after being disarmed by the Ghoul.
* Shift of the ''[[ComicBook/BatmanAndTheOutsiders The Outsiders]]'' indulges in this after being forced to kill Indigo. Despite claiming that alcohol doesn't affect his physiology, he manages to get pretty damn hammered.
* In ''ComicBook/BlackestNight Titans'', Red Star was drinking in memory of his family (Pantha and Baby Wildebeest).
* Several tellings of the ComicBook/DoctorStrange origin show Stephen Strange hitting the bottle and the skids between the accident that ends his surgical career and his tutelage under the Ancient One.
* In ''ComicBook/{{Earth 2}}'', Jay Garrick finds himself drowning his sorrows in Buzz Beer after he just got dumped by his girlfriend Joan Williams (who in pre-New 52 DC Universe continuity was his wife) when Mercury came falling out of the sky, granting him the power of superspeed.
* It's heavily implied (read: all but explicitly stated) that this is why ''Comicbook/{{Empowered}}'''s Ninjette is the HardDrinkingPartyGirl she is.
* Renee Montoya does this at the start of ''ComicBook/FiftyTwo''. Of course, at that point, it wasn't so much drowning her sorrows as it was [[TheAlcoholic just plain drowning]]. At least she learns her lessons.
-->'''Kane:''' [Hands her a cup] Some hot cider, might make you feel better.\\
'''Renee:''' Only if you added some bourbon to it.\\
'''Kane:''' I didn't. But I can. If you like.\\
'''Renee:''' No. Seems that all the problems I have when I start drinking are still there when I stop.
* The one image of Malcolm Reynolds we get in ''ComicBook/FireflyBrandNewVerse'' is of him either asleep, passed out, or very drunk at a bar next to an alcohol bottle.
* ''ComicBook/{{Flare}}'' did this in the "Duel" story, which was a crossover with ''ComicBook/EternitySmith''.
* John Constantine does this at least twice in ''ComicBook/{{Hellblazer}}'', most notably in the ''Tainted Love'' arc where, after a painful breakup, he not only drinks constantly but lives on the street for months, refusing to "magic" his way out of it.
* ''ComicBook/IronMan'':
** Tony, already established as a recovering alcoholic, fell off the proverbial wagon hard when his company got taken over during TheEighties.
** [[ManipulativeBastard Obadiah Stane]] went out of his way to make Tony's life hell for the express purpose of making him fall off so that he ''could'' take over.
** Later, when Carol Danvers (ComicBook/MsMarvel) loses her power ''the second time'' (as Binary), she fell onto this and caused her to get expelled from ComicBook/TheAvengers. She manages to get out of this thanks to the counseling from Iron Man himself, as a fellow alcoholic.
** In ''Fear Itself'' he started screaming at Odin and the other gods, yelling that if they wanted a sacrifice he'd give them the "only thing he could give worth anything": his sobriety, by taking a huge swig of alcohol.
* ''ComicBook/QueenAndCountry'': Tara Chace has a penchant for this.
* This happens early in ''ComicBook/SavageDragon'' continuity. After a love interest gets StuffedInAFridge, the main character drowns his sorrows at a bar. A BarBrawl soon follows after a supervillain decides to literally [[BullyingADragon bully a dragon]].
* ComicBook/RedSonja frequently turns to alcohol to deal with her depression. Her volatile state when drunk has made her the bane of any unfortunate barkeep's existence.
* In ''ComicBook/{{Revival}}'' May Tao goes this route after realizing she may be a journalistic one-hit wonder.
* ''ComicBook/Robin1993'': After having to declare bankruptcy, sell his mansion and move into his condo in the city Jack Drake refuses to leave his bed for anything but to grab a bottle, change the music or grab a book leaving his wife and son to have to do all the paperwork involved in liquefying his assets and keeping the family afloat.
* Subverted in ''ComicBook/SonicTheComic''. Sonic is shown in disguise at a bar after [[spoiler:believing he killed the Freedom Fighters as Super Sonic]] but doesn't drink alcohol.
* Franchise/SpiderMan also did this in one issue. (Although, given [[RetCon everything]], we should probably cut him some slack...)
* Katchoo does this a few times in ''ComicBook/StrangersInParadise'', usually after a bitter argument with, or involuntary separation from, Francine or David.
* ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'':
** Superman went to the bottle in response to losing all of his powers in ''ComicBook/JLAActOfGod''.
** ''ComicBook/StrangersAtTheHeartsCore'': The ancestor of ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}'s enemy Gravity Lord "drowned both his sorrows and himself" in rum after losing his family fortune.
** In ''ComicBook/SupergirlWomanOfTomorrow'', Kara goes to an alien bar to try to forget for a bit about her planet destroyed and family gone by getting drunk.
* From ''ComicBook/TeenTitans''.
-->'''ComicBook/{{Impulse}}:''' Remember me?\\
'''[[ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes Brainiac 5]]:''' Are you kidding? I drink to forget you.
* ''ComicBook/UltimateSpiderMan'': Mr. Big defied the Kingpin for the [[EnemyCivilWar control of the criminal world]]. His henchmen, the enforcers, betrayed him and sided with Kingpin, and hold Mr. Big while Kingpin killed him. Sometime later, however, Ox is trying to get drunk, saying that "we are not men!", regretting the betrayal of his former boss.
* ''ComicBook/WerewolfByNight'' likes the occasional beer, but it becomes clear how miserable and depressed he is in volume 2 (1998) when he is rarely seen without a bottle of whiskey. His girlfriend has asked him many times to stop drinking, but that doesn't stop him from having a bottle in hand even when behind the wheel of a car.
* ''ComicBook/XMen'': Cyclops, after a revelation that he was having a psychic affair with Emma Frost, ended up in a strip club and was drinking his sorrows in wine.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Fan Works]]
* ''Fanfic/AdviceAndTrust'': After having a tense talk with Rei, Ritsuko spent the whole night drinking wine and crying.
* ''Fanfic/BartSimpsonAttorneyAtLaw'': Bart ends up doing this. In college, he ended up drinking himself into a stupor after Gina cheated on him. [[spoiler: It was so bad, he even contemplated suicide]]. [[ManipulativeBitch Jessica]] [[TheVamp Lovejoy]] worming her way into Bart's life and [[spoiler: Gina returning to Springfield]] drive him back to the bottle, forcing an intervention by Milhouse and Alex.
* In ''Fanfic/BetweenMyBrotherAndMeMorsOmnibus'', Yvonne is slurping down two bowls of ''oh no kaung swe'' -- a Burmese noodle soup dish made with chicken and coconut milk -- the chapter after she [[spoiler: has to kill Yusho Sakaki]]. She even asks Mallow (who runs a Burmese restaurant in this story) if she has noodles for said sorrows.
* ''Fanfic/TheBlackPrince'': Harry gets drunk after Eggsy leaves him.
* An elderly [[Film/JojoRabbit Johannes "Jojo" Betzler]] drinks heavily in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13484770/1/Butterflies Butterflies]]''.
* After ''Calvin'' gets invited to a fancy New Year's party instead of his parents in ''Fanfic/CalvinAndHobbesTheSeries'', Dad notes this:
--> "Come on, dear. You can drown your sorrows in the cider."
* ''Fanfic/ChasingDragons'':
** The Watch commander of Gulltown is doing this when Ser Harry Flash arrives to investigate the [[TheFundamentalist Old Faith]] situation in the Vale, due to Denys and Gerold Arryn's [[PoliceBrutality heavy-handed attempts]] to stomp out the movement only leading to widespread unrest and a burgeoning potential CivilWar.
** Jaime spends some time on the Summer Islands doing this in light of how his life has spiraled ever since [[spoiler: renouncing his inheritance]]. It lasts until a local priest literally smacks some sense into him and offers to help him redeem himself.
* ''Fanfic/TheChildOfLove'': Subverted in chapter 8. Misato is sitting at the kitchen table, head buried in her hands because she is grief-stricken and hopeless to [[spoiler:save Asuka’s life.]] A beer can is sitting on the table in front of Misato, suggesting she has been drinking to try to forget...until the narration states that she has not touched her beer yet.
* ''Fanfic/CyclesUponCycles'': After the Battle of the Citadel [[spoiler: and Shepard being spirited away by the Dominion]], Kasumi retreats to Dead Man's Port to drink herself into a stupor [[spoiler: after all her attempts to locate him fail]].
* Fanfic/TheDearSweetieBelleContinuity:
** Trixie and Cheerilee reference word for word having done this in ''Morning Glory'', Trixie apparently simply due to feeling uncomfortable being with the other ponies at [[spoiler:Fluttershy and Big Macintosh's]] wedding reception (despite having been hired to entertain the foals), and Cheerilee due to [[spoiler:losing Big Mac to Fluttershy]].
** In ''The Changelings Have a King'', Dash and Caramel [[spoiler:on the anniversary of Pinkie's death]].
** Also in ''Changelings'', Cheerilee and Crescendo after the former [[spoiler:is chewed out by Big Mac for suggesting that they and Fluttershy [[{{Polyamory}} form a herd]] since Fluttershy cannot have any more foals (which Mac had not even known)]] and the latter [[spoiler:learns Spike is planning to propose to Rarity, whom Crescendo has realized he is still in love with]].
* ''Fanfic/DeathNoteEquestria'': Colgate does this when [[AntiHero L's]] methods get to be too much for her. Meanwhile, ''Celestia'' is strongly implied to have developed an outright drinking problem because of Kira's actions.
* ''Fanfic/TheDesertStorm'': At the start of the story, Obi-Wan Kenobi is introduced as having become TheAlcoholic to cope with his grief in the four years following Order 66.
* ''Fanfic/DoingItRightThisTime'': In the first story draft Rei decided to get hammered when she thought she had missed her second chance and Asuka had beaten her to the punch again because she was under house arrest (long story) for long enough for Asuka getting there and get her claws into Shinji before she did.
* This occurred to Celestia in the backstory of the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' fic ''Fanfic/DropOfMoonshine''. After banishing her sister Celestia began [[TheAlcoholic drinking copious amounts of alcohol]]. This caused her council to force her to [[GoingColdTurkey go cold turkey]] by throwing away all the alcohol in Equestria. Celestia eventually banned alcohol period, though after Luna came back her sister convinced her to legalize it again. As a result, ponies no longer understand what alcohol is.
* Empath from ''Fanfic/EmpathTheLuckiestSmurf'' becomes an alcoholic from drinking [[FrothyMugsOfWater sarsaparilla ale]] in the alternate timeline where Smurfette marries Papa Smurf. Hefty in the main timeline story "Empath's Wedding" sits alone in Tapper's Tavern with a single glass of sarsaparilla ale on the night before the wedding, wondering why Smurfette won't marry him and realizing that he just couldn't compete against Empath. By morning, it is clear that Hefty is hung over just from that single glass.
* In ''Fanfic/{{Epiphany}}'', Aerith gets plastered in her room after meeting Sephiroth. Overwhelmed by the knowledge that tens of thousands of people in Midgar will die in a matter of days, Sephiroth's own evil plans, and the Arbiters blocking her attempts to stop all of it, she copes with it all by downing Elmyra's cooking sherry and baking brandy that night.
* ''Manga/Evangelion303'': In chapter 10 Shinji has spent several months keeping watch over [[spoiler:his comatose girlfriend]] Asuka, not knowing [[spoiler:whether she will ever wake up or not]] and his father -- whom he has not seen in years -- shows up to lecture him about ''supposedly'' neglecting his duties because he is infatuated with a pretty face. Feeling more angry and depressed, Shinji goes to a bar to drown his sorrows in alcohol.
* ''Fanfic/FarewellToLifeTheWayWeKnewIt'': It's mentioned that, due to the high unemployment rate, many people hang around bars, even in the morning.
* Inverted in ''Fanfic/FinalToll''. The happy and oblivious Romani gets drunk, but Cremia doesn't touch a bottle.
* In ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/28352337 Finding The Way]]'', Din Djarin raids Moff Gideon's stash of Corellian Whiskey after showing his face to Grogu and giving him to Luke Skywalker.
* ''WebVideo/FixingRWBY'': Yang's HardDrinkingPartyGirl attitude is in part a way of coping with her abandonment issues over her biological mother Raven [[MissingMom running off]] when she was an infant.
* In ''Fanfic/FuturesFreakMeOut'', Shinji and Asuka fly to Germany to visit Asuka's family, and they verify her father continues to show zero concern for his red-haired daughter; so Asuka decides to drag Shinji to the nearest bar and get very, very drunk.
* ''Fanfic/{{HERZ}}'': During a scene, Misato recalls she got hammered because she didn't have the guts to confess to Kaji.
* This is the last thing we see Atreus do in ''Fanfic/HiversHereBeDragons'', since [[spoiler:his starship was destroyed by Dooku using it to ram a drug cooker's]].
* In ''Fanfic/IAgainstIMeAgainstYou'', Spike goes to Berry Punch's bar when he can't take any more of having Grif and Simmons as roommates... and drinks [[DrunkOnMilk apple juice]].
* While on their forced European vacation in ''Fanfic/IfTheyHaventLearnedYourName'', Steve Rogers and Sam Wilson get smashed at a seedy bar in Croatia ([[NeverGetsDrunk Steve]] has to take a sip of some kind of [[GargleBlaster mysterious liquor]] every minute to remain drunk) and commiserate about their respective fallen friends, and those friends' sexual practices. This eventually leads to Steve brokenly confessing to Sam that he feels like he's being eaten alive by the mantle of Captain America, and the two crying into each others' shirts.
* ''WebVideo/ImAMarvelAndImADC'':
** Spider-Man does this once with milkshakes. No explanation is ever given as to why he'd use something non-alcoholic when the majority of the story takes place in a bar.
** Superman did the same thing and even joined him.
** Film/IronMan went through this when Batman's movie surpassed his movie. He got so drunk that he ended up at Wayne Manor.
* In the ''Series/OnceUponATime''[=/=]''Film/MrRight'' fanfic ''Fanfic/LoveAtFirstSightOnceUponATime'', after breaking up with Robin and being attacked by a cat on the same day, Regina decides to drink a whole bottle of wine and is continuing to do so when Kathryn finds her.
* This is implied in the animation for the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' fan-song "Music/LullabyForAPrincess". Luna is briefly shown crying with a large number of bottles nearby.
* From ''Fanfic/MaimDeMaim'', we have [[spoiler: Ryuuko]] in chapter 22. She even mentioned this to be such.
** At first, it looked like [[spoiler: Nui]] was doing this, however, it was subverted, when it was she stated [[spoiler: that she was combining the alcohols from the collection to commit suicide with]].
** After his [[spoiler:saddening 'breakup' with Satsuki, Junketsu, of all living organisms, resorts to the very substances that his brother's wearer always indulged in on a daily basis.]]
* ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11772125/1/Metroid-Kamen-Rider-Generations-Full-Series Metroid: Kamen Rider Generations]]'': Mitsuzane, through his backstories, started turning to the bottle [[spoiler:two months after Kouta and Kaito's climactic battle, despite him underage at that time]]. This is the reason why Micchy openly revealed his [[TheAlcoholic alcoholism]] to Gou and Samus.
-->'''[[SwitchingPOV Samus's Point of view]]:''' Mitsuzane had [[TheAlcoholic a very serious problem with alcohol]]. [[BittersweetEnding It all started two months after the Helheim Invasion]], Mitsuzane had [[DescentIntoAddiction began to abuse alcohol when he was still]] [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone unable to cope up over his depression]]. He had frequented in bars to drink, [[StickyFingers spending his family's money]] just to satisfy his greed for liquor to forget his troubles. Takatora also mentioned that while he was in comatose at that time, that his brother's isolated state and his alcoholism usually got him into trouble.
* ''Webcomic/TheMLPProject'': Pinkie Pie gets absolutely ''wasted'' after [[spoiler: attending Twilight Sparkle's funeral.]]
* Sirius Black tries this in [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3735743/117/The_Moment_It_Began Chapter 117]] of ''The Moment It Began'' after [[spoiler: his brother Regulus dies.]]
* In ''Fanfic/MuchAdoAboutShakespeareLovesLaboursWon'', Archie Kennedy drinks ale at the Inn after his panic attack fades away and he's anxious having confessed his love to his fellow officer and friend inadvertently. He's not sure how his friend will react, and kind of hopes he didn't realize because he recited Shakespeare's sonnet to him but checked himself before he would finish the most revealing final line.
* Parodied at one point in ''Fanfic/TheNewAdventuresOfInvaderZim'', where Tenn goes to a diner to mope over her being demoted to Tak's assistant, drowning her sorrows in soda and doughnuts. Her interactions with the bartender are played as if she's in a bar.
* ''Fanfic/TheNightUnfurls'':
** [[InvokedTrope Invoked]] by Maia, who tries to dull her [[PastExperienceNightmare Past Experience Nightmares]] from her [[RapeAsDrama traumatic rape]] with a tankard of ale. She manages only a few sips.
** During her HeroicBSOD, Olga is seen drinking as her servant, surrogate daughter, and LivingEmotionalCrutch Chloe is in critical condition. Kyril stops her from continuing by grabbing her wine bottle and [[NeverGetsDrunk down it entirely]]. He also has something to say about this.
--->'''Kyril:''' It's good wine. But it's not exactly something that will dull the pain.
* ''Fanfic/TheNutdealerExpandedUniverse'': "Red Nut Ale" consists of Nathan drinking the eponymous spirit while he broods about Tommy's betrayal.
* Subverted in ''Fanfic/OldWest''. The relationship between Rattlesnake Jake and Grace Glossy becomes strained after Jake [[spoiler:kills Grace's estranged husband for bruising her]]. Rango finds Jake in the saloon holding a glass of untouched whiskey. Eventually Jake smashes the glass in his foul mood, saying that [[IAmNotMyFather he won't allow himself to be destroyed by booze]] like [[AlcoholicParent his father]] was.
* Mark Printzen in chapter ten of ''[[Fanfic/TheOllivanderChildren The Ollivanders At War]]''. By the time Andrew and Hector find him, he's reduced to singing angry songs about Dutch sailors and whores.
* ''Fanfic/ThePowerOfTheEquinox'': After the ruling council fails to convict Dimmed Star who continues walking free, Business Savvy retreats to drink in a tavern while keeping on a chair next to him a photograph of [[OutlivingOnesOffspring his son Dream Gavel whom Dimmed Star killed]].
* Rodney Skinner in the fourth installment of ''Fanfic/ThePrivateDiaryOfElizabethQuatermain''. The second version of the volume, told from his point of view, revealed his reaction to Elizabeth (who he's hopelessly in love with) announcing her engagement to [[VillainWithGoodPublicity Ben Everett]]. Unaware that she did so under duress, he spends the day drinking himself stupid until Tom comes along to drag him out of the bar.
* ''Fanfic/TheQueenOfHearts'': After her parents died, Elsa would often drink wine, sometimes even whole bottles.
* Done very frequently in ''Fanfic/RacerAndTheGeek''. Given what [[ShellShockedVeteran the protagonist]] has seen and done, it's understandable that he drinks himself into a stupor [[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/81159/1/racer-and-the-geek/predawn practically every night.]]
* ''Fanfic/RainbowDoubleDashsLunaverse'': After banishing her sister into the sun, Luna spent most of the next twelve years getting thoroughly sloshed, usually showing up in a random town and demanding booze, until a mob of rampaging dragons shook her out of her funk, and made her realize the harm her absence was inflicting on Equestria. She is now NailedToTheWagon. [[spoiler:She also leaves out a salient detail that it wasn't just losing Celestia that caused this, but having to give up Cadenza.]]
* ''Fanfic/TheRavensPlan'': After realizing that the Remembering really is a case of having been sent back in time and not just a nightmare, Stannis resorts heavily to drinking in order to cope with the guilt of everything he did in the original timeline.
* In ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'' fanfic ''[[http://games.adult-fanfiction.org/story.php?no=600081124 A RoseAnd A Thorn 5: Resurrection]],'' Midnight makes for an absolutely ''pathetic'' drunk at Club Rouge. He drinks to forget, but all he forgets is how many drinks he's had. Mirage pulls him into a dressing room, where he continues to cry in front of her, barely comprehensible, before walking out, throwing up, and passing out on the sidewalk.
* In the ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}''/''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep'' crossover ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13324935/1/RWBY-Aqua-s-Mission RWBY: Aqua's Mission]], it is revealed that Taiyang Xiao Long has taken to alcohol in an attempt to cope with Summer Rose's death. [[spoiler:{{Deconstructed}} in chapter 8, when the group was going to visit Summer's grave on her second birthday after her death, only for Taiyang to have a nervous breakdown and drink a lethal amount of alcohol. It was only due to Aqua restarting his heart with a Thundaga spell that he didn't die.]]
* ''Fanfic/SodaAt70Proof'' starts with Rachel at a bar getting [[DrunkOnMilk drunk on soda]] because she misses Nigel. After three drinks in less than thirty minutes, Fanny decides she's had enough and takes her back home.
* In ''Fanfic/SonOfTheDesert'' Roy tries to drown his PTSD flashbacks in booze. It turns him from a wreck to a drunk wreck.
* Happens to Kurenai in ''Fanfic/SonOfTheSannin'' in the aftermath of Konoha's raid to Root's headquarters. Shizune finds her at the local bar looking miserable, since she's depressed over learning that [[spoiler:her former student Yakumo Kurama, whom she presumed dead years ago, was actually taken by Danzo and turned into one of his puppet agents.]]
* ''Series/OnceUponATime'' [=/=] ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'' fanfic ''Fanfic/SwappingGenres'': After finding out that Neal is Rumplestiltskin's son, Emma gets drunk to get over being lied to. Coincidentally, this leads to Emma getting a CurbStompBattle from Black Widow.
* In ''Fanfic/ThousandShinji'', when [[spoiler:Shinji went missing for one whole month and was in a coma for another month]], his guardian Misato resorted to drink copiously to try to overcome the pain.
* In the Belle/Aurora ''Franchise/DisneyPrincess'' one-shot ''Fanfic/ToAMerryChristmas'', Belle invites the princesses to a Christmas Eve party. Late at night, she goes down to the library when she spots Aurora drinking and reading by the fireplace. It turns out Aurora was drinking eggnog with brandy, though it wasn't her eggnog and she hadn't expected it to be quite as strong. Aurora has been troubled since her life changed. She misses living in the woods and [[DoNotCallMePaul doesn't like being called "Aurora"]]. She makes herself [[StepfordSmiler keep up a facade]] of being a perfect PrincessClassic but it's not something she's used to. Belle ends up drinking with Aurora as they talk. Afterwards, Belle escorts Aurora to her room however this leads to them sleeping together due to Aurora's fears of sleeping alone.
* ''Fanfic/TheVow'':
** Lord Chang succumbs to drinking wine after his wife passes away.
** While [[spoiler:Lord Shen]] is wallowing in the shame of being crippled during the epilogue, he considers doing this. However, he ultimately defies this trope when he remembers the above mentioned Chang and decides he doesn't want to become like the swan noble he despises.
* ''Fanfic/WalkingInTheShadowOfDreams'': [[FieryRedhead Asuka]] uses to do this when [[BrokenAce she is depressed]] -- which happens a lot. Usually, she drinks heavily and then she latches onto [[TheHero Shinji]] for comfort and reassurance.
* ''Fanfic/WearingRobertsCrown'': Having spent years of restraining himself to well-watered wine, Drakebert drinks himself into a stupor after [[spoiler: executing Quentyn Martell]].
* ''Fanfic/WhyAmICrying'':
** Filthy Rich became an alcoholic wreck after the tragic death of his wife Crystal Eyes and their unborn son, and again when his daughter Diamond Tiara was hit by a carriage and died.
** Big Macintosh apparently does this whenever someone brings up his deceased parents, as it is mentioned that he left the farmhouse for hours and returned with cider on his breath whenever his little sister Apple Bloom asked him how they died.
* In ''Fanfic/WithStringsAttached'', Paul spends an unspecified amount of time stuck in a kind of goto loop of misery and drinking. [[IJustWantToBeSpecial He's dying of jealousy]] because he's the only one of the four who didn't get any magic; he's lonely as hell because the others are all playing around and ignoring him; and when he tries to learn magic on his own, he proves incapable. He does grow a BeardOfSorrow, though the Fans end up making him shave it off. And he gets a HesBack moment when the Fans return from Winter Solstice Break and maneuver him into his long-awaited magic.
* In ''Fanfic/WorldwarWarOfEquals'', alien pilots in occupied Mexico stage a protest against their superiors demanding safer missions out of fear from both [[CoolPlane stealth fighters]] and [[EnergyWeapon rumored airborne laser weapons]]. Despite reassurance of safety, many pilots still handle their stress with [[AlienCatnip ginger]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* In the Russian war movie ''Film/{{Ninth Company}}'', one of the characters quietly declares that he would drink until he forgot about Afghanistan when the titular company is lightheartedly discussing what they would do after the war. This turned the mood somber very quickly.
* In ''Film/AndYourNameIsJonah'', Jenny copes with [[DisappearedDad Danny's absence]] by drinking wine while watching ''Series/ILoveLucy''.
* George Valentin in ''Film/TheArtist'', which he does for a great portion of the middle of the film after [[spoiler: [[ItWillNeverCatchOn his unwillingness to adjust to talkies from silent pictures]] backfires on him, along with his own film, ''Tears of Love'', bombing and bankrupting him]]. At one point, he is dragged out of a bar by [[spoiler: his old butler, Clifford]].
* ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartIII'' has a subversion. Doc goes to get drunk after losing Clara and despite telling the bartender to "leave the bottle" doesn't actually drink anything, but acts strangely anyway. Well, to the other patrons, he's acting weird. To the rest of us, he's just moping and rattling off common knowledge about 1985.
-->'''Some Guy:''' How much has he had?\\
'''Bartender:''' None. That's the first one and he hasn't touched it yet.
** And when he actually drinks ''one'' shot of whiskey (in celebration) [[CantHoldHisLiquor he passes out instantly.]]
* In ''Film/TheBakersWife'', the baker resorts to this after his wife runs off with another man.
* In ''Film/{{Bat 21}}'', after a rescue mission has gone disastrously wrong, Captain Clarke walks in on Colonel Walker hunched over a chair holding a mostly empty bottle of whiskey. After the colonel finally notices the intrusion he says, "We lost six people today, Clarke. Kids, all of 'em. Just kids."
* ''Film/BridgetJonesDiary'': Bridget finds out that Daniel cheats on her with a skinny American and that he wants to marry her. But she will not be defeated by a bad man and an American stick insect. She chooses vodka and gets drunk.
* Rick Blaine does this in ''Film/{{Casablanca}}''. You know the quote:
-->'''Rick:''' Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine.
* Near the beginning of ''Film/Deadpool2'', after [[spoiler: Vanessa's death and becoming a DeathSeeker over it]], Wade Wilson starts drinking more than usual at [[BadGuyBar Sister Margaret's]]. In between swigs, he bemoans [[Music/GeorgeMichael George Michael's]] passing, and that "At least we still have [[Music/DavidBowie Bowie]]..."
* In ''Film/TheFly1986'', Seth and Veronica's celebration of his successfully teleporting a baboon via his telepods is put to an abrupt halt when she, having found a message from her editor/ex-lover indicating that he is trying to blackmail her into leaving Seth and returning to him, decides to confront him, only giving Seth a cryptic explanation as to why. Now alone, Seth puts what he knows about Veronica and her editor together and comes to the conclusion he's being cuckolded, and gets drunk on the champagne he was sharing with her by way of celebration. At first this is PlayedForLaughs as he ends up ranting about his woes to the baboon, but then Seth decides that since it seems to be perfectly fine, why not become ProfessorGuineaPig and [[AlcoholInducedIdiocy teleport himself]]? He promptly gets to it, and [[TragicMistake doesn't notice that a housefly is in the telepod with him as he goes through]]...
* In ''Film/AFewGoodMen'', Daniel Kaffee gets roaring drunk after an important witness for his case commits suicide.
* ''Film/TheFirstWivesClub'': Goldie Hawn's character bawls about how she would have been cast as the sexy lead character of Monique in a movie not five years ago, but now she's Monique's mother. She babbles about how other actors would be better suited to the role, ending in Creator/SeanConnery, but counters the last, noting that Sean Connery would be Monique's boyfriend, as he's 500 years old but "still a stud..."
* In ''Film/TheFourMusketeers'', Athos (Creator/OliverReed) gets drunk to forget about his betrayal by Milady De Winter.
* ''Film/GirlsLikeMagic'': After hearing Jamie getting into a fight with her ex, Maggie comes over bearing alcohol and ice cream for this purpose. Jamie quickly takes up her offer.
* In ''Film/TheGuilty'', Rashid's guilty conscience over lying to cover for Asger and his nervousness over testifying the next day causes him to hit the bottle.
* Linda and Ned have a discussion about this in ''{{Film/Holiday}}''. See also the "Theatre" entry.
* ''Film/TheHungerGames'': Just like in the books, Haymitch is pretty drunk when he first meets the latest set of kids he'll have to prepare to fight to the death. Unlike in the books, it's not a formal agreement he makes with Katniss and Peeta that keeps him out of the bar. The film makes a clear point of displaying how he sobers up only after it becomes clear to him that Katniss and Peeta have a legitimate chance of surviving the games (and on several occasions he is reminded that tributes and children from other districts actually see being recruited for the games as a good thing, even fun).
* Sarah Packard in ''Film/TheHustler1961'' frequently does this, to forget her various past loves.
* The protagonist of British UsefulNotes/WorldWarII movie ''Film/IceColdInAlex'' starts out the film drinking heavily as a result of the stress he's been put under during the campaign in Africa, and the plot is driven by his yearning for a cold beer 300 miles away.
* After Howard Brackett (Kevin Kline) admits to his fiancée Emily Montgomery (Joan Cusack) that he's gay shortly before they're to get married in the 1997 comedy ''Film/InAndOut'', Emily is shown drowning her sorrows at the same bar Peter Malloy (Tom Selleck) is at. When a wedding dress-clad Emily hits on Peter and Peter reveals that he too is gay, this creates a hilarious HeroicBSOD moment that was coincidentally what was shown on that year's Oscars telecast when Joan Cusack was nominated for an Oscar for that role.
* [[EccentricMentor Mr. Miyagi]] (the one played by Pat Morita, NOT Jackie Chan) in ''Film/TheKarateKidPartII''. The scene in the first film when he's drinking because of his and his dead wife's anniversary qualifies, too. Especially because he passes out.
* Jason Lee's character does this to an absurd degree in ''Film/KissingAFool''.
* ''Film/TheLastSamurai'', starring Tom Cruise, has retired U.S. Army Captain Nathan Algren drunk for a good third of the movie, drowning his sorrows and being haunted by nightmares due to his role in the American Indian genocide around the time of General Custer.
%%* Basically the entire plot of ''Film/LeavingLasVegas''.
* In ''Film/LikeNormalPeople'', Roger's mother drinks to deal with the stress of caring for him, the lack of money, and her worry over his future.
* The explanation given for why Michael was in prison for a year in ''Film/MissPettigrewLivesForADay'': He planned on asking a girl to marry him, but she didn't show, so he opened up the bottle of champagne he brought, and in the course of a bottle decided the best course of action was to get her a new ring. From the Tower of London.
* ''Film/MachoDancer'': Dismayed at his sister's apparent fate and jealous of Pol and Bambi's relationship, Noel engages in alcohol, drugs and self-harm with other dancers.
* In the Puerto Rican short film ''Film/{{Modesta}}'', this sign can be seen in the tavern.
-->''Si toma para olvidar\\
Pague antes de tomar\\
(If you drink to forget\\
Then pay before you drink)''
* ''Film/MrRicco'': When George, a police detective, finds proof that a cop shot an unarmed man and planted a shotgun on him, he tells a fellow officer, "Let's get drunk."
* Inigo Montoya does it in ''Film/ThePrincessBride'' after losing a sword fight and losing Vizzini, thinking he'll never be able to kill the six-fingered man now.
* ''Film/ThePunisher2004'' has the title character resort to drinking Wild Turkey Bourbon (TM) straight in his depression after the murder of his entire family. The way the bottle was clearly labeled and placed on the table facing the audience smacks of ProductPlacement.
* ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'' invokes the trope twice; first Indy drowns his sorrows when he thinks [[spoiler:Marion was blown up by the Nazis]], then Belloq ''thinks'' he's drowning his sorrows with Marion, but [[{{Foreshadowing}} as we already know]], she's drinking him under the table trying to escape.
* Harry and Cecil from ''Film/RevengeForJolly'' consume huge quantities of beer, prescription drugs, and weed after the murder of Harry's beloved dog.
* In ''Film/RiotOnSunsetStrip'', Andy's mother is a raging alcoholic, which she says is because of the horrible suffering she's been through. She never specifies exactly what happened to her.
* ''Film/ShadowsOfForgottenAncestors'': Ivan drinks copious amounts of vodka as he mourns [[TheLostLenore Marichka]] during his loveless marriage.
* In ''Film/ShredderOrpheus'', after losing Eurydice by looking back, Orpheus drowns his sorrows in his music and skateboarding for at least a year.
* Coogan, Finegarten, and Culley sit around drinking heavily after Felix's death in ''Film/{{SOB}}''.
* Similarly, Harry Osborn in ''Film/SpiderMan2'' takes up drinking as he grieves over the death of his father in the prior movie. Harry's drink of choice is [[ProductPlacement Makers Mark Whiskey]].
* ''Film/StarTrekIntoDarkness'': Kirk after [[spoiler:losing the ''Enterprise'']], followed by Scotty when [[spoiler:Kirk is forced to accept his resignation when he won't allow the experimental torpedoes onto the ship]].
* Tecate beer is common for this trope, as it is one of the few beer brands that will pay for product placement even when characters use it in this way:
** ''Film/HellboyIITheGoldenArmy''
** ''Film/TheHammer''
* Drowning Sorrows appears in ''Film/TheThreeMusketeers1993'', with Kiefer Sutherland as Athos.
* In ''Film/TheTrumanShow'' it's implied that Marlon is a heavy drinker because of the guilt he feels over constantly lying to his best friend. Interestingly, while that implication is there in the finished film, it's not present in some earlier versions of the script. Originally, Marlon was written as being almost entirely guiltless about his role on the show, and, in a deleted scene where the show's staff and actors meet behind the scenes, he gleefully mentions how much severance money the actors get if and when Truman dies, a remark that [[EvenEvilHasStandards makes even the other actors uncomfortable.]]
* In the Music/WeirdAlYankovic vehicle ''Film/{{UHF}}'', George reaches rock bottom after learning that the TV station he works for is days away from becoming insolvent, and then his girlfriend, Teri, breaks up with him because he forgot her birthday. A frustrated George decides to go out for a drink, and orders something pink with a little umbrella in it. It's a blueberry daiquiri. The drink clashes horribly with his somber mood. The commentary reveals that it was supposed to be much more flamboyant, but someone in the prop department missed the memo.
-->'''George:''' I need a drink!\\
'''Bob:''' You don't drink.\\
'''George:''' Yeah, but I've been meaning to start.
* ''{{Film/Vamps}}'': A distributing case of drowning one's sorrows with blood, combined with being a VillainousGlutton when [[spoiler: Cisserus drinks a whole restaurant dry, and implies that she'd killed more people directly before that, after a celebrity she'd attempted to seduce rejects her]].
* The reason Ron is the town drunk in ''Film/TheWarriorsWay''.
* ''Film/WhatPriceHollywood'' has Max as TheAlcoholic who only gets worse when Mary marries Lonnie.
* In ''Film/WhenAWomanAscendsTheStairs'', Keiko, who normally doesn't like to drink, gets drunk after [[spoiler:Yuri's suicide and after one of her clients, a banker, sent someone to the funeral home to demand money from Yuri's mother]]. Unfortunately, getting drunk ends up causing her ulcer to bleed.
* Eddie Valiant in ''Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit'', who still grieves over the death of his brother years earlier.
* Lawrence after learning of Ben's death and then seeing what's left of him in ''Film/TheWolfman2010''.
* ''Film/WonderWoman2017'': The war left Charlie an emotional wreck; he became a heavy drinker once discharged and has regular nightmares, freaking out upon waking up from them.
* Agent Mulder drinks in ''Film/TheXFilesFightTheFuture'' after he finds out that the FBI blames Scully and him for a bomb explosion and wants to split them up.
* ''Film/XMenFilmSeries'':
** ''Film/XMenOriginsWolverine'': Subverted; during one of the post-credits scenes, we see Wolverine in a Japanese bar. The bartendress asks him if he's drinking to forget, to which Wolverine replies he's drinking to remember.
** ''Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast'': The younger Charles Xavier attempts to escape from his emotional torment by consuming copious amounts of alcohol.
** ''Film/XMenApocalypse'':
*** Angel has several bottles of alcohol to choose from when Apocalypse pays him a visit. Warren Worthington III is drunk because although he managed to escape from the East Berlin fight club venue, he has no friends and nowhere to go.
*** Ms. Maximoff drinks heavily in the middle of the day because she still resents Erik Lehnsherr for abandoning her before Peter was born, which would've been in the mid-1950s, a time when unmarried women with children were ostracized.

[[folder:Literature]]
* Frank Browning does this in the first book of the ''Literature/AhrimanTrilogy'' when he thinks he's failed again.
* ''Literature/TheAliceNetwork'': Eve tends to drink to kill the pain. Charlie and Finn sometimes join her. (Finn in particular mentioned that he drank a lot after coming back from the war, and that this led to some of his worse decisions.)
* ''LightNovel/AscendanceOfABookworm'': After needing to break to her family the news that [[spoiler:she only has a year left to live]], Myne wakes up in the middle of the night and notices her father drinking alone in the kitchen.
* David and Leigh Eddings have used this at various times in ''Literature/TheBelgariad'' and its prequels.
** Belgarath tried this in ''Belgarath the Sorcerer'', after learning of his wife Poledra's DeathByChildbirth. Aldur (his Master, a PhysicalGod) seems to have stepped in and stopped him by making him physically ill to the point where he couldn't touch the stuff. (Belgarath then spent some years with the ladies of Maragor; when Beldin finally retrieved him, he said that Belgarath's drunkenness was still legendary in Camaar.)
** Silk does this in ''Literature/TheBelgariad'' after speaking with his mother for the first time in years. To elaborate, his mother used to be a beautiful woman but caught a blindness-inducing [[ThePlague illness]] that left her face horribly scarred, and nobody could ever bring themselves to let her know. The scene is powerful precisely because of the contrast with Silk's playing a jerk and the overall humorous tone of the series.
* ''Literature/BelisariusSeries'': It's something of a tradition of Antonina's, when Belisarius goes away on a potentially hopeless mission against the Malwa, to get thoroughly trashed, accompanied by Irene.
* Hazel in ''Literature/BigBlonde'' takes to alcohol in order to deal with her sadness and her bad marriage. She quickly becomes an [[TheAlcoholic alcoholic]].
* ''Literature/ABoyMadeOfBlocks'': When Alex tells Dan that [[spoiler:he's been laid off]], Dan says, "Put the controller down. We are going out and we are getting shit-faced."
* In Creator/TomKratman's ''Literature/{{Caliphate}}'', on the first days of his espionage mission when he was visiting South Africa, Hamilton wishes that he could get totally trashed over his cover job [[spoiler:of a child slave trader]], but can't afford the resultant loss of control in what's effectively "enemy territory".
* Several characters in ''Literature/CarrerasLegions'', including the main protagonist, sink to this, usually over having their hearts broken.
* ''[[Literature/TheCaseFilesOfIbrahimHelsing The Miskatonic Affair]]'': A very depressed Cassandra does this with a bottle of red wine over [[spoiler:the thinking of how the world will come to an end if the villains succeed in their plans to bring about the apocalypse with the Necronomicon]].
* ''Literature/TheCatWhoSeries'': Qwill, prior to the start of the series, although he has sworn off alcohol by the time the first book begins.
* In the ''Literature/{{Chrestomanci}}'' series Christopher considers [[DrowningMySorrows getting drunk]] after [[ItMakesSenseInContext not being able to reach Millie.]] He's 15 at the time.
--->''"One could get awfully drunk here," Christopher remarked, surveying a dusty wall of bottles marked Nuits d’été 1848. "I have quite a mind to drown my sorrows, Grant. I saw [[ChildhoodFriendRomance Millie]]. I '''talked''' to her. Do you know how to open champagne?"''
* In Creator/DorothyGilman's ''Literature/TheClairvoyantCountess'', Mr. Faber-Jones, after his wife leaves him.
* UsefulNotes/GenghisKhan in Conn Iggulden's ''[[Literature/{{Conqueror}} Bones of the Hills]]'' takes to the airag after Temulun is killed during a raid ([[spoiler:after being [[MoralEventHorizon raped]] by Kokchu]]).
* In ''The Dragon's Path'', the first book in ''Literature/TheDaggerAndTheCoin'', this is Cithrin's response to losing out on a key deal for her bank. She makes an earnest attempt to drink herself into oblivion.
* The Hard Heart cantina on the ''Literature/DeathStar'' becomes this to a greater and greater extent as the plot progresses. Sometime after the [[EarthShatteringKaboom destruction of Alderaan]], the proprietor asks the bouncer to remove the few patrons who were having too much fun, and the remainder are quiet, shell-shocked.
--> It felt like a memorial service, and, in its own way, it was.
* In ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'', Sam Vimes was perpetually drunk up until his [[LateArrivalSpoiler marriage to Sybil Ramkin]]. It's implied that his KnightInSourArmor cynicism, combined with a job Vetinari had purposely made irrelevant and pointless, is what drove him to drink.
** In ''Literature/FeetOfClay'', Nobby Nobbs is told he's heir to the title of the Earl of Ankh, and Nobby's fear of responsibility briefly drives him to drink. In ''Literature/SoulMusic'', one of the methods [[TheGrimReaper Death]] tries to forget his troubles is drinking, but all it does is make him even more depressed. He does manage to make an awesome drunken speech (and drunken collapse) though.
** The Luggage, an animated chest whose sentience is debatable, [[Literature/{{Sourcery}} once]] got itself drunk on orakh ([[GargleBlaster liquor made from cactus sap and scorpion venom]], used to mitigate the effects of KlatchianCoffee) after being rejected by Conina.
** Detritus, Gaspode and Thomas Silverfish all do this about halfway through ''Literature/MovingPictures''; [[DumbMuscle Detritus]] is drinking because his girlfriend Ruby wants to be courted as the humans do and he keeps getting it wrong, [[TalkingAnimal Gaspode]] is drinking because Victor is ignoring his warnings about Ginger being in the thrall of {{Eldritch Abomination}}s, and [[KickedUpstairs Silverfish]] is drinking because he hates the way [[HonestJohnsDealership C.M.O.T. Dibbler]] is running his movie studio, relying on spectacle instead of TrueArt.
* ''Literature/DragonridersOfPern'' series:
** Lytol drinks to unconsciousness whenever he is forcibly reminded of his dragon's death, as a way of easing the pain of the loss. This is considered better than the alternative; most riders who lose their dragons [[DrivenToSuicide kill themselves]].
** There's a small instance in the first book of the same series. F'lar assumed leadership of the weyr from previous Weyrleader R'gul. After Weyrwoman Lessa performs the huge event of the plot, R'gul insists that it's not possible and F'lar must be mad and privately prepares to resume leadership once F'lar's incapability is publicly known. When people show up who prove that it really did happen exactly the way the leaders said, "R'gul got very quietly drunk."
* ''Literature/EvidenceOfThingsNotSeen'': When Tara's mom learns that [[spoiler:her husband was a drug dealer murdered by a 17-year-old prostitute he was having an affair with]], she goes straight to her room with a bottle of wine and drinks until she passes out.
* In Creator/DanAbnett's ''Literature/GauntsGhosts novel'' ''Honor Guard'', after a disaster, Gaunt takes to drowning his sorrows -- and not eating properly.
* In ''Literature/GoodOmens'', the demon Crowley once received a commendation from his superiors in Hell for starting the Spanish Inquisition. He didn't actually start it, he just happened to be in the area when it happened. When he finally started looking around to see what this Inquisition was all about, [[EvenEvilHasStandards he ended up]] [[HeroicBSOD spending most of his time afterward]] [[INeedAFreakingDrink drinking himself stupid]].
* Two examples in ''Literature/GreenAngel:'' The first is the titular Green, who drinks to numb her grief after the nearby city is blown up and her family is among the casualties. Later on, there's the Forgetting Shack, where numerous people drink themselves blind and dance to exhaustion due to suffering similar losses.
* ''Literature/HarryPotter'':
** Hagrid in ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix'' (implied). Sybil Trelawney as well, in the same book, more blatantly -- how many times does one ''need'' to read "the strong smell of cooking sherry" before getting the hint?
** In ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire Goblet of Fire]]'', Winky the house-elf drinks several bottles of Butterbeer a day after being fired by Mr. Crouch. Butterbeer is a very mild drink for humans (children can drink it without any problem) but it's pretty strong for house-elves.
* Haymitch Abernathy of ''Literature/TheHungerGames'' has been doing this ever since he left the titular DeadlyGame as a teenager. Considering his only ally and friend in the arena was killed without him having even the slightest chance to save her and most of his family and friends were then killed to punish him for his almost nonexistent "rebellion", and his job ever since has been to accompany and train two kids a year for an almost certain death in the titular DeadlyGame, you can see why.
* ''Literature/JustJuliet'': Juliet tried to do this with alcohol and drugs after losing her mother as a young teen.
* In the ''Literature/KnightAndRogueSeries'' Fisk claims that he handled being dumped by his first crush "in the time-honored way" while telling the audience about a time Jack had come to scold him for being too sentimental and attached to people while he was drunk.
* Creator/HBeamPiper's ''Literature/LittleFuzzy'' has a sad-whimsical description of the process:
-->''"Take a drink because you pity yourself, and then the drink pities you and has a drink, and then two good drinks get together and that calls for drinks all around."''
* When ''Literature/TheLittlePrince'' visits a planet with no-one but a tippler on it, he inquires why the man is drinking constantly:
-->'''Tippler:''' So that I may forget.\\
'''Prince:''' Forget what?\\
'''Tippler:''' Forget that I am ashamed.\\
'''Prince:''' Ashamed of what?\\
'''Tippler:''' [[CircularReasoning Ashamed of drinking]]!
* In ''Literature/TheManWhoCarriedTrouble'' Bill ends up in a bar, doing some hard drinking after a bad week.
* Vanessa from ''Literature/MyDarkVanessa'' relies on alcohol, cigarettes, and sometimes Ativan to get through the day.
* Happens in the ''Literature/NightHuntress'' series. Three days after [[spoiler: Bones leaves her]], Cat's apartment is littered with empty gin bottles [[HeartbreakAndIceCream and ice cream cartons]].
* In ''Literature/ANightInTheLonesomeOctober'', the monk Rastov drinks heavily to dull his awareness of all the suffering in the world that he is unable to prevent. After his death, his {{familiar}} Quicklime goes on a several-days-long bender, using fermented windfall fruit as his source of alcohol.
* In ''[[Literature/{{Newsflesh}} Feed]]'', after he's told [[spoiler:that the outbreak on the family ranch resulting in the deaths of his daughter, his wife's parents, and about half their employees, was intentionally caused by someone injecting a horse with live Kellis-Amberlee and causing it to amplify into a chompy zombie]], Senator Ryman tells Shaun and Georgia he'll talk to them about the matter the next day, after he breaks the news to his wife and then, as he puts it, "get very, very drunk".
* ''Literature/OutOfTheDust'': Billie Jo's mother had been saving up money for a while. After [[spoiler:she becomes terribly burned and deformed due to an accident involving kerosene]], her husband takes the money and goes out to drink. This leaves Billie especially bitter because [[spoiler:she couldn't help her mother much in her condition. The burns on her hands prevented her from giving her mother water to drink, despite her mother's pleas]]. It takes a while for her to forgive her dad.
* In the ''Literature/PaladinOfShadows'' novel ''A Deeper Blue'', Mike does this at the start, unable to get over [[spoiler: Gretchen's]] death in ''Unto the Breach''.
* In the first ''Series/RedDwarf'' novel, ''Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers'', Lister's response to finding out that EverybodysDeadDave is a [[FreakOut spectacular mental breakdown]] complete with massive alcohol abuse. It is ''not'' played for laughs; in fact, it goes beyond this trope to look more like a [[InterruptedSuicide narrowly-averted]] attempt at suicide by alcohol.
* Leesil, one of the protagonists of ''Literature/TheSagaOfTheNobleDead'', drinks heavily in the first arc to suppress his memories of the time he spent as an assassin.
* Dayless the Conqueror in ''Literature/ShadowOfTheConqueror.'' Despite his incredible power and success, he was [[BeingEvilSucks profoundly unhappy as an emperor]] due to him [[TheSociopath separating himself from his passions and morality]]. Downing large quantities of fine wine was the first, but [[SexForSolace definitely not the last]], tactic he used to stave off his sorrow.
* In ''Literature/SheepsClothing'', Wolf Cowrie polished off most of a bottle of brandy after he is forced to [[StakingTheLovedOne kill his vampirized ladylove]].
* ''Literature/{{Shtum}}'': As soon as Ben and Jonah arrive at Georg's house, Georg takes Jonah for an hours-long walk. Ben takes the opportunity to get smashed and fall asleep in front of the TV to cope with the prospect of not seeing Emma for the next few weeks.
* In the backstory for ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'', a young Littlefinger does this after being (rather cruelly) rejected by his crush, Catelyn. Unfortunately for him, Cat's sister, Lysa is infatuated with him and [[QuestionableConsent seems to like her]] [[DudeShesLikeInAComa men unconscious...]]
** King Robert Baratheon has spent years drinking, hunting, and whoring while being married to Cersei Lannister. He still can't get over the death of his beloved Lyanna Stark, her death left a hole in him which the seven realms couldn't even fill.
* In ''Literature/{{Spin}}'', Carol Lawton spends most of the book perpetually wasted. Though one might assume that she drank primarily because of her loveless marriage to the overbearing [=E.D.=] Lawton, the real cause of her constant boozing is later revealed to be [[spoiler:her misery over the knowledge that her one true love, Tyler's mother, was utterly straight and devoted to her husband]].
* In Creator/MichaelFlynn's ''Literature/SpiralArm'' novel ''The January Dancer'', a common reason to be in the Bar on Jehovah.
* Averted and played straight in ''[[Franchise/StarWars Starfighters]] [[Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse of]] [[Literature/XWingSeries Adumar]]'' -- Wedge heads to a bar mostly for privacy while he thinks through some questions of honor vs. the chain of command (he doesn't get very drunk, either). However, at the bar, he runs across [[spoiler: Admiral Rogriss]], who decided the answer to his problem was to get stone drunk.
** Played straight in an earlier book of the series, when Ton Phanan, the CombatMedic of the squadron who is allergic to bacta and thus gradually becoming [[EmergencyTransformation more and more cybernetic]], drinks and tells his wingmate that he needs less and less to get drunk, because every year, less meat, more machine. He feels that his extensive cybernetics are an outward sign that his future [[CyberneticsEatYourSoul has been destroyed]], and he has no one.
* Sydney Carton from ''Literature/ATaleOfTwoCities'' does this pretty much 24/7.
%%* Okonkwo does this at one point in ''Literature/ThingsFallApart''.
* Athos of Dumas' ''Literature/TheThreeMusketeers'' is prone to this. It's depicted as habitual and inexplicable until he tells his IHaveThisFriend story.
* In ''Literature/TimeScout'', Margo eventually realizes her father, though he's a bastard, may have developed his drinking problem as a result of her dead brother.
* ''Literature/TheTuningStation'': When Ted's dad cut him off, he kept expecting Ted to come crawling back after a few weeks, but he never did. After that, his dad started drinking because he felt that the destruction of all his relationships was God's punishment for how badly he treated others.
* ''Literature/{{Underground}}'': After the semi-finals fight, Robyn [[spoiler:is unable to cope with Tyler's death and]] has Ana take her to a bar where she gets absolutely wasted.
* ''Literature/TheVampireChronicles'' has a fair amount of this going on. Louis in ''Interview with the Vampire'' not only drinks away his sorrows but picks fights and sleeps with prostitutes, hoping to get himself killed. Later in ''Blackwood Farm'' Quinn also drinks away his sorrows and his fears. In ''Queen of the Damned,'' this is slightly subverted, as Daniel Molloy tries to drink away his madness (from the knowledge that vampires are real).
%%* Creator/LoisMcMasterBujold's ''Literature/VorkosiganSaga'':
%%** Aral Vorkosigan tries this in ''Literature/ShardsOfHonor'' before his fiancée shows up and invalidates the need.
%%** Miles Vorkosigan does it too, on occasion; evidently, it's hereditary. Though his mother (that's the fiancée we mentioned) does also say it's partially Miles's attempt to uphold tradition.
* Creator/GrahamMcNeill's ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}} Literature/{{Ultramarines}}'' novel ''The Killing Grounds'' opens with a former soldier trying to drown his sorrows. He ends up [[DrivenToSuicide blowing his brains out]] as more effective.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* ''Series/{{Angel}}'':
** Angel appears to be doing this in "[[Recap/AngelS01E01CityOf City of]], but it's merely a cover to allow him to stake some (other) vampires.
** Wesley, Lorne and Spike all drowned their sorrows [[spoiler:after Fred died.]]
** PlayedStraight in "[[Recap/AngelS02E11Redefinition Redefinition]]" when Angel fires the rest of his staff -- they immediately go to a karaoke bar they know, get incredibly drunk, and sing "We Are The Champions". Badly.
** Maybe not drowning, but Wesley certainly takes his sorrows for a swim after his split from AI.
* ''Series/AshesToAshes2008''. Alex Drake may be the only woman born who can hold her own in a wine bar with Gene Hunt and an epically bad mood, and she has every excuse in the world for doing so.
* ''Series/BabylonFive'':
** Vir, after [[spoiler:killing [[TheCaligula Emperor Cartagia]]]]. Notably, the scene manages to go from [[WhatHaveIDone dead serious]] to [[RuleOfFunny completely hilarious]] and [[MoodWhiplash back]], mostly because Vir doesn't get drunk very often.
--->'''Vir:''' I was toasting Emperor Cartagia. And since he wasn't here, I drank for him. And then, I couldn't be rude, so I had to drink with him. So first it was me drinking for him and then him drinking for me and then I kinda got into this kinda cycle. And then here comes Cartagia, his glass broke -- or maybe it was my glass. Would you like some? Because you know what, I think this is Cartagia's glass after all, so it would be quite appropriate, don't you think?\\
'''Vir:''' How much more before I can look in the mirror and not see myself? Because I keep looking, and I'm always there. And right now, I don't want to see me.
** It's also a significant part of [[TheAlcoholic Garibaldi's]] {{backstory}}. [[spoiler:Garibaldi restarts drinking when he realizes that he can't kill Bester for [[MindRape brainwashing]] him into [[MoreThanMindControl accidentally betraying]] Sheridan]].
** Londo is also a heavy drinker. First, he drinks to the [[VestigialEmpire lost glory of the Centauri Republic]], then to [[spoiler:[[MoralityChain Adira]]]] and finally to [[spoiler:ruined Centauri Prime and to keep the [[PuppeteerParasite Drakh Keeper]] from ruining his ThanatosGambit]]. Unlike the other examples, it's not a phase or a problem so much as a universal constant.
* ''Series/BattlestarGalactica2003'' has this happen to several characters several times during the show's run. [[AFatherToHisMen Bill Adama]] hits this trope in the fourth season, so much so that his best friend and second in command (and accomplished [[TheAlcoholic alcoholic]] himself) Saul Tigh has to snap him out of it.
* When Leonard's mother, a neurophysiologist and psychologist, comes to visit on ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'', her influence prompts Leonard to knock on Penny's door and simply ask, "Do you have any alcohol?" The two of them spend most of the rest of the episode getting sloppy drunk.
* In the [[Recap/BlackMirrorTheEntireHistoryOfYou third episode]] of ''Series/BlackMirror'' Liam ends up getting drunk after suspecting his wife was flirting with another man. Decides to get the babysitter involved before driving over and attacking the guy.
* On ''Series/BoyMeetsWorld'', Cory does this once after his break up with Topanga in Season 5. In a later episode, Shawn does this after [[spoiler: he is unable to find his real mother.]]
* ''Series/TheBoys2019''. Averted with Grace Mallory, the former leader of The Boys. After her grandchildren were murdered as a result of her investigation into the Supes, she retired and took up birdwatching, saying it was that or alcoholism.
* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'':
** Giles starts drinking heavily after Jenny's death, and it's not played for laughs. Jenny's death drove Giles to seek fiery vengeance, as well as a bottle. He also got scarily drunk, alone, when the fallout from his Ripper days first encroached on Sunnydale in the form of a demon-possessed corpse by the name of Eyghon. He worked his way through a list of old friends' phone numbers (plus half a bottle of scotch) only to learn they were all dead. His missing an appointment with Buffy for the first time ever was enough to tip her off that something was wrong.
** In "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E9TheWish The Wish]]", an alternate-universe Sunnydale without Buffy is overrun by vampires. Giles leads a ragtag band of vampire hunters, and his apartment littered with liquor bottles spells out his desperation.
** He also got drunk in Season 4's "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS4E20TheYokoFactor The Yoko Factor]]" when Spike's manipulations got him feeling he was useless.
** In "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS4E12ANewMan A New Man]]", he was so upset about feeling useless that he went out and got drunk with Ethan Rayne. Bad idea.
** In "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS4E9SomethingBlue Something Blue]]", Willow isn't drowning her sorrows. She's just bathing them.
** [[SpaceWhaleAesop The episode where Buffy's beer-drinking spree made her go, in her own words, one million years BC. If ever there was a more literal way to convey the message, "drinking is bad, kids."]] The only more literal way would be if the episode had been called "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS4E5BeerBad Beer Bad]]", WHICH IT WAS. Given this exchange at the end of the episode, one gets the impression that Creator/JossWhedon couldn't resist subverting the anti-alcohol message:
--->'''Xander:''' And was there a lesson in all this, huh? What did we learn about beer?\\
'''Buffy:''' Foamy!\\
'''Xander:''' Good. Just as long as that's clear.
** In "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E16Doppelgangland Doppelgangland]]", Anya tries to drown her sorrows at the Bronze, but as she looks outwardly like a teenage girl the bartender stubbornly insists on an I.D. "I'm 1,120 years old! Just give me a frickin' BEER!!!"
** There's Spike in "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E8LoversWalk Lovers Walk]]". Apparently alcohol ''does'' affect vampires.
** "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS6E5LifeSerial Life Serial]]" has the trio trying to destroy Buffy's life. Spike steps in and helps her with scotch before she agrees to go with him to a BadGuyBar for information. She promptly takes a bottle of alcohol and spends the night snarking as she gets drunk off her dial. She regrets it later as she spent the rest of the night puking. Next time Spike asks if she wants a drink she firmly declines.
** In "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS6E18Entropy Entropy]]", Anya tries to get Spike drunk so he'll curse Xander after breaking up with him. As Spike has been dumped by Buffy, the two end up sharing the bottle and having SexForSolace.
* In ''Series/BurnNotice'', it's {{inverted}} with [[TheAlcoholic Sam Axe]], who's almost always seen with a beer in hand. It's the times he's ''not'' drinking that show he's either being serious or he's dealing with personal issues.
* The Canadian TV series ''Series/ButchPattersonPrivateDick'', features a title character who drinks for a number of reasons, not least his shame over his tendency to [[UrineTrouble wet his pants]], to prematurely ejaculate, or his inability to have sex without paying a woman for it. He normally keeps up a brave front, but he occasionally lets his private shame and self-pitying show through, bursting into tears, yelling at whoever is in the room and then running away.
* In the first episode of ''Series/ChariteAtWar'', Anni's brother Otto, a ShellShockedVeteran, gets massively drunk on his sister's party in an attempt to forget about his war trauma. It's not pretty, but at least he doesn't make it a habit.
* ''Series/Charmed1998'': After Phoebe pulls a FaceHeelTurn to be with Cole, who's now the Source of Evil, Piper [[ItsAllMyFault blames herself]] because she's the older sister and is supposed to look out for Phoebe. Leo eventually finds Piper drinking the alcohol inventory at her nightclub to try and deal with her despair.
* On an episode of ''Series/{{Cheers}}'', Rebecca is devastated when she loses her last chance to confess her feelings to the boss she's nursed a crush on for years. Sam comes to her apartment to console her, but quickly makes his excuses when he realizes he doesn't have the willpower to stay there without trying to seduce her. Left alone and bereft, Rebecca casually lines up a series of shots of liquor to consume in succession. Subverted when Sam calls from the downstairs lobby, insisting it's the only way he can be there for her without giving in to his baser nature.
%%* Colleen [=McMurphy=], on ''Series/ChinaBeach''.
* In the ''Series/{{Community}}'' episode "[[Recap/CommunityS2E10MixologyCertification Mixology Certification]]" Annie starts off the night ordering root beers but as she gets progressively worked up about planning out her entire life she eventually switches to screwdrivers.
* Flack, after Angell's death on ''Series/{{CSINY}}''. Unfortunately, he got beat up on the subway and almost passed out. A former C.I. took him to his place because he was so drunk. No one knew where he was at the time, even when he was supposed to come to work, and Mac had to try pulling him back to reality once they found him, which the group had been trying to do for a while but he rebuffed them. Fortunately nearly losing his job (and worse, his life) woke him up.
* ''Series/{{Dexter}}'':
** Sgt. Doakes discussed this with Dexter, telling him that lots of cops deal with the stress of the job with either booze or drugs and that lots of them became addicts.
** Debra drinks once when she reminisces about her father, a legendary cop on the force, Harry Morgan. She was proud of herself to moderate her drinking, but any time she hears some crap that happened with him, she needs to drink.
* ''Series/DoctorWho'': In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS36E6Extremis "Extremis"]], a group of scientists at CERN do this after reading ''[[TomeOfEldritchLore The Veritas]]'', before they [[DrivenToSuicide blow themselves up]].
* ''Series/TheDropout'': Ian Gibbons is fired and later rehired but ReassignedToAntarctica. He ends up stuck in a meaningless do-nothing job and unable to quit (he needs the health insurance). To cope with this, Ian increasingly retreats into a bottle.
* In ''Series/{{Farscape}}'', Aeryn spends all of "The Choice" drunk while she mourns [[spoiler:Crichton's death.]]
* A flashback in one episode of ''Series/{{Frasier}}'' shows Niles hitting the (wine) bottle especially hard during his divorce from Maris, making a reference to the term when he said, "Who knew my sorrows were such strong swimmers."
* On ''Series/{{Fringe}}'' most of the cast has gotten in on this at one point or another.
** Walter Bishop is normally on any number of psychotropic drugs at once. When he hits rock bottom, instead of drowning his sorrows, he smokes them out. To similar, but far more hilarious, effect.
** Olivia drinks so often it's pretty much her nightly ritual now.
* ''Series/GameOfThrones'':
** Robert Baratheon's drinking problem is strongly implied to be caused by his lost Lyanna. He even claims that "seven kingdoms couldn't fill the hole she left behind."
** Bronn encourages Tyrion to drink until it feels like he did the right thing in "The Lion and the Rose".
* ''Series/GoodbyeMyPrincess'':
** Gu Jian spends most of his time drinking after he almost dies and realises Xiao Feng has lost her memory.
** Mi Luo gets drunk when Pei Zhao marries Luo Xi.
* ''Series/GoodOmens2019'': When Crowley thinks Aziraphale is dead he's so upset that he completely gives up on his plan to run away from the impending Armageddon and gets drunk in a nearby pub.
* On ''Series/GoodTimes'', Keith does this after feeling frustrated about not being able to play football, working part-time as a cab driver, and the lack of full-time work. The drinking escalates when his old college roommate (now a pro football player) comes to visit. Keith then starts insulting everyone around him and he slaps Thelma. Thelma packs his bags and tells him that he can either quit drinking for good and stop feeling sorry for himself or he can leave her for good. Keith chooses Thelma.
* ''Series/GossipGirl'': Modus operandi of Chuck Bass.
* Probably the best way to explain Meredith's relationship with tequila, on ''Series/GreysAnatomy'', is through this delightful quote, by, of all people, Alex Karev, who wasn't exactly her BFF:
-->'''Alex:''' When your life is sucky you get drunk and sleep with inappropriate men. It's your thing.
* Nathan Petrelli, complete with BeardOfSorrow, at the beginning of the second season of ''Series/{{Heroes}}''.
* In the ''Series/HoratioHornblower'' miniseries, this is how Mr. Buckland deals with being an Acting Captain and not quite fit for command -- drinking lots of port. He starts with "freaking drinks" to calm himself down and ends up getting drunk on a regular basis. He's once found napping in a net in his cabin, holding an empty bottle. One scene depicts him sadly pouring himself port, and the wine overflows the glass and he just sadly watches the stream flowing on the table.
* In ''Series/IDreamOfJeannie'' Roger and Tony were depressed and decided to get [[DrunkOnMilk loaded on ice cream sundaes]].
* In the miniseries ''Series/{{Innocent}}'', Tarık began self-medicating with alcohol after the death of his wife Emel, [[spoiler:whom he believes he killed himself during a heated argument]].
* ''Series/InspectorLynley'', after [[spoiler:his wife's death in the series five finale]], which he believes is his fault, takes to this. His partner, [[SarcasticDevotee DS Barbara Havers]], is not amused, but even though she's his MostImportantPerson, even ''she'' can't reach him. It takes an ItsPersonal case, [[ItMakesSenseInContext a near brush with arrest for murder]], and Barbara nearly being killed to [[HesBack make him something remotely like himself]] again. The first thing he does after he comes to his senses is apologize to Barbara, after which she remarks, "You know, I probably shouldn't say this, but [[INeedAFreakingDrink d'you fancy a drink]]?" Clearly, this time she trusts him not to go off the deep end.
* Many [[KoreanDrama Korean Dramas]] use this trope, both as drama and as comedy.
** In ''Series/BestLove'', Ae Jeong drinks an entire bottle of wine in one gulp to make a point, Jae Suk gives a drunken confession of love to his boss, and Aw Hwan mumbles a request to Jenny not to drink red wine with anyone but him. And so on...
** Woo Ri and Min Sook get sloshed while male-bashing in ''Series/CanYouHearMyHeart''. Joon Ha does it one night which leads to his confession that he's the LongLostSibling.
** The fusion historical drama ''Series/SungkyunkwanScandal'' has [[WholesomeCrossdresser Kim Yoon Shik]] giving a drunken Lee Seon Jung a [[PiggybackCute ride]] back to the school one night.
** ''Series/TwinkleTwinkle'': Mostly serious sorrowful drinking, especially by the female leads.
** ''Series/YouAreBeautiful'': Go Mi Nam gets drunk on champagne his first night and ends up throwing up on the lead singer of the band he just joined. This is after throwing up in a flower pot, [[spoiler: and before anyone knows he's a girl]].
* On ''Series/LieToMe'' Foster gets totally smashed (on a bottle of Lightman's very, very expensive Scotch, no less, which she stole from his office). When he confronts her, she is both hilarious in her chattiness and heartbreakingly honest, as she displays her vulnerability and her love and loyalty for Lightman, while finally taking a stand against his aggressive personality.
* It happens in both versions of ''Series/{{Life On|Mars2006}} [[Series/LifeOnMars2008 Mars]]'' as well. "What? I had no idea how long this stakeout was going to last!"
* ''Series/{{Lost}}'':
** Christian Shephard spent the last week or so of his life drowning his sorrows in Australia.
** Jack's taken to doing so in the [[spoiler:flash forwards]].
** Desmond, especially when he realized he couldn't [[spoiler:escape the island and returned in this state in the Season 2 finale. Plus his time travelling woes led him to the bottle too (although Charlie and Hurley were exploiting him a bit)]].
** Sawyer is fond of drinking to drowns his sorrows as well.
* Just about every ''Series/{{MASH}}'' character was prone to this at some point or another.
-->'''Hawkeye:''' Drowning your sorrows, Margaret?\\
'''Margaret:''' No... just taking them out for a little swim.
* ''Series/TheMentalist'': Jane gets hammered on Bloody Marys in "Red Rover, Red Rover". This was on the anniversary of his family's death. Since he had a "regular table" with two empty places, it is possible he does this on special dates (birthdays, happier anniversaries, etc.).
* ''Series/MiamiVice'': After [[spoiler:his second wife Caitlin]] is killed, Crockett spends the next three weeks drunk, cleaning and polishing everything on his boat.
* ''Series/MidnightCaller'': After [[FriendlyFire shooting his partner Rusty]], Jack "climbed into a bottle" for six months.
* ''Series/MissFishersMurderMysteries'': Jack Robinson tries this after the accident in "Blood at the Wheel", because he thinks the VictimOfTheWeek is Phryne herself -- a prospect he later admits is "unbearable".
* ''Series/MyCountryTheNewAge'': Seon-ho starts drinking after Bang-won kills Nam Jeon, depriving Seon-ho of his revenge.
* Ben Harper from ''Series/MyFamily'': One episode features him being unable to get at his booze, resulting in him grinding through a fair chunk of the 10,000 or so choices on the combination lock in order to get at whiskey [[spoiler:that turns out to be cold tea, courtesy Nick's new job as a background actor]].
* ''Series/MyLeftNut'': Mick ends up drinking a ''lot'' in the WildTeenParty, due to his fear of having cancer and fumbling his relationship with Rachael.
%%* Kirsten in ''Series/TheOC''.
* ''Series/TheOutpost'': After Garret is [[spoiler:reportedly]] killed, Gwynn starts to drink and gamble frequently while not occupied with her duties.
* In ''Series/ThePinkertons'' episode "On Account of Huckleberries", this is how Sheriff Logan responds when the corpse of a woman he once loved is discovered and he's accused of her murder. It only makes things worse for him.
* During the Las Vegas season of ''Series/TheRealWorld'', Frank drinks water ''in anger'' during Steven and Trishelle's first hook-up.
* ''Series/TheRiseOfPhoenixes'': Zhi Wei gets drunk after being disowned.
* Michael attempts to do this in ''Series/{{Roswell}}'', only to discover that he's genetically an extreme lightweight. He spends the rest of the night in severe pain.
* Chimatsuri Doukoku, the BigBad from ''Series/SamuraiSentaiShinkenger'' is stuck in another dimension, without being able to conquer earth, he deals with his frustration about not being able to do anything by drinking large amounts of sake (rice wine). His ''Series/PowerRangersSamurai'' counterpart Master Xandred averts this trope by using [[FrothyMugsOfWater medicine for his constant headaches]] instead.
* ''Series/{{Scandal}}'': Both the President and Cyrus do this (sometimes together).
** Mellie became a pretty heavy drinker in Season 3, and it escalated to the point of constant inebriation after [[spoiler:Jerry's death.]] She still has occasion to hit the hooch now and then.
* ''Series/SchittsCreek'': When Bob kicks him out of the garage, Johnny spends the afternoon getting drunk at the cafe. When Jocelyn brings him home, he confesses to Moira that he is demoralized by their situation and doesn't feel like a good provider anymore. In a role reversal, Moira consoles him and assures him he's the one holding the family together.
* Almost every (major) character has done this at least once on ''Series/{{Scrubs}}''. Probably most notable is the occasion when Dr. Cox spends around a solid week doing this after [[spoiler:killing three patients by causing them to have rabies-infected organs transplanted]] and needs babysitting by all the other characters.
* Damar of ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' spent several episodes getting drunk, to drown out first his unease and his conscience over dealing with the Dominion, his murder of Dukat's daughter, then his problems when promoted to leader of Cardassia. His snapping out of this and [[HeelFaceTurn becoming a good guy]] marks the beginning of his becoming truly badass. And he slips a bit of information to Quark, leading to a particularly entertaining scene in which he is trying to tell Kira and Odo what he learned while roaring drunk.
-->"I just shared a bottle of kanar...with Damar!...Hey...that rhymes! [unintelligible giggling]"
* ''Series/StrangerThings'':
** Hawkins sheriff Jim Hopper delved deep into alcoholism after his daughter died of cancer and his wife divorced him.
** In "Trick or Treat, Freak," Nancy attends a Halloween party with Steve, while still racked with the guilt over the death of her best friend Barb at the hands of the Demogorgon the year before. She quickly gets wasted on the alcoholic punch being served. Steve tries to snatch her cup away when he notices her getting too intoxicated to walk, and in the struggle, she ends up spilling punch on her dress. When he takes her to the bathroom so she can try to dry off, she lashes out at Steve and implies that she doesn't love him. A heartbroken Steve storms out, and Jonathan has to take her home and put her to bed.
* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'':
** It's shown that Sam and Bobby both drink a lot after Dean's death by hellhound at the end of Season 3. Bobby, at least, has been hinted to be avoiding alcohol now, but with the whole Apocalypse, Sam using his powers, and Dean's memories of Hell, the boys have still been drinking in a not-so-healthy way.
** After finding out that God doesn't intend to do anything about the Apocalypse, Castiel goes and drinks a liquor store.
--->'''Castiel:''' I found a liquor store.\\
'''Sam:''' ...and?\\
'''Castiel:''' And I drank it!\\
''[later]''\\
'''Dean:''' Where have you been?\\
'''Castiel:''' On a bender.
** In "The End", Dean travels to a BadFuture where Castiel has lost all his powers and now feels useless, so has become a new-age guru losing himself in sex and drugs.
** Dean's at the bottle again in Season 7 after [[spoiler:Cas' death]].
** In the Season 9 finale, after [[spoiler:bringing Dean's dead body back from the fight with Metatron]], Sam hits the scotch.
* ''Series/TenMilesOfPeachBlossoms'':
** Bai Qian gets drunk after catching Li Jing cheating on her.
** Feng Jiu starts drinking after she's sent back to the Fox Kingdom.
* Subverted in an episode of ''Series/{{Titus}}'': Christopher Titus' father, habitual drinker Ken Titus, goes on the wagon, and his relatives find his sober behavior so insufferable that within two weeks they have an intervention to urge him to start drinking again.
* After being [[spoiler:killed and brought back to life]] in ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'', Owen went out drinking. This, however, ended badly for him [[spoiler:seeing as dead people can't digest anything.]] He also goes through more mild forms of this after Diane leaves him.
* Damon often resorts to this on ''Series/TheVampireDiaries''.
* ''Series/WeAreWhoWeAre'': Richard gets quite drunk after [[spoiler:three soldiers who he trained are killed in Afghanistan.]]
* Neal and Mozzie get drunk in the ''Series/WhiteCollar'' episode "Family Business", shortly after Neal discovers that [[spoiler: the man pretending to be Sam is actually his father, James.]] It's partly justified in that it was for a case Neal was working (they had to counterfeit a particular brand of whiskey), but he points out that after the events of the last few days, he's more than happy to let himself get drunk.
* ''Series/WhoseLineIsItAnyway'':
** The Irish Drinking Song game in this series is based on this and is sometimes played after the 'winner' is decided so the host can join in.
** There's a game aptly titled 'Bartender' where one player acts as the bartender and the other three sing their sorrows out (which are provided by the audience members.)
* ''Series/WordOfHonor'':
** Zhou Zishu starts drinking after he leaves Tian Chuang and again after his fight with Wen Kexing.
** Wen Kexing also gets drunk after the fight.
* ''Series/TheXFiles'', "The Blessing Way": When Mulder is presumed dead at the beginning of Season 3, Frohike shows up at Scully's house and mumbles something vaguely nonsensical. Scully takes one long look at him and asks, "How drunk are you?" to which Frohike replies by holding up a near-empty bottle of something that is probably stronger than wine. She just nods knowingly and lets him in, implying that she's done a bit of drinking herself.
* ''Series/YediYuz'': Aylin tasks her husband Bülent to hit the bar with Metin in "Biyolojik Saat", hoping it will distract him from his breakup with Gökçe. It doesn't go as expected, as Metin CantHoldHisLiquor and spends the early hours of the morning vomiting profusely.
* In ''Series/YesMinister'', Jim Hacker, at the end of "The Whisky Priest", seems at first to just [[INeedAFreakingDrink Need A Freaking Drink]] (OK, several drinks). Then:
-->'''Annie:''' You're sort of a whisky priest. You do at least know when you've done the wrong thing.\\
'''Jim:''' Whisky priest?\\
'''Annie:''' That's right.\\
'''Jim:''' Good. ''[{{beat}}]'' Let's open another bottle.\\
'''Annie:''' You haven't got one.\\
'''Jim:''' That's what you think. ''[turns, opens a red box, which turns to be filled with bottles of whisky]'' Who said nothing good ever came out of Whitehall?
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Multiple Media]]
* Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse:
** ''Film/{{The Incredible Hulk|2008}}'' strongly implies that General Ross was drinking heavily (he is saying "reload" while downing several cups of liquor) after the events of having to let Hulk escape before Tony Stark shows up with the purpose of offending him so much he won't have Blonsky participate in the Avengers initiative.
** Subverted in ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger''. Cap ''wants'' to drown his sorrows after [[spoiler:Bucky, his best friend, is killed]], but the super-serum he's been given has sped up his metabolism to the point that [[ImmuneToDrugs he can't get drunk]] no matter how hard he tries -- and if the bottle shown on the table was full when he started, he tried pretty damn hard.
** In ''Film/IronMan2'' Tony decides to get absolutely plastered at his birthday party [[spoiler:as his arc reactor is slowly killing him]]. He ends up blowing up half his house.
** ''Series/{{Daredevil|2015}}'': In "[[Recap/Daredevil2015S1E12TheOnesWeLeaveBehind The Ones We Leave Behind]]", after Karen Page kills James Wesley and has a nervous breakdown, she spends several hours drinking every piece of alcohol in her apartment and has a ShowerOfAngst. Matt and Foggy notice, but don't know why. In fact, it's implied that this happens quite a lot.
** ''Series/{{Jessica Jones|2015}}'': Jessica, after her time held captive by Kilgrave.
** ''Film/ThorRagnarok'' introduces Valkyrie, who drinks enough to impress ''Thor'' to drown out the memory of [[spoiler: being the [[LastOfHerKind only surviving Valkyrie]], as Hela killed all the others.]]
** In ''Film/AvengersEndgame'', Thor's sorrows include a long list of {{Late Arrival Spoiler}}s: the [[Film/ThorRagnarok deaths of his friends and family]], his [[Film/AvengersInfinityWar inability to protect his people, his failure to kill Thanos before he snapped half the universe out of existence]], and [[spoiler:for killing Thanos in a fit of rage after it was [[PyrrhicVictory already too late]] to save the people Thanos killed. When we see him again after the TimeSkip, he's a [[HowTheMightyHaveFallen miserable shell of himself]] who basically lives on alcohol and junk food, and has an enormous [[FormerlyFit beer belly]].]]
* Franchise/MonsterVerse: It's not seen, but mentioned a few times. Mark Russell mentions in ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019'' that he turned to drinking in the initial aftermath of his son's death, and the ''Film/GodzillaVsKong'' novelization mentions Bernie briefly did this after [[DeathByOriginStory his wife died]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* In ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedIII'', Connor recruits an old ship captain by the name of Robert Faulkner, who fell into drunkenness after his ship, the Aquila, was decommissioned and he lost his purpose. He leaps at the chance to sail her again for the Assassins and by all appearances remains sober afterward, or at least as sober as any other sailor.
* Jack [=McClendon=], from the ''VideoGame/BioShock2'' DLC ''Minerva's Den'', turned to drink after an ill-advised contract to make robotic Little Sisters left him with nothing but a huge R&D bill and a massive amount of unsold inventory. He is clearly wasted in the audio diary you find in his office, along with what appears to be his corpse, implying he drank himself to death.
* The Japanese version and the DS retranslation of ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'' implies that Frog did this when he learned King Guardia was wounded in battle, though the act itself is not shown on screen. In the SNES translation, [[FrothyMugsOfWater such a thing would be unheard of]].
* In ''VideoGame/ConkersBadFurDay'', [[BookEnds Conker ends up back at the bar where his adventure began]] [[spoiler:to drown out the pain of his girlfriend Berri's death which was exacerbated by being forced to take the Panther King's throne.]] On a more humorous note, the Grim Reaper can also be seen getting smashed after he has spent the game dealing with Conker and his extra lives.
* In ''Videogame/DarkestDungeon'' one of the ways the characters can relieve the stress of braving horrifying dungeons full of horrifying monsters is by getting tanked at the local tavern. If you're unlucky, said characters might get the [[TheTeetotaler Resolution quirk]] after a bad night of drinking so they can't relieve stress in a tavern, or get the [[TheAlcoholic Tippler quirk]] after gaining a dependency on alcohol meaning they can ''only'' relieve stress in a tavern. If you're ''really'' unlucky, the character might end up with ''both'' quirks meaning they can't relieve stress in town at all.
* ''VideoGame/DeadlyPremonition'': After the murder of her daughter, Sallie Graham starts spending a lot of time getting drunk at the SWERY '65 bar.
* This seems to be the source of Oghren's alcoholism in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins''. He got on the sauce after his wife left him and he was restricted from ever carrying a weapon while in the city or fighting in the Deep Roads. Other dwarves openly mock him for it. Constantly.
* Hinted at with Fenris in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII''. Hawke can find him drunk on the anniversary of his escape, which could also be the same day [[spoiler: the people who helped him were killed by his hands.]] Oddly, though, he's more cheerful drunk than he normally is.
* Nearly every dwarf in ''VideoGame/DwarfFortress'' has in their bio: "Urist [=McAlequaffer=] needs alcohol to get through the working day" and will add "and is working more slowly due to its scarcity" should the fortress run out. Given the myriad horrible things that can (and frequently do) happen to the dwarves, it is rather easy to see why they would drink so much? Besides them being, you know, [[OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame dwarves.]] Notably, sentients of any other sort only start flocking to alcohol in the same manner when they've achieved the famed "doesn't care about anything anymore" level of emotional jadedness, and they'll match dwarves drink for drink no matter how much it hurts their lesser livers.
* ''VideoGame/EscapeFromMonkeyIsland'' has Carla drinking at the microbrewery on Jambalaya Island to forget her time on Monkey Island. Unfortunately, Guybrush inadvertently reminds her of what she was drinking to forget, and she complains "Thanksh a load, Threepwood. Now I gotta shtart all over again."
-->'''Guybrush:''' Drinking isn't the answer, Carla."\\
'''Carla:''' That depends on the question, doeshn't it?
* In ''VideoGame/TheEvilWithin'', it is mentioned that Sebastian Castellanos started drinking heavily [[spoiler:after his daughter died in a fire implied to not have been an accident.]]
* Cass, one of your possible companions in ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' is found doing this in a crappy military bar after her caravans have (suspiciously) been vaporized. She's still TheAlcoholic after she joins your party but at least she isn't depressed.
* Happens in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTacticsAdvance'', where Cid is originally drinking heavily after the death of his wife. In the [[{{Bowdlerize}} American translation]], he merely has trouble keeping a job.
* Cloud from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' is implied to do this rarely and only when he gets really, really, REALLY depressed, like in ''On the Way To a Smile: Case of Tifa''.
* More or less [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything speculative]], but...in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX'', when Garnet resigns herself to becoming TheHighQueen, Zidane is found by their friends in a bar sulking about the possibility of his and Garnet now becoming more distant regarding their relationship. The way Zidane speaks throughout the whole scene certainly seems like he was in a drunken stupor, but...
* In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemGaiden'', if Gray and his crush Clair survive but his best friend Tobin does not, Gray crosses the DespairEventHorizon and falls into this. The remake, ''Echoes: Shadows of Valentia'', is more merciful: he gets drunkenly depressed too, but Clair manages to help him recover and they marry, [[DeadGuyJunior naming their firstborn son after Tobin]].
* In ''VideoGame/GoldenSunTheLostAge'', Piers gets washed away from his homeland by a tidal wave, followed by his mother dying from a heart attack. When you finally bring Piers back to his uncle's house, you find said uncle [[https://lparchive.org/Golden-Sun/Update%2039/10-goldsun-723.png surrounded by spilled bottles]].
* In ''VideoGame/HarvestMoon64'' this is implied to be the reason behind Karen's heavy drinking. She comes from a rather broken family, with a somewhat abusive father and a depressed mother, and has her fair share of angst.
* While it is unknown if he actually does this, Yuri from ''VideoGame/InfiniteSpace'' occasionally makes other characters (usually his sister) worried that something is bothering him when he starts to drink a lot.
* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'':
** Gorman in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask'' does this with milk, and somehow [[DrunkOnMilk ends up drunk anyway]], even though [[LampshadeHanging he himself states this is impossible]].
** And, much more tragically in [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask the same game]], the Mayor's wife Madame Aroma can be found doing the same thing on the night of the final day, having resolved to accept [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt the fate of her town and loved ones]].
** Played straight by an NPC in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess Twilight Princess]]''. After you complete his quest and leave his house, you can come back and find him missing. He's gone to the local tavern and is seated at the bar, crying his eyes out because his girlfriend is seeing someone else.
** In ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild Breath of the Wild]]'', a [[OneGenderRace Gerudo]] woman named Deltan is depicted drinking several bottles of alcohol at a bar in Gerudo Town and sobbing over various romantic rejections by men.
* In ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' DLC ''Lair of the Shadow Broker'', you can find info on [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure Captain Anderson]] that due to the pressure of being in politics and working with the head-up-their-asses Citadel Council, he's since taken up heavy drinking. And watching conspiracy vids, just to see how much bull the public is fed, probably bringing Udina along just to see the conspiracy shitstorm.
* ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'':
** ''Tali'' of all people is seen getting soused after [[spoiler: Miranda dies on Sanctuary]]. She manages to get wasted off of triple filtered Turian brandy, introduced through an "Emergency induction port". (Note that Tali also gets drunk even if [[spoiler:Miranda survives the Sanctuary mission]], but in that case, the topic that's driven her to drink is a bit different.) And then, assuming you have "From Ashes", she drunk-dials a less-than-amused Javik and becomes convinced he has a crush on Liara.
--->'''Shepard:''' That's a straw Tali.\\
'''Tali:''' [[InsistentTerminology Emeeerrrgency. Induction. Port.]]
** Ashley also gets wasted at some point, but you only see the aftermath, what with her curled up on the floor with a massive hangover. Shepard can then proceed to make fun of her.
--->'''Shepard:''' I was just thinking it would be a good time to test the fire alarm.\\
'''Ashley:''' I'll pay you a million credits not to do that, sir/ma'am.\\
'''Shepard:''' ''Two'' million, and we have a deal.\\
'''Ashley:''' You're a damned space pirate.
** In deleted content, Engineer Donnelly can be found in [[CoolestClubEver Purgatory]] drinking alone, very heavily, in the event that [[spoiler: he survived the collector base and Engineer Daniels didn't]].
* By the third ''VideoGame/MaxPayne3'' game, Max has become a raging alcoholic alongside his painkiller addiction.
* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'':
** Solid Snake mentions that, while he lived in isolation in Alaska, that he was "drinking too much," presumably to drown out his PTSD.
** Rosemary mentions something similar in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots'', where she mentioned that Raiden was frequently returning home exceptionally drunk for reasons that are strongly implied to be the result of his PTSD memories of his being a former child soldier returning to him.
* In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'' and ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidPortableOps'', Granin and Skowronski (and to a lesser extent the Russian personnel), respectively, were shown to be drowning their sorrows for being abandoned. It also overlaps into VodkaDrunkenski.
* Taro Namatame from {{Videogame/Persona 4}} is shown drinking after the death of his mistress. [[spoiler:His mental state during said moment might be a contributing factor for how he was easily manipulated by Adachi into throwing people into the TV]].
* In ''VideoGame/PretentiousGame 3'', this is how the gray square copes with his guilt over the fact that his affair with the bright pink square led to the light pink square divorcing him.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Psychonauts 2}}'', Raz discovers that Bob Zanotto, Lili's great-uncle and one of the founding members of the Psychonauts, has turned to drinking to deal with all the trauma in his life (from the death of his mother to the battle against Maligula to the apparent demise of his lover/husband Helmut Fullbear).
* In ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption'', Jack Marston implies that he has become a heavy drinker [[spoiler:to cope with the death of his family]]
* ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'':
** Chris Redfield in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil6'' is introduced getting himself wasted at a local European bar in order to forget the tragic event of him witnessing his whole team [[spoiler:being transformed into monsters]]. Only Chris and his subordinate Piers survived and he feels immensely guilty for not being able to save his crew. It takes Piers to find him and get him to face the truth in order to overcome it.
** A similar scene occurs in ''Anime/ResidentEvilVendetta'' when Chris and Rebecca go to ask Leon for his help. Traumatized by having to [[StakingTheLovedOne put down]] his infected team, Leon is deep in the bottle and initially hostile when asked to take on another assignment. When Chris tries to stop him from ordering more to drink, Leon defiantly takes out a flask.
** ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil7'' gives this implication in regards to retired [[ShellShockedVeteran Marine]]/family Patriarch Jack Baker having a drinking problem in the past.
* Deego in ''VideoGame/RogueGalaxy'' is first found drowning his sorrows after a combat mission went badly wrong.
* The ''VideoGame/ShadowHearts'' series has, in its first game, Koudelka, a scene between the titular heroine and Edward getting drunk and telling each other their stories. It takes a sad turn when they reveal each other's pasts.
* After [[VideoGame/TheForceUnleashed Starkiller]] defeats him at the TIE fighter construction facility above Nar Shaddaa, Rahm Kota is found in a bar in Bespin.
* In the backstory to ''VideoGame/{{Submerged}}'', after the siblings' mother was lost at sea, their father lost himself in booze. When Miku tried to snap him out of it, he drunkenly tried to stab her and her brother intervened and took the spear in his belly. You spend the game trying to save him.
* The Demoman in ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' is characterized this way. His melee weapon is the very bottle he draws his "comfort" from, and his taunt for said weapon features him shouting "Cheers, mate!" and taking a hearty swig. A good number of his in-game lines either sound completely drunk or reference his being so ("I'm drunk -- you don't have an excuse!", "Imagine if I ''hadn't'' been drunk!", etc.). His "Meet the Team" video features the strongest example of this trope, with him going from sober to somewhat wasted by the end and bemoaning the fact that he is "a black Scottish cyclops".
--> "They got more [[ClusterBleepBomb *BLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP*]]s than they got the likes o' me!"
** A taunt added in a late 2016 patch, called the "Scotsmann's Stagger", has the Demoman continuously drinking from a bottle while tipsily walking forwards and letting out drunken in-game lines with every few steps.
* Although everyone in ''Franchise/TouhouProject'' is fond of strong drink (including the creator), Parsee Mizuhashi is explicitly stated to drink to forget her [[GreenEyedMonster constant jealousy]].
* ''VideoGame/ValkyriaChronicles4'': Vincey is already a LadyDrunk doing this from before she enters TheSquad, being a ShellShockedVeteran from being SoleSurvivor of her special forces unit. She notably averts FunctionalAlcoholic in that she's TheLoad on missions randomly ending her turn prematurely, until CharacterDevelopment sees her unleash her true potential [[GameplayAndStoryIntegration via her squad mission.]]
* Parodied in ''VideoGame/VampireTheMasqueradeBloodlines'': the player character can subject the hapless, hulking, tattooed bartender at the Asylum Club to a totally nonsensical sob story, then breezily [[SubvertedTrope decline to order a drink]] and walk away.
* ''VideoGame/WingCommander III'': Halfway into the game, [[ColonelBadass Col.]] [[PlayerCharacter Blair]] drowns his sorrows [[spoiler:after discovering Angel's fate]]. After the cutscene showing [[spoiler:her fate]], you're given a choice of talking with [[WrenchWench Rachel]] or drinking some more. Unless one is a masochist, talking is probably better than drinking. Especially because [[spoiler:of the scramble alert following shortly thereafter. Alcohol and spacecraft do not mix, and flying drunk will [[InterfaceScrew make your ship behave erratically.]]]]
* It turns out that [[RedBaron The Bloody Baron]] from ''VideoGame/TheWitcher3WildHunt'' became TheAlcoholic he is due to also being a ShellShockedVeteran.
* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'': In the cinematic for ''Mists of Pandaria'', a shipwrecked Orc and human are forced to fight together against Chen Stormstout, who sweeps the floor with them. In an "outtake" released much later, they go to a tavern to get some drink, still not quite sure what happened.
-->'''Human:''' So... it was a bear?\\
'''Orc:''' In a hat! ''[passes out]''
* In ''VideoGame/XCOM2'', Not too long after the fall of XCOM, the once upstanding Central Officer Bradford had picked up some alcoholic tendencies during his time of despair before he went on to save the Commander and start the XCOM uprising.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* In the WesternAnimation/BugsBunny version of ''Film/{{Casablanca}}'', Bugs himself is drinking carrot juice saying something similar to the film's true quote.
* [[WesternAnimation/CodeLyoko Jeremie Belpois]] attempts to do this with [[DrunkOnMilk hot chocolate]] when he is upset about the fact that the uranium battery is almost all used up and [[CantLiveWithoutYou if XANA dies, so does Aelita]]. He is interrupted before he gets close to raising it to his lips.
* Done in ''WesternAnimation/FostersHomeForImaginaryFriends'', with StraightMan Mac loading himself up on ice cream to forget his troubles. Mac's metabolism can't handle sugar, and he acts like he's on speed.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'':
** Bender is doing it in [[Recap/FuturamaS1E1SpacePilot3000 the pilot episode]]. He's getting drunk because he found out that he -- a bending unit -- was used to bend parts for suicide booths. Fry wonders why would a robot need to drink, and Bender assures him that he doesn't ''need'' to drink and can quit any time he wants. It was later changed and established that robots indeed do need alcohol to function properly.
** In "[[Recap/FuturamaS1E3IRoommate I, Roommate]]", Bender gets so depressed about Fry throwing him out of their apartment that he ''stops'' drinking and (since robots need alcohol to function properly) starts to act drunk. He even grows a BeardOfSorrow made out of rust!
--->''"I'm sober and crazy and don't know what I'll do!"''
* In the ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' episode "Gideon Rising", Grunkle Stan goes to Greasy's Diner and orders "your strongest, most expired cider" to drown his sorrows over losing the Mystery Shack to Gideon Gleeful and having to send Dipper and Mabel home early.
* In "Riot's Hope" from ''WesternAnimation/{{Jem}}'', Riot sits around at a party drinking [[FrothyMugsOfWater not-alcohol]] gloomily by himself after learning his mother is sick and being forced to interact with his abusive father.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' features Bolin doing this with [[DrunkOnMilk noodles]] after he sees [[spoiler: his crush Korra kiss his brother]]. He becomes uncoordinated, sullen and the next day is clearly hungover.
* K'nuckles from ''WesternAnimation/TheMarvelousMisadventuresOfFlapjack'' seems to do this with "maple syrup". Also, in "High Land Lubber" he actually asks Peppermint Larry for something to drown his sorrows, [[spoiler:even though Peppermint Larry gives him prune juice.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Metalocalypse}}'':
** Toki Wartooth does this after his father's death, getting hammered numerous times since then. The other band members note on this, with Skwisgaar saying he doesn't want to babysit Toki during Seth's wedding, and everyone being shocked that he's drinking straight vodka in the morning. [[spoiler:Ironically, he knocks out Nathan's assailant with a vodka bottle in the Season 2 finale.]]
** It's strongly implied that this is what drove Pickles to become TheAlcoholic. [[spoiler:When Seth burned down the garage, he blamed Pickles and the rest of the family accepted it. He was ''six'' when he started drinking.]]
* Both parodied and played for drama in ''WesternAnimation/MoralOrel'':
** In the first season, Clay Puppington's alcoholism is less pronounced and played for laughs. But in the later parts of the second season and the entire third season, things take a darker turn.
** In "Nature" where he gets progressively drunker and at one point of sorrow, screams "WHY DO YOU STOP WORKING ON ME?" at the bottle.
** Another example is in the episode "Sacrifice" where he gives a very depressing and drunken monologue about life in the aptly named "old Forgetty's Pub" and then antagonizes everyone inside the bar so much, that he drives them all away.
* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': G-rated versions of this trope have cropped on occasion:
** In the first season finale, "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E26TheBestNightEver The Best Night Ever]]", Spike is disappointed when the girls leave to do their own thing at the Grand Galloping Gala instead of enjoying the night together as he suggested. At the end of the episode, we find Spike's spent the night stuffing his face with donuts and hot cocoa at Pony Joe's donut shop. He even [[DrunkOnMilk briefly acts like a sullen drunk]].
** In "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS8E10TheBreakUpBreakdown The Break Up Breakdown]]", Big Mac, Spike and Discord [[ItMakesSenseInContext are hiding in the bushes]] when they overhear Big Mac's girlfriend Sugar Belle saying things that sound suspiciously like she's planning to break up with him. The next scene cuts to Big Mac's home, where he's sobbing uncontrollably and guzzling apple cider.
* Occurs in the ''WesternAnimation/{{Recess}}'' episode, "I Will Kick No More Forever", when Vince starts losing his touch in every sport. The scene that features this trope is when he stays home from school binging out on root beer and donuts (complete with BalloonBelly) while watching video recordings of his previous games. Mikey even asks, "Don't you think you've had enough!?"
* Implied in ''WesternAnimation/SheRaAndThePrincessesOfPower'' when Catra finds Shadow Weaver holding a goblet and slurring slightly [[spoiler: after Adora [[CallingTheOldManOut calls her out]] for her lifelong mistreatment of herself and Catra, tells her she'll never let her get the power she seeks, and then goes with them [[DeathSeeker to quite possibly die]].]]
* Happens in ''WesternAnimation/ShinboneAlley'' after Mehitabel [[spoiler: tells Archy he's too low class to see her any more.]] He goes and gets plastered inside a liquor bottle.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': The only reason Moe's Tavern has stayed in business after all these years.
** With a special nod to an episode where he gives Homer a special drink, specifically made to cause short-term memory loss. Of course, when he can't remember what he's supposed to forget, Homer comes to some pretty wild conclusions.
--->'''Moe:''' Frankly, I'm surprised you're not across the street, where they drink for fun, instead of here, where, uh... horrible addiction compels you.
** In "Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish" upon being told his plant needed $56 million in renovations to avoid being shut down Mr. Burns pulls out a liquor bottle and pounds shots for several hours, drunkenly stumbling to his car and sobbing.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' episode "Ass Burgers", this is effectively what the cynics do, all [[EveryoneIsJesusInPurgatory ridiculousness]] aside. By the end of the episode, this is [[spoiler: what Stan turns to, [[NegativeContinuity possibly]] [[OffscreenInertia on a long-term basis]], just to get through a normal day.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' drowns his sorrows in ''ice cream'' in ''WesternAnimation/TheSpongeBobSquarePantsMovie''. [[DrunkOnMilk It has the same effect on him as alcohol.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': In "Mr. Greg", when Greg feels like he'll never be able to patch things up with Pearl, he goes down to the hotel bar and is seen with [[DrunkOnMilk a glass full of maraschino cherry stems]].
* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans2003'': In "Car Trouble" in the first scene of the third act Cyborg is sitting despondently on a curb, having failed to get his car back from Gizmo, surrounded by empty milkshake cups. Presently Raven shows up, looks at the cups and remarks, "Fourteen milkshakes. Not a good sign."
* When Tom gets jilted in the ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'' cartoon "WesternAnimation/BlueCatBlues," he starts drinking. Apparently, in this cartoon, milk gets him drunk. His eyes form fuel gauges to register when he's full.
[[/folder]]

* In ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'', Sam Vimes was perpetually drunk up until his [[YouShouldKnowThisAlready marriage to Sybil Ramkin]]. It's implied that his KnightInSourArmor cynicism, combined with a job Vetinari had purposely made irrelevant and pointless, is what drove him to drink.

* Music/TheRollingStones' "Honky-Tonk Women" features the line "I just can't seem to drink you off my mind."

** The second is far more PlayedForLaughs and happens in the Super S season, when Naru is manipulated into dating Tiger's Eye for three months after he claimed he was going to die, her boyfriend Umino goes on a drinking binge ''with fifteen [[DrunkOnMilk milkshakes]]''; Chibiusa is grossed out and [[LampshadeHanging comments on this]], even pointing out that saké is the traditional beverage for such behavior.

* ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory'' parodies this trope; Buzz Lightyear gets "drunk" at a little girl's tea party. Yes, on ''imaginary'' tea.

* ''Fanfic/WalkingInTheShadowOfDreams'': [[FieryRedhead Asuka]] uses to do this when [[BrokenAce she is depressed]] -- which happens a lot. Usually, she drinks heavily and then she latches onto [[TheHero Shinji]] for comfort and reassurance.
* Done very frequently in ''Fanfic/RacerAndTheGeek''. Given what [[ShellShockedVeteran the protagonist]] has seen and done, it's understandable that he drinks himself into a stupor [[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/81159/1/racer-and-the-geek/predawn practically every night.]]
* Rodney Skinner in the fourth installment of ''Fanfic/ThePrivateDiaryOfElizabethQuatermain''. The second version of the volume, told from his point of view, revealed his reaction to Elizabeth (who he's hopelessly in love with) announcing her engagement to [[VillainWithGoodPublicity Ben Everett]]. Unaware that she did so under duress, he spends the day drinking himself stupid until Tom comes along to drag him out of the bar.
* Mark Printzen in chapter ten of ''[[Fanfic/TheOllivanderChildren The Ollivanders At War]]''. By the time Andrew and Hector find him, he's reduced to singing angry songs about Dutch sailors and whores.
* In ''Fanfic/WithStringsAttached'', Paul spends an unspecified amount of time stuck in a kind of goto loop of misery and drinking. [[IJustWantToBeSpecial He's dying of jealousy]] because he's the only one of the four who didn't get any magic; he's lonely as hell because the others are all playing around and ignoring him; and when he tries to learn magic on his own, he proves incapable. He does grow a BeardOfSorrow, though the Fans end up making him shave it off. And he gets a HesBack moment when the Fans return from Winter Solstice Break and maneuver him into his long-awaited magic.

* After ''Calvin'' gets invited to a fancy New Year's party instead of his parents in ''Fanfic/CalvinAndHobbesTheSeries'', Dad notes this:
--> "Come on, dear. You can drown your sorrows in the cider."
* ''Fanfic/DeathNoteEquestria'': Colgate does this when [[AntiHero L's]] methods get to be too much for her. Meanwhile, ''Celestia'' is strongly implied to have developed an outright drinking problem because of Kira's actions.
* ''Webcomic/TheMLPProject'': Pinkie Pie gets absolutely ''wasted'' after [[spoiler: attending Twilight Sparkle's funeral.]]
* Empath from ''Fanfic/EmpathTheLuckiestSmurf'' becomes an alcoholic from drinking [[FrothyMugsOfWater sarsaparilla ale]] in the alternate timeline where Smurfette marries Papa Smurf. Hefty in the main timeline story "Empath's Wedding" sits alone in Tapper's Tavern with a single glass of sarsaparilla ale on the night before the wedding, wondering why Smurfette won't marry him and realizing that he just couldn't compete against Empath. By morning, it is clear that Hefty is hung over just from that single glass.
* This is the last thing we see Atreus do in ''[[Fanfic/HiversHereBeDragons Here be Dragons]]'', since [[spoiler:his starship was destroyed by Dooku using it to ram a drug cooker's]].
* Fanfic/TheDearSweetieBelleContinuity:
** Trixie and Cheerilee reference word for word having done this in ''Morning Glory'', Trixie apparently simply due to feeling uncomfortable being with the other ponies at [[spoiler:Fluttershy and Big Macintosh's]] wedding reception (despite having been hired to entertain the foals), and Cheerilee due to [[spoiler:losing Big Mac to Fluttershy]].
** In ''The Changelings Have a King'', Dash and Caramel [[spoiler:on the anniversary of Pinkie's death]].
** Also in ''Changelings'', Cheerilee and Crescendo after the former [[spoiler:is chewed out by Big Mac for suggesting that they and Fluttershy [[{{Polyamory}} form a herd]] since Fluttershy cannot have any more foals (which Mac had not even known)]] and the latter [[spoiler:learns Spike is planning to propose to Rarity, whom Crescendo has realized he is still in love with]].
* In ''Fanfic/WorldwarWarOfEquals'', alien pilots in occupied Mexico stage a protest against their superiors demanding safer missions out of fear from both [[CoolPlane stealth fighters]] and [[EnergyWeapon rumored airborne laser weapons]]. Despite reassurance of safety, many pilots still handle their stress with [[AlienCatnip ginger]].
* From ''Fanfic/MaimDeMaim'', we have [[spoiler: Ryuuko]] in chapter 22. She even mentioned this to be such.
** At first, it looked like [[spoiler: Nui]] was doing this, however, it was subverted, when it was she stated [[spoiler: that she was combining the alcohols from the collection to commit suicide with]].
** After his [[spoiler:saddening 'breakup' with Satsuki, Junketsu, of all living organisms, resorts to the very substances that his brother's wearer always indulged in on a daily basis.]]
* In ''[[Fanfic/IAgainstIMeAgainstYou I Against I, Me Against You]]'', Spike goes to Berry Punch's bar when he can't take any more of having Grif and Simmons as roommates... and drinks [[DrunkOnMilk apple juice]].

* ''WebVideo/ImAMarvelAndImADC'':
** Spider-Man does this once with milkshakes. No explanation is ever given as to why he'd use something non-alcoholic when the majority of the story takes place in a bar.
** Superman did the same thing and even joined him.
** Film/IronMan went through this when Batman's movie surpassed his movie. He got so drunk that he ended up at Wayne Manor.
* ''Fanfic/AdviceAndTrust'': After having a tense talk with Rei, Ritsuko spent the whole night drinking wine and crying.
* In ''Fanfic/ThousandShinji'', when [[spoiler:Shinji went missing for one whole month and was in a coma for another month]], his guardian Misato resorted to drink copiously to try to overcome the pain.
* ''Fanfic/CyclesUponCycles'': After the Battle of the Citadel [[spoiler: and Shepard being spirited away by the Dominion]], Kasumi retreats to Dead Man's Port to drink herself into a stupor [[spoiler: after all her attempts to locate him fail]].
* ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11772125/1/Metroid-Kamen-Rider-Generations-Full-Series Metroid: Kamen Rider Generations]]'': Mitsuzane, through his backstories, started turning to the bottle [[spoiler:two months after Kouta and Kaito's climactic battle, despite him underage at that time]]. This is the reason why Micchy openly revealed his [[TheAlcoholic alcoholism]] to Gou and Samus.
-->'''[[SwitchingPOV Samus's Point of view]]:''' Mitsuzane had [[TheAlcoholic a very serious problem with alcohol]]. [[BittersweetEnding It all started two months after the Helheim Invasion]], Mitsuzane had [[DescentIntoAddiction began to abuse alcohol when he was still]] [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone unable to cope up over his depression]]. He had frequented in bars to drink, [[StickyFingers spending his family's money]] just to satisfy his greed for liquor to forget his troubles. Takatora also mentioned that while he was in comatose at that time, that his brother's isolated state and his alcoholism usually got him into trouble.
* ''Fanfic/WearingRobertsCrown'': Having spent years of restraining himself to well-watered wine, Drakebert drinks himself into a stupor after [[spoiler: executing Quentyn Martell]].
* ''Fanfic/BartSimpsonAttorneyAtLaw'': Bart ends up doing this. In college, he ended up drinking himself into a stupor after Gina cheated on him. [[spoiler: It was so bad, he even contemplated suicide]]. [[ManipulativeBitch Jessica]] [[TheVamp Lovejoy]] worming her way into Bart's life and [[spoiler: Gina returning to Springfield]] drive him back to the bottle, forcing an intervention by Milhouse and Alex.
* ''Fanfic/TheVow'': Lord Chang succumbs to drinking wine after his wife passes away.
** While [[spoiler:Lord Shen]] is wallowing in the shame of being crippled during the epilogue, he considers doing this. However, he ultimately defies this trope when he remembers the above mentioned Chang and decides he doesn't want to become like the swan noble he despises.
* In the Belle/Aurora ''Franchise/DisneyPrincess'' one-shot ''Fanfic/ToAMerryChristmas'', Belle invites the princesses to a Christmas Eve party. Late at night, she goes down to the library when she spots Aurora drinking and reading by the fireplace. It turns out Aurora was drinking eggnog with brandy, though it wasn't her eggnog and she hadn't expected it to be quite as strong. Aurora has been troubled since her life changed. She misses living in the woods and [[DoNotCallMePaul doesn't like being called "Aurora"]]. She makes herself [[StepfordSmiler keep up a facade]] of being a perfect PrincessClassic but it's not something she's used to. Belle ends up drinking with Aurora as they talk. Afterwards, Belle escorts Aurora to her room however this leads to them sleeping together due to Aurora's fears of sleeping alone.
* This occurred to Celestia in the backstory of the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' fic ''Fanfic/DropOfMoonshine''. After banishing her sister Celestia began [[TheAlcoholic drinking copious amounts of alcohol]]. This caused her council to force her to [[GoingColdTurkey go cold turkey]] by throwing away all the alcohol in Equestria. Celestia eventually banned alcohol period, though after Luna came back her sister convinced her to legalize it again. As a result, ponies no longer understand what alcohol is.
* This is implied in the animation for the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' fan-song "Music/LullabyForAPrincess". Luna is briefly shown crying with a large number of bottles nearby.
* Parodied at one point in ''Fanfic/TheNewAdventuresOfInvaderZim'', where Tenn goes to a diner to mope over her being demoted to Tak's assistant, drowning her sorrows in soda and doughnuts. Her interactions with the bartender are played as if she's in a bar.
* Subverted in ''Fanfic/OldWest''. The relationship between Rattlesnake Jake and Grace Glossy becomes strained after Jake [[spoiler:kills Grace's estranged husband for bruising her]]. Rango finds Jake in the saloon holding a glass of untouched whiskey. Eventually Jake smashes the glass in his foul mood, saying that [[IAmNotMyFather he won't allow himself to be destroyed by booze]] like [[AlcoholicParent his father]] was.
* ''Fanfic/TheRavensPlan'': After realizing that the Remembering really is a case of having been sent back in time and not just a nightmare, Stannis resorts heavily to drinking in order to cope with the guilt of everything he did in the original timeline.
* ''WebVideo/FixingRWBY'': Yang's HardDrinkingPartyGirl attitude is in part a way of coping with her abandonment issues over her biological mother Raven [[MissingMom running off]] when she was an infant.
* In ''Fanfic/MuchAdoAboutShakespeareLovesLaboursWon'', Archie Kennedy drinks ale at the Inn after his panic attack fades away and he's anxious having confessed his love to his fellow officer and friend inadvertently. He's not sure how his friend will react, and kind of hopes he didn't realize because he recited Shakespeare's sonnet to him but checked himself before he would finish the most revealing final line.
* ''Fanfic/SodaAt70Proof'' starts with Rachel at a bar getting [[DrunkOnMilk drunk on soda]] because she misses Nigel. After three drinks in less than thirty minutes, Fanny decides she's had enough and takes her back home.
* In ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'' fanfic ''[[http://games.adult-fanfiction.org/story.php?no=600081124 A RoseAnd A Thorn 5: Resurrection]],'' Midnight makes for an absolutely ''pathetic'' drunk at Club Rouge. He drinks to forget, but all he forgets is how many drinks he's had. Mirage pulls him into a dressing room, where he continues to cry in front of her, barely comprehensible, before walking out, throwing up, and passing out on the sidewalk.
* Happens to Kurenai in ''Fanfic/SonOfTheSannin'' in the aftermath of Konoha's raid to Root's headquarters. Shizune finds her at the local bar looking miserable, since she's depressed over learning that [[spoiler:her former student Yakumo Kurama, whom she presumed dead years ago, was actually taken by Danzo and turned into one of his puppet agents.]]
* ''Fanfic/ThePowerOfTheEquinox'': After the ruling council fails to convict Dimmed Star who continues walking free, Business Savvy retreats to drink in a tavern while keeping on a chair next to him a photograph of [[OutlivingOnesOffspring his son Dream Gavel whom Dimmed Star killed]].
* ''Fanfic/FarewellToLifeTheWayWeKnewIt'': It's mentioned that, due to the high unemployment rate, many people hang around bars, even in the morning.
* ''Fanfic/TheQueenOfHearts'': After her parents died, Elsa would often drink wine, sometimes even whole bottles.
* In ''Fanfic/BetweenMyBrotherAndMeMorsOmnibus'', Yvonne is slurping down two bowls of ''oh no kaung swe'' -- a Burmese noodle soup dish made with chicken and coconut milk -- the chapter after she [[spoiler: has to kill Yusho Sakaki]]. She even asks Mallow (who runs a Burmese restaurant in this story) if she has noodles for said sorrows.
* Inverted in ''Fanfic/FinalToll''. The happy and oblivious Romani gets drunk, but Cremia doesn't touch a bottle.
* While on their forced European vacation in ''Fanfic/IfTheyHaventLearnedYourName'', Steve Rogers and Sam Wilson get smashed at a seedy bar in Croatia ([[NeverGetsDrunk Steve]] has to take a sip of some kind of [[GargleBlaster mysterious liquor]] every minute to remain drunk) and commiserate about their respective fallen friends, and those friends' sexual practices. This eventually leads to Steve brokenly confessing to Sam that he feels like he's being eaten alive by the mantle of Captain America, and the two crying into each others' shirts.
* An elderly [[Film/JojoRabbit Johannes "Jojo" Betzler]] drinks heavily in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13484770/1/Butterflies Butterflies]]''.
* In ''Fanfic/{{Epiphany}}'', Aerith gets plastered in her room after meeting Sephiroth. Overwhelmed by the knowledge that tens of thousands of people in Midgar will die in a matter of days, Sephiroth's own evil plans, and the Arbiters blocking her attempts to stop all of it, she copes with it all by downing Elmyra's cooking sherry and baking brandy that night.
* ''Fanfic/RainbowDoubleDashsLunaverse'': After banishing her sister into the sun, Luna spent most of the next twelve years getting thoroughly sloshed, usually showing up in a random town and demanding booze, until a mob of rampaging dragons shook her out of her funk, and made her realize the harm her absence was inflicting on Equestria. She is now NailedToTheWagon. [[spoiler:She also leaves out a salient detail that it wasn't just losing Celestia that caused this, but having to give up Cadenza.]]
* In ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/28352337 Finding The Way]]'', Din Djarin raids Moff Gideon's stash of Corellian Whiskey after showing his face to Grogu and giving him to Luke Skywalker.
* In ''Fanfic/FuturesFreakMeOut'', Shinji and Asuka fly to Germany to visit Asuka's family, and they verify her father continues to show zero concern for his red-haired daughter; so Asuka decides to drag Shinji to the nearest bar and get very, very drunk.
* ''Fanfic/ChasingDragons'':
** The Watch commander of Gulltown is doing this when Ser Harry Flash arrives to investigate the [[TheFundamentalist Old Faith]] situation in the Vale, due to Denys and Gerold Arryn's [[PoliceBrutality heavy-handed attempts]] to stomp out the movement only leading to widespread unrest and a burgeoning potential CivilWar.
** Jaime spends some time on the Summer Islands doing this in light of how his life has spiraled ever since [[spoiler: renouncing his inheritance]]. It lasts until a local priest literally smacks some sense into him and offers to help him redeem himself.
* In the ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}''/''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep'' crossover ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13324935/1/RWBY-Aqua-s-Mission RWBY: Aqua's Mission]], it is revealed that Taiyang Xiao Long has taken to alcohol in an attempt to cope with Summer Rose's death. [[spoiler:{{Deconstructed}} in chapter 8, when the group was going to visit Summer's grave on her second birthday after her death, only for Taiyang to have a nervous breakdown and drink a lethal amount of alcohol. It was only due to Aqua restarting his heart with a Thundaga spell that he didn't die.]]
* ''Fanfic/TheNutdealerExpandedUniverse'': "Red Nut Ale" consists of Nathan drinking the eponymous spirit while he broods about Tommy's betrayal.
* In the ''Series/OnceUponATime''[=/=]''Film/MrRight'' fanfic ''Fanfic/LoveAtFirstSightOnceUponATime'', after breaking up with Robin and being attacked by a cat on the same day, Regina decides to drink a whole bottle of wine and is continuing to do so when Kathryn finds her.
* ''Series/OnceUponATime'' [=/=] ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'' fanfic ''Fanfic/SwappingGenres'': After finding out that Neal is Rumplestiltskin's son, Emma gets drunk to get over being lied to. Coincidentally, this leads to Emma getting a CurbStompBattle from Black Widow.

->''Si toma para olvidar\\

* In ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast'', Gaston ''tries'' to do this after Belle rejects his marriage proposal, but decides it isn't working and throws his beer in the fire.

* ''ComicBook/RobinSeries'': After having to declare bankruptcy, sell his mansion and move into his condo in the city Jack Drake refuses to leave his bed for anything but to grab a bottle, change the music or grab a book leaving his wife and son to have to do all the paperwork involved in liquefying his assets and keeping the family afloat.

* ''Series/{{Lost}}'' has this trope, as revealed in multiple characters' flashbacks.
** Christian Shephard spent the last week or so of his life drowning his sorrows in Australia. ** Jack's taken to doing so in the [[spoiler:flash forwards]].

** This is a really bad idea, and one reason why the Useful Notes page for [[UsefulNotes/AlcoholismAndAlcoholAbuse Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse]] exists. YouAreNotAlone. Please seek help, if you're in this situation.

** ''Film/TheIncredibleHulk'''s stinger strongly implies that General Ross was drinking heavily (he is saying "reload" while downing several cups of liquor) after the events of having to let Hulk escape before Tony Stark shows up with the purpose of offending him so much he won't have Blonsky participate in the Avengers initiative.

** ''Series/Daredevil2015'': In "[[Recap/Daredevil2015S1E12TheOnesWeLeaveBehind The Ones We Leave Behind]]", after Karen Page kills James Wesley and has a nervous breakdown, she spends several hours drinking every piece of alcohol in her apartment and has a ShowerOfAngst. Matt and Foggy notice, but don't know why. In fact, it's implied that this happens quite a lot.
** ''Series/JessicaJones2015'': Jessica, after her time held captive by Kilgrave.

** [[TimeSkip Between the two seasons]], Hei starts doing this, complete with PermaStubble BeardOfSorrow and [[TookALevelInJerkass a serious attitude problem]]. As such, the fans have [[FanNickname nicknamed]] the second season up until the HesBack moment "Drunker than Hobo."

* It turns out that [[TheRedBaron The Bloody Baron]] from ''VideoGame/TheWitcher3WildHunt'' became TheAlcoholic he is due to also being a ShellShockedVeteran.