Patrick Gower sobriety: Award-winning journalist gives update two years after giving up alcohol

Two years ago Patrick Gower gave up alcohol, now he’s shared an update with fans.

Taking to Instagram this morning, the award-winning journalist shared a photo of himself on a bike ride revealing that he “wasn’t going to go all ‘hashtag sober’” but knows his followers are curious for an update and decided to give them one.

He started the post by reminiscing on the day he decided to try out sobriety, writing: “I am not very good with dates, and the anniversary passed me by (December 18). But I know what I was doing that day, I was out enjoying a world so much more open than ever before.”

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A post shared by Patrick Gower (@patrickgowernz)

Referencing his documentary Patrick Gower: On Booze, he continued: “When I released the documentary, I said I wasn’t going to go all ‘hashtag sober’ on peeps. Each to their own and all that. But at the same time, I know peeps have been keen to know how I am getting on. So there it is: two years. For me, going booze-free is about choosing to be different. Different to the way I was. Different to the society around me.”

Gower signed off the post with a piece of advice for those thinking of doing the same, “If you want to choose to be different, take it from me, you will never regret it.”

The Newshub journalist has been alcohol-free since the day after his mate and fellow broadcaster Corin Dann told him he and other friends were worried about Gower’s drinking, and Dann couldn’t “see how it ends well”.

Around a similar date last year, Gower realised it had been a year and two days since the friends’ conversation, which the journalist later described as prompting a “psychic shift” that led him to give up alcohol for good.

Patrick Gower and close friend Corin Dann.

“One year sober and going strong,” he wrote on social media last December, 10 days out from the traditionally booze-soaked New Year’s celebrations, adding: “I have always found the word ‘sober’ a bit weird as it kind of implies being drunk all the time, I prefer ‘non-drinker’, but people say sober and I am all good with that!”

Gower added “giving up booze was a new dawn for me”.

The post came after the journalist released his hard-hitting documentary Patrick Gower: On Booze in June 2022, with Gower choosing to centre the 45-minute episode of his series - which also featured Patrick Gower: On P, Patrick Gower: On Hate, Patrick Gower: On All The Drugs and Patrick Gower: On Meth, on the issues that the legal drug is causing the country.

While all were confronting and comprehensive episodes, Gower’s investigation into Kiwi use of alcohol was the most hard-hitting as it tackled the subject matter in such a way that it changed the viewer’s conclusion from “that’s not me” to “s**t - is that me?”

Before its release, he spoke to the Herald, confessing it was also a difficult investigation for him as it was intended to be like his other episodes in the series but quickly saw him turn into the protagonist and not the author, as he realised his own habits.

Patrick Gower: On Booze is available to watch on ThreeNow.