Two North Albury men mates for three decades got so drunk on an especially potent bourbon whiskey they drew knives on each other in a fight that trashed their lounge room.
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The pair expressed remorse in Albury Local Court on Tuesday over the incident, emphasising they had made amends with each other and were again firm friends.
One of the men, Shane Michael Sard, suffered a superficial cut to the left side of his neck
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Sard and his mate, Robert Aloys Heffernan, stood on opposite sides of the courtroom, with each pleading guilty to charges of affray and intimidation.
"Shane and me have been friends for 30 years," Heffernan said, in beginning to describe the events of last Friday.
"We went to the pub up at Lavington and then we went back to our place."
They then got another friend to get some Jim Beam bourbon whiskey, he said, but did not realise he had come back with a double-strength version.
"At the end of the night it just hit me like a ton of bricks," Heffernan told magistrate Richard Funston.
As for their altercation, he said it was "just an unfortunate thing that happened" and explained how Sard had fixed the damage and bought a new television.
Sard, who moved into Heffernan's Wingara Street home about five years ago, then told the court of his own remorse.
"No-one's more disappointed in me than myself. I feel really bad about what happened ... it was a stupid thing."
The court was told the pair began drinking at home about 4pm, their session continuing into the night.
Each knocked back about five full-strength beers and an "unknown" quantity of bourbon whiskey shots.
They began to argue over their past history and also regarding "whose family members were better", then bickered about each other not pulling their weight around the house.
When the argument became heated, Heffernan, 66, went into the kitchen and returned with a knife. Sard, too, armed himself with a knife.
They went into the back garden and continued arguing, then Heffernan threw his knife into the ground and stormed off.
Police said Heffernan was affected by alcohol yet still coherent.
When they went to the men's home they found an injured Sard staggering across the front lawn, the 42-year-old claiming "he tried to cut my throat".
Mr Funston accepted it was a "one-off, but certainly a spectacular one-off".
Each man was put on 12-month community corrections orders.
