The Alcohol Advisory Council is unhappy with tongue-in-cheek accusations that its staff were drinking out of yard glasses at a work function.

ALAC held a farewell at Karaka Café in Wellington yesterday, as the organisation will become part of the newly established Health Promotion Agency tomorrow.

New Zealand Drug Foundation's executive director Ross Bell took to twitter to talk about the event.

"Staff at ALAC farewell function celebrating by doing a #yardglass each. #thewaywearedrinking #easeuptonthedrink," he tweeted.

Bell today said it was a joke: "Of course ALAC staff was not drinking out yards."

"In fact they had mocktails and other good host responsibilities things that they do.

"I was on a Air New Zealand plane a little while ago with a Rolling Stone and we tweeted that I was doing lines of coke with Ronnie Wood. Some of our tweets are best ignored," he said.

However, ALAC spokeswoman Lynne Walsh wasn't laughing.

"I'm not sure why they are tweeting that. I presume it's an attempt to be funny and I don't think it's particularly funny.

"There was definitely no yard glasses and no binge drinking," she said.

Bell said ALAC's farewell function yesterday was certainly not a celebration.

"I think people are pretty sad that such a well established organisation's identify is being lost in a merger with a few other health agencies.

"I think ALAC does fantastic work, so it was the end of an era," he said.

ALAC was merging with the Health Sponsorship Council and some health promotion work of the Health Ministry into the new Health Promotion Agency.

The move was aimed at saving an expected $7.5 million over four years.

- © Fairfax NZ News