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Pardon my ignorance, but why drink if not to get 'drunk'? Alcohol doesn't taste very nice, so the only advantage I get out of it is that I feel more of a 'buzz'

by ue_ 9y ago

Pardon my ignorance, but why drink if not to get 'drunk'? Alcohol doesn't taste very nice, so the only advantage I get out of it is that I feel more of a 'buzz'. Is it common just to drink as if it were something that tastes nice, like juice?

agalarza 9y ago
Not everyone shares your opinion on alcohol not tasting very nice.
- StavrosK 9y ago
  Not everyone has to. He was expressing his own opinion, and asking a question. You don't have to be rude.
  - eropple 9y ago
    The way he phrased it was a definitive statement, which is aggressive and will prime people to respond the way people responded. (Your other post, which I replied to, was way more reasonable than his was.)
reitanqild 9y ago
Quite confused by your comment. I like beer. And if I could have non-alcoholic beer that tasted as well as standard beer I'd prefer that. (IMO todays alternatives still taste very different.)
- billmalarky 9y ago
  To be fair, the alternatives don't taste like standard beer because they lack an important part of the taste, that is, the alcohol.
  - reitanqild 9y ago
    As far as I am aware the ethanol is only part of the missing taste. (I think other flavours are created in the same process and during storage.) But anyway my point still stands: I'd still drink beer if didn't get drunk. Actually I think I would drink more beer then.
billmalarky 9y ago
I stopped drinking 2 years ago. I never crave the high from alcohol anymore, but every once in a while I get a strong craving for a nice tall glass of beer. Beer takes a bit to develop a taste for, but it's pretty much sugar water and it goes so perfectly with so many dishes. I'm tempted to pick up a non-alcoholic beer like O'Douls, but I don't want to start drinking again and I figure drinking non-alcoholic drinks is a step in that direction for me (I'm not a recovering alcoholic, I quit because it was getting in the way of my health/fitness goals).
brewdad 9y ago
You probably haven't found the right alcohol that agrees with you. Wine, beer, spirits (whether alone or in a mixer) have myriad tastes and flavor profiles. Saying alcohol doesn't taste nice is a bit like saying "I could never be a vegetarian because all the foods taste the same." Not judging you BTW. In the long run not drinking is probably healthier than drinking. Certainly the case if one struggles to control the quantity of drinking.
StavrosK 9y ago
I think it's too bad that you got downvoted for asking a reasonable question. I don't like the taste of alcohol at all either, and I never drink because of that, but yes, I do think that most people acquire the taste. My girlfriend, for example, both likes the taste of wine and the "happiness" she gets after two glasses.
- eropple 9y ago
  For me it wasn't "acquiring a taste"--it was finding the taste that I like. I tried a lot of stuff and thought most of it was crap. Beer tastes foul to me (all of it, from Coors to IPAs and everything in between), as do most liquors (gin, vodka) and while Scotches are drinkable I find a lot of them are the IPAs of liquor ("duuuude, it's so smoky"/"duuuuude, it's so hoppy")--but I happened to find that I really like Irish whiskeys. I'll drink Jameson or Bushmill's neat or a little ginger ale and it's great. Been drinking them for most of a decade now. Still don't like the others I mentioned. There may totally be nothing that fits your flavor profile, but I wouldn't write it off totally as an acquired taste. Might just not have found what clicks for you.
  - StavrosK 9y ago
    That's entirely possible, but I don't think it's worth it enough to even look. I think being drunk is a waste of time, and there are health concerns in overdoing it, so I've never found enough motivation to look for an alcoholic drink I might enjoy. I also actually think that it's the taste of the actual alcohol that I don't like, because I can't even have food if it has a little bit of liqueur in it or whatever. The taste sticks out greatly.
    - eropple 9y ago
      I can buy that. I totally know people for whom the taste totally sticks. I've found some success in cadging together something that (without being a sugar bomb) often can appeal, but it's a tough thing.
snovv_crash 9y ago
There is a difference between a "buzz" and vomiting in the street. The argument I've seen is that by not giving teens an outlet with lower concentrations (eg beer, wine) from a younger age (16, like Europe), the USA doesn't let its youth learn to manage alcohol consumption in a healthy way; this results in more crazy behaviour and poisoning cases.
mediocrejoker 9y ago
Many people do enjoy the taste. This is why nonalcoholic beer and wine exist. Also, my understanding of the word drunk is that it means "very or extremely intoxicated." Even if you hated the taste of alcohol you could still put up with the taste and have a small amount to feel slightly intoxicated and still not be drunk.
dsfyu404ed 9y ago
Sipping beer instead of water while manually relocating 3yd of topsoil makes the job suck a lot less.

by ue_ 9y ago

agalarza 9y ago

Not everyone shares your opinion on alcohol not tasting very nice.

StavrosK 9y ago
Not everyone has to. He was expressing his own opinion, and asking a question. You don't have to be rude.
- eropple 9y ago
  The way he phrased it was a definitive statement, which is aggressive and will prime people to respond the way people responded. (Your other post, which I replied to, was way more reasonable than his was.)

reitanqild 9y ago

Quite confused by your comment. I like beer. And if I could have non-alcoholic beer that tasted as well as standard beer I'd prefer that. (IMO todays alternatives still taste very different.)

billmalarky 9y ago
To be fair, the alternatives don't taste like standard beer because they lack an important part of the taste, that is, the alcohol.
- reitanqild 9y ago
  As far as I am aware the ethanol is only part of the missing taste. (I think other flavours are created in the same process and during storage.) But anyway my point still stands: I'd still drink beer if didn't get drunk. Actually I think I would drink more beer then.

billmalarky 9y ago

I stopped drinking 2 years ago. I never crave the high from alcohol anymore, but every once in a while I get a strong craving for a nice tall glass of beer. Beer takes a bit to develop a taste for, but it's pretty much sugar water and it goes so perfectly with so many dishes. I'm tempted to pick up a non-alcoholic beer like O'Douls, but I don't want to start drinking again and I figure drinking non-alcoholic drinks is a step in that direction for me (I'm not a recovering alcoholic, I quit because it was getting in the way of my health/fitness goals).

brewdad 9y ago

You probably haven't found the right alcohol that agrees with you. Wine, beer, spirits (whether alone or in a mixer) have myriad tastes and flavor profiles. Saying alcohol doesn't taste nice is a bit like saying "I could never be a vegetarian because all the foods taste the same." Not judging you BTW. In the long run not drinking is probably healthier than drinking. Certainly the case if one struggles to control the quantity of drinking.

StavrosK 9y ago

I think it's too bad that you got downvoted for asking a reasonable question. I don't like the taste of alcohol at all either, and I never drink because of that, but yes, I do think that most people acquire the taste. My girlfriend, for example, both likes the taste of wine and the "happiness" she gets after two glasses.

eropple 9y ago
For me it wasn't "acquiring a taste"--it was finding the taste that I like. I tried a lot of stuff and thought most of it was crap. Beer tastes foul to me (all of it, from Coors to IPAs and everything in between), as do most liquors (gin, vodka) and while Scotches are drinkable I find a lot of them are the IPAs of liquor ("duuuude, it's so smoky"/"duuuuude, it's so hoppy")--but I happened to find that I really like Irish whiskeys. I'll drink Jameson or Bushmill's neat or a little ginger ale and it's great. Been drinking them for most of a decade now. Still don't like the others I mentioned. There may totally be nothing that fits your flavor profile, but I wouldn't write it off totally as an acquired taste. Might just not have found what clicks for you.
- StavrosK 9y ago
  That's entirely possible, but I don't think it's worth it enough to even look. I think being drunk is a waste of time, and there are health concerns in overdoing it, so I've never found enough motivation to look for an alcoholic drink I might enjoy. I also actually think that it's the taste of the actual alcohol that I don't like, because I can't even have food if it has a little bit of liqueur in it or whatever. The taste sticks out greatly.
  - eropple 9y ago
    I can buy that. I totally know people for whom the taste totally sticks. I've found some success in cadging together something that (without being a sugar bomb) often can appeal, but it's a tough thing.

snovv_crash 9y ago

There is a difference between a "buzz" and vomiting in the street. The argument I've seen is that by not giving teens an outlet with lower concentrations (eg beer, wine) from a younger age (16, like Europe), the USA doesn't let its youth learn to manage alcohol consumption in a healthy way; this results in more crazy behaviour and poisoning cases.

mediocrejoker 9y ago

Many people do enjoy the taste. This is why nonalcoholic beer and wine exist. Also, my understanding of the word drunk is that it means "very or extremely intoxicated." Even if you hated the taste of alcohol you could still put up with the taste and have a small amount to feel slightly intoxicated and still not be drunk.

dsfyu404ed 9y ago

Sipping beer instead of water while manually relocating 3yd of topsoil makes the job suck a lot less.