Most alcoholic drinks are extremely acquired tastes. Try finding people who haven't drunk much alcohol before adulthood and give them tastes of a selection of beers and wines, and I'd be willing to bet that most would find most of them disgusting.

I'm 41, and I still haven't acquired a taste for beer. I find it absolutely awful. I can tolerate most wines, but outside of extremely sweet dessert wines I have never tasted any that actually taste particularly enjoyable to me. I'm sure I could change that if I forced myself to drink more, but I don't really have any incentive to do so.

There are liquors that taste nice to me, but they are generally the ones that hide the alcohol taste quite well, like e.g. amaretto.

I'm sure taste is an element of it, but the point being that very few alcoholic drinks taste nice until you've spent a lot of time getting accustomed to the taste of alcohol without enjoying the taste first due to social expectations or a desire to get drunk.

There's a very similar argument for dark chocolate - most children hate the taste, but as their palettes develop they acquire the taste for it. My parents introduced alcohol to us from a young age so that it was never a rebellious activity in later years - but since we're in the land of anecdotes again, my original opinion still holds: noone has ever argued they take drugs because they enjoy anything other than the mind altering effects, whereas there are plenty of people who enjoy alcohol for reasons other than those.

Yes. I think there is a good analogy to be made with spicy foods. I enjoy spicy foods, but I developed a taste for them over the years and the "natural high" induced by eating them. As a particular example, I remember absolutely hating the flavor of crushed red pepper, but now I can't get enough of the stuff.

Of course, once you've developed a taste, then you might seek out foods that balance spice with flavor, and you appreciate novel interplays between the two --- in the same way that a consumer of alcohol might seek out a variety of beer, wine, or liquor that balances flavor and alcohol content.

I'm the same way, and I don't think many people first tasted beer or other alcoholic drinks and said "wow, this is very tasty". Especially whiskey, which I find repulsive.

Maybe they aren't drinking to get "out of their heads" but they will at least partially be drinking for the relaxation properties, or the social lubricant properties of the drink.

Yes, people enjoy the taste of these things, they have trained themselves to, usually because of the effects.

FYI not everyone using every other drug is trying to get "out of their head" either. A little cannabis or sedative use may be for relaxation. A little stimulant to stay awake and increase talkativeness and confidence. LSD does rather take people somewhere else though...

But my point is that it can be enjoyed solely for the taste - whether you like it or not, there is at least an element of flavour choice when it comes to alcohol. It's an exceptionally skewed view to totally dismiss the taste aspect - whereas I've yet to hear anyone mention that drugs can be taken for any other reason than for their (even if only slight) mind altering affects.

Plenty of people would pair a nice red with their pasta even if it had no other impact on their mental faculties, same with other drinks and food. I'm perplexed at such an unhealthy view of alcohol.

I am with you on this. I've had some pretty awesome flavors coming from alcoholic drinks.

It's expensive, and I don't make any friends by drinking expensive drinks (my friends don't really care)

I would love to see someone make "virgin" versions of various stronger drinks I like, but so far they don't taste anywhere near as good.

It sincerely annoys me that drinks make me sleepy and such. I'm only having one or two, but I would like to still be able to study and play chess, AND have nice flavors.

I've even starting trying to find creative ways to water them down without losing flavor so I can enjoy them without the side-effects.

(I should probably mention that I don't really enjoy "sweet" flavors, so part of it is that only alcoholic drinks get the bitter/sour flavors done well)

I like the idea, it would allow me to enjoy those drinks without the "downside". Since it makes me sleepy too unless I am engage in a rigorous physical behavior.

>> Plenty of people would pair a nice red with their pasta even if it had no other impact on their mental faculties

If it had no effect they likely wouldn't have acquired the taste, so I doubt very much they would in significant numbers, no.

There is an element of flavoir choice. But just look at how many concoctions there are that are, at least the popular ones, designed specifically to make drinking alcohol a more flavourful experience, and to hide the taste of the base alcohol as much as possible while still getting it into the drinker.

I'm sorry, I just don't believe that, absent the positive effects of the alcohol, anyone would drink much booze.

For the most part I would agree with you, but historically this hasn't always been the case.

Before modern times, the quality of water was terrible pretty much everywhere. Because of this, many regularly drank alcoholic drinks instead of water because it was cleaner due to the alcohol it contained.

Although they weren't drinking it because it paired well with their pasta, many times they also weren't drinking it because of the impact on their mental faculties.

While this is true, there might not have been much alcohol or much flavour in small beer.

And it's probably the boiling proces that really saved them, they just didn't know!

Oh and IMHO, people are drinking that glass of red because they like the feeling of what a small dose of alcohol does to them. It's all bound up in the taste acquisition.

FYI one can teach oneself to enjoy the taste of amphetamines, if one creates enough positive associations with their use. I've been there.

>Wine is tasty. Beer is tasty. Brandy is tasty. And (anecdotally) know many people who aren't just drinking them to get out of their heads...

I did coke for a few years, at first it tasted gross but I liked the effect by the end it was 'tasty'. That is your brains reward center at work, it shapes experiences that release dopamine and makes them more positive. In reality coke tastes like baby laxatives and bleach and alcohol tastes like fungal piss, as that is what they are.

Yeah, this is why acquiring the "taste" for a new alcohol often boils down to getting drunk on it a few times.

And annecdotally, most pot smokers didn't like the smell at first, but are now quite pleased by it.

Interesting. I've never smoked pot but I really enjoy the smell. But that could be because my parents were hippies when I was young, so I got a lot of second-hand exposure and it has pleasant associations for me.

> Wine is tasty. Beer is tasty. Brandy is tasty.

Would they still be tasty if they were 0% ABV? I think not.

Have you tried a Lambic? Some of those approach 2% ABV (basically nothing), yet are pretty delicious to me.