Alcohol - the cause of, and the solution to, most of life's problems

[davywavy]

In response to my post on helping children to start smoking the other day, someone replied with the observation that most people don't like the taste of alcohol. Needless to say, my jaw tumbled open in shock at this observation. But what if it's true, I thought. Perhaps most people don't like the taste of drink and they only indulge to get drunk. Or perhaps they don't drink at all, and I'm just so sloshed that I don't notice?
There's only one way to find out.

[Poll #877827]

Comments

[fried-chicken.livejournal.com]

Just to clarify by vote, booze is indeed the nectar of the gods if it's decent ale... where as if we're talking lager then it is defintely nasty icky, stuff, pumped full of chemicals and basically all social woes of the modern day can be attributed to it.

[rhythmaning.livejournal.com]

Alcohol - pure alcohol - is itself colourless and tasteless - like vodka (which is diluted alcohol).

What I like - and I would guess most others, too - are the tastes of beer and wine and whisky and brandy, and I daresay alcopops (though I haven't tried those). Not all at the same time, perhaps.

[nicnac.livejournal.com]

Yup, my answer would depend on the drink e.g. Gin is evil, but NZ Sauv Blanc is rather nice.

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

Gin? Evil? You blaspheme!

[rhythmaning.livejournal.com]

Oh no, I'm with cornaid on that one - gin is pure, distilled evil. This has absolutely nothing to do with me making myself very, very ill with a bottle of gin once in my long-forgotten youth.

[applez.livejournal.com]

NZ Sauv Blanc ... suggest some labels, I'll sample, we'll discuss.

[nicnac.livejournal.com]

Cool. My absolute favourite is Mudhouse, but it's difficult to find in the UK as most of their production is sold at home. There is a wine merchants near Halifax that stock it occasionally, I can find their details if you're interested.

Of the labels available here, I like Nautilus which can be bought from Majestic, and the Villa Maria reserve ain't bad. I don't rate Cloudy Bay at all, despite their rep, and wasn't impressed by Kim Crawford either.

Do you have any recommendations?

[applez.livejournal.com]

There's a fairly good selection for NZ wines in California. I have to admit that my taste for white wines has changed, edging towards the Pinot Griggio cleaner tasting varieties. I've been finding Sauv Blanc too sweet.

I found Kim Crawford overrated too. I'll see about Mudhouse, and Nautilus. There was one I was enjoying for a bit, but eventually found too sweet - lemme see if I can find the label again to share with you.

Now with the shift in weather, I'm veering towards hardier reds with heavier bodies - like Malbec and Syrah.

[nicnac.livejournal.com]

Fecking LJ! I just wrote a detailed response to this and LJ ate it.. too tired to reprise it tonight, so will come back to this tomorrow.

Kono is rather good

[applez.livejournal.com]

Here's one I rather enjoyed for a while.

http://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=157851

Incidentally, it's Maori-owned and -run too.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail?blogid=5&entry_id=2404

One does have to look past the screw-top cap though, but I rated the wine well enough to look past that, when I still drank SB's regularly.

[kathminchin.livejournal.com]

I disagree. I can taste alcohol - in spirits, wine, beer - you name it. It may well be more of the "after taste / kick" but I can tell if someone (for example) has added vodka to my coke.

I agree with "it depends on what it is" as there are few alcoholic drinks I actually like the taste of. I dislike hops so all ales etc are out; I don't like tannins in red wine and I don't like whisky or most other non sweet spirits.

[rhythmaning.livejournal.com]

You are right - one can detect alcohol - it is firy, it burns - but I don't believe it actually tastes of anything.

[rgljr69.livejournal.com]

"Alcohol - pure alcohol - is itself colourless and tasteless - like vodka

See, I believe the bit about pure alcohol, and I've heard others say the same about vodka. But I've always been able to smell and/or taste it, whether it's the good stuff, or the stuff off the deep discounted rack.

*shrug*

Maybe it's a gift.

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

I don't know about taste it per se, but I'm certainly aware of when there is alcohol in something.

[(Anonymous)]

I'm aware of when there's been alcohol in something.

H

[ukmonty.livejournal.com]

of course Good Booze is rather goodly - you offering to buy?

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

Of course! Dinner is on me.

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

Subject to availability.

[akcipitrokulo.livejournal.com]

I don't think it's tasteless - I can detect it in anything.

I don't like the taste, and never saw the point of learning to like it/put up with it to conform :-) No major hangups/believing in prohibition crap, just don't like the taste so don't drink in same way I don't eat celery.

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

There's no point in doing things you don't enjoy.

[hiromasaki.livejournal.com]

There's one problem with this poll, though...

How many people on your Friends List are the type of people who hit the bars less frequently than what they have time & money for?

I mean, reading your stories, ukmonty should account for 10% or more of the UK's alcohol consumption by himself. (No offense, Monty...)

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

I'd say that, as booze-sponges go, my f-list is a representative sample of the population.
And monty is only likely to be offended by your comments as you dramatically underestimate his copnsumption.

[colours.livejournal.com]

depends which booze, y'know. Wine can be evil, but baileys & tia maria are always good :oD

[applez.livejournal.com]

Wine evil? Barbarian!

[colours.livejournal.com]

Note the importance of the words "can be". Cheap, sweet wine is generally lovely (it's dangerous being such a cheap date).

[applez.livejournal.com]

"Cheap?" "Sweet?!" Gah! I repeat, "Barbarian!" ;-)

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

Being a cheap date is a bad thing?
If only someone had told me that twenty years ago...

[applez.livejournal.com]

I'm generally alchohol-positive, but abuse is as significant a problem (if not moreso) for this readily-obtainable chemical as other more-hazardous substances. Moreover, regarding the aftereffects, I have found other chemicals are far gentler on the system.

[raggedhalo.livejournal.com]

...but nevertheless, I don't drink it any more.

[fonnparr.livejournal.com]

I'm surprised so many others on here also don't like the taste of alcohol. It can be frustrating at times to go to a nice restaurant and find there is nothing on the menu that does not contain or was not cooked with alcohol.
Curse you tiramasu.

I personally have a psychological block that prevents me from trying to like it and I certainly do not need it to act like a drunken idiot.