Serious Thread Discourse: Alcohol

[epocalypse]

Plus none of you yanks can drink worth a damn anyway.
FACT

Those of you not yanks may disregard the preceeding comments

the half of me with portuguese citizenship takes exception to that!

[MarkVI]

I actually like the taste of good beer or alcohol. It's kind of an acquired taste, similar to coffee perhaps.

But also, alcohol does relax the body in a way that's not the same as if you just meditated or took deep breaths. So it's understandable how people enjoy being buzzed from time to time. Of course, it's never a good thing when you've got the spins from over consumption.

[epocalypse]

I actually like the taste of good beer or alcohol. It's kind of an acquired taste, similar to coffee perhaps.

But also, alcohol does relax the body in a way that's not the same as if you just meditated or took deep breaths. So it's understandable how people enjoy being buzzed from time to time. Of course, it's never a good thing when you've got the spins from over consumption.

I've grown to like some flavors I didn't as a kid, like peppermint. I have not, however, learned to like coffee, beer or asparagus (although, of the three, coffee is the best, and asparagus is the only one I don't like to use in cooking. In fact, I love to use all varieties of alcohol in cooking. one of the best foods in the world is Steak in Molho Portvgalia, a sauce made from Portvgalia Light, Dark or Mista Beer (a Portvgalia is a famous Portuguese brewery and restaurant), mustard, butter, egg and magic, served with a side of fries and with or without a sunny side egg on top.

behold it, for it is heaven:

[Tally]

In the same way that I prefer to eat a peanut butter sandwich accompanied by milk, or roast chicken accompanied by asparagus & roasted potatoes, I prefer to eat certain meals accompanied by a glass of wine that complements the food. Coke just does not do it. And sometimes it's also a social thing for me.

I have no problem with people abstaining. However, I do get a bit leery at what I believe is a tendency of parts of American society to object to alcohol out of fear and lack of understanding. I believe people often confuse "this is pure evil" with "this must be handled responsibly."

[tak197]

I have no problem with people abstaining. However, I do get a bit leery at what I believe is a tendency of parts of American society to object to alcohol out of fear and lack of understanding. I believe people often confuse "this is pure evil" with "this must be handled responsibly."

THIS.

It gets under my skin nowadays, but I used to be one of those "Booze is evil" people. Hell, I drank very little until I got a bartending certification. Then I started searching for the good stuff. I have drunk to excess once before, and I came to the following conclusions.

A) Hangovers aren't bad if you sleep through them.
B) Always buy the good stuff (Bankers Club and Crown Russe are disgusting, even if you are just doing shots).
C) Jello shots are best served with less alcohol than you think.
D) "Beer before liquor" is no joke.

Anyway, that's something I highly recommend to college students: if you plan on drinking, take a bartending and mixology course. I learned how to make a perfect shot (I can eyeball/count a house serving of 1.25 oz, give or take a few drops), and more importantly, I learned how to deal with people who are drinking in such a way that you all are safe and sound by the end of the night. As a bartender, one of your jobs may end up being as an expert witness in alcohol related cases, because you know the most about alcohol.

[Metcarfre]

FACT:

The most delicious thing I have ever, ever consumed was a bottle of wine with friends. That, in and of itself, makes it worth it to me.

[Lorithad]

I don't drink. That isn't to say that I haven't drank though. True, i've never been drunk, but I don't see that being necessary to the process of deciding you don't like alcohol.

I've tried numerous drinks, but the taste of alcohol is truly repulsive to me. I can detect it's presence even in those shitty 0.5% coolers they sell at zellers.

I've seen lots of people enjoy alcohol responsibly. I've also seen a drunk acquaintance of mine pop a girls birthday balloons at a bar because he thought she wasn't interested in him. And then i'm pretty sure we've all seen the people out there that will blow half their pay cheque on booze alone in the span of a single weekend.

Overall, I don't see the point of alcohol. And i'm not huge on the effects that it's abuse causes.

[CommanderKeen]

For me for Drinking before working on cruise ships, was something I rarely did.

I then had my eyes opened overnight. Rapidly expanding my drink palette and growing to appreciate why some vodka is more expensive then others, or why Crown Royal > Jack Daniel's. But it required some strong personalities to get me to change. That and a bottle of Corona was 1.15 with tip in the crew bar. It also got rid of all the stereotypes and urban legends about drinking, because everyone did it and were still bright and bushy-tailed in the morning for the most part.

And now, I'll appreciate enjoy alcoholic beverages with meals and going out the pub with the boys and enjoy alcohol responsibly.

[Gordon Fearman]

I abstain because

1. It's illegal for me not to.
2. I enjoy complete functional use of my brain. Being influenced by drugs is therefore, a no. Also partly the reason I've given up on ibuprofen (that and it doesn't seem to do anything).

[Rikadyn]

I drink, and have been drinking since I was 16. I however drink only for enjoyment of the liquid itself. I usually stick to high quality craft beers, so, to get "effect" sometimes would cost upwards of 50-100 dollars...

I am also a brewer, so...take that one to really cement my position on the subject. (Currently brewing Mead, will do beer when I have more money available for equipment)

[Machalllewis]

I've been a drinkin man since I was a boy. Started early like Rikadyn here and its probably a bit of a habit I've developed but you just have to remember where free time and work time cross. If you can keep your drinking (including the resulting hangover) to your free time then its no biggy and never will be.

I drink cos I like the act of drinking and rather like being drunk and I like the taste of most forms of alcohol. I enjoy it and thus I do it basically.

[epocalypse]

I've been a drinkin man since I was a boy. Started early like Rikadyn here and its probably a bit of a habit I've developed but you just have to remember where free time and work time cross. If you can keep your drinking (including the resulting hangover) to your free time then its no biggy and never will be.

I drink cos I like the act of drinking and rather like being drunk and I like the taste of most forms of alcohol. I enjoy it and thus I do it basically.

ya see, i started drinking really young, like I mentioned earlier in this thread, my family was a wine family in portugal, and it was actually expected fork kids to have small amounts of wine at formal family get togethers, like a shot glass of it at reunions or weddings. Also, In portugal, where we spend most summers, drinking age is pretty much 16 on top of that, and have a older brother who just enjoys the drink as well is definitely a reason, too. I, however, don't and have so less and less as I've grown older, so I pretty much completely abstain from the stuff now.

[Machalllewis]

There's no problem with abstaining and everyone has different reasons, Im just kinda sick of certain people who do abstain lecturing people on the whole dealy. Its like they expect people to go "Oh, you mean it's harmful to my LIVER?! OH MY GOD! WHY HAS NO-ONE EVER TOLD ME THIS BEFORE?!"

And if you're the type who gets annoyed at that, then just try smoking. I'm a Radiotherapist, I spent three years studying cancer, I know more about lung cancer than John "I just read this pamphlet" Smith EVER will and still he thinks he's in line to lecture me. Its like telling a Physiotherapist to get some exercise.

Oh and by the by, I do have a ton of "I got trashed" stories.

[InsaneFool]

I enjoy drinking, but very rarely will that be outside of some kind of social context. I almost never drink alone, there has to be at least one other person drinking in order for me to have one.

I love going to bars, parties etc etc and getting drunk because it is fun. That little voice in my head that says "you look like an idiot dancing around like that...no one thinks you're funny...etc" gets muted during those times and I actually enjoy myself. I know it is sad, but I'm more the person I want to be after I've had a couple drinks.

As for dry campuses, I think they are stupid. I mean part of going to College/University is to, as the infamous Ms. Frizzle put it: "take chances, make mistakes!" and regardless of any official position that will happen during the school year! Making something less accessible will only make it infinitely more enjoyable for those that do it or want to do it.
I've seen a couple campuses implement temporary bands on alcohol on or around school property during major events like Frosh Week or Homecoming, but it doesn't matter because there will always be drinking going on during those events...hell I used to live in a student housing complex that had an annual riot! What does the city do? Put more cops in the area during that time, and the effect was NOTHING it was actually worse because they ended up flipping one of the cop cars that was there!

All that being said, if you don't want to drink ever, that is fine by me. Just don't try and talk me out of it cause it is none of your business what I do with my body.

Oh and as for stories, on a forum I used to go to we had a thread dedicated to posting things when we were extremely intoxicated...it was always a pretty funny read the next morning.

[JohnyMcmuffin]

I have an interesting perspective on dry campuses. I spent my freshman year at Brigahm Young University, which is the LDS (Mormon) university in Utah. It consistantly is rated the driest campus in the US. I then transferred to Reed College, which is a small liberal arts school, that is decidedly not a dry campus. To complicate matter, I personally don't drink.

At BYU I was never around any drinking and though I'm sure it went on in some form, a lot of the kids there really do believe and try to live up to their religious commitment not to drink. At Reed, drinking is commonplace (though we aren't a party school), and by virtue of the fact that I play rugby, I am around many of the drinking events.

So this strange hodgepodge of experiences has led me think that dry campuses can work, but only if everyone there is actually committed to the idea, and actively wants it. I personally vastly prefer my current situation for a verity of reasons, but one of the contributing factors is that one is allowed the personal responsibility to make the choice of whether to drink or not, instead of dealing with an institutional ban.

I have no problem with people abstaining. However, I do get a bit leery at what I believe is a tendency of parts of American society to object to alcohol out of fear and lack of understanding. I believe people often confuse "this is pure evil" with "this must be handled responsibly."

Well put

[Master Gunner]

Around Frosh Week here, they ask older students who returned early to at least be discrete with alcohol (and the only places in rez we're allowed to drink anyways are in our rooms or designated lounges), and the official policy is "we do not condone underage drinking". That said, they don't care otherwise, and even opened up one of the lounges that we're not supposed to drink in otherwise during Poker Night.

[AlexanderDitto]

I just don't understand alcohol.

I do understand it from a historiological point of view. It used to be the only thing around to drink. Naturally, that ingrained it into culture. Nowadays, though, it's a relic left over from the days before proper water filtration. It only persists in usage out of tradition and as a recreational drug.

And to be honest, I don't see the point of chemically altering one's neurological state. In fact, when chemicals do have that sort of affect on me, my instincts for self preservation flare up and I sort of panic a tad. It flat out disturbs me to feel my body entering a foreign state because of something I've ingested. I react as if I've been poisoned - and little wonder, alcohol is a poison, even if it is just a mild one.

I just don't understand why people rely on chemicals to alter their moods and level of inhibitions when it's much more rational, safe, and controllable to do so via will.

I've been told by some of my friends that they like the feeling of not being in any sort of self control. However, I feel it's one thing to loosen up a tad and be less self controlled, and another thing entirely to not be capable of being in control. In my mind, an uninhibited person is no better than an animal - they act on base instincts, out of emotion and urges rather than intellect or reason. And on a very strong level I abhor that notion.

~Alja~

Emphasis added; this sums up my feelings pretty well.

Add to Alja's post the fact that, to me, alcoholic drinks taste of rubbing alcohol mixed with pool water, and I've got no reason to drink. Everyone tells me it's an acquired taste... but I can't figure out why anyone would want to acquire it. Unless, you know, you're a pirate with no access to fresh water. :/ Plus, I'm pretty sure the rubbing alcohol taste will never really go away... I also don't drink coffee for the same reason. Tastes like drinking the contents of an ashtray. :/

If you want to loosen up at a party, loosen up. If you need chemical assistance to do so, there's a problem. People have inhibitions, sure, and they're usually there for a reason. Granted, I have a rather limited experience with drunk people... but as I am often the only sober person at gatherings where everyone else is at least buzzed, I can tell you that people tend to get less interesting, less clever, and more annoying as they get drunk.

I also don't like the way some people use alcohol, solely as a tool for becoming drunk, or worse. Why are people so enamored by the prospect of drinking so much that they spend the night sitting in front of a toilet throwing up? I ESPECIALLY don't approve of this sort of drinking.

I am, however, fascinated by alcohol for its culinary aspects: the history of wine, for example, and the way certain beverages are pared with meals, and the use of alcohol in cooking as a solvent and flavoring.

So, in closing: if you like the taste of a drink paired with a meal or whatever, good on you. If you drink to socialize, I don't understand you, and will probably feel vaguely uncomfortable around you when you're drunk and throwing peanuts at me. If you drink to get smashed, I think you're an idiot.

[Gordon Fearman]

Everyone tells me it's an acquired taste... but I can't figure out why anyone would want to acquire it. Unless, you know, you're a pirate with no access to fresh water. :/ Plus, I'm pretty sure the rubbing alcohol taste will never really go away... I also don't drink coffee for the same reason. Tastes like drinking the contents of an ashtray. :/

People tell me "Ooh, you'd have fun if you stuck with it" but I've never accepted the "it gets better later" excuse. I've never been bumming around the house and thought to myself "Hm, I don't really feel like playing a game now, but I might a few hours from now, so I'd better start playing a game that gets better later."

[Master Gunner]

I liked coffee from the first time I tried it, and for beer it wasn't too bad, just with a bad aftertaste (which quickly went away).

[Matt]

Everyone tells me it's an acquired taste... but I can't figure out why anyone would want to acquire it. Unless, you know, you're a pirate with no access to fresh water. :/ Plus, I'm pretty sure the rubbing alcohol taste will never really go away... I also don't drink coffee for the same reason. Tastes like drinking the contents of an ashtray. :/

People tell me "Ooh, you'd have fun if you stuck with it" but I've never accepted the "it gets better later" excuse. I've never been bumming around the house and thought to myself "Hm, I don't really feel like playing a game now, but I might a few hours from now, so I'd better start playing a game that gets better later."

That comparison isn’t really apt. Alcohol doesn’t get better if you stick with it, it stays exactly the same – you simply come to appreciate the nuances and flavours it presents to you. A better comparison would be learning to appreciate art, or music, or film. You don’t initially understand the technique, or the meaning, or what the artist was trying to convey, so you stick to the easy stuff, pop-music, (or bitch liquor :p ) if you will. Then as you expose yourself to more, you begin to branch out, to explore new sensations, to expand your palette. You come to find new art forms you enjoy, you start listening to progressive instrumental math rock, going to abstract art galleries, importing foreign avant-garde film. You find things you don’t like, you find things you do, and you experience a wide array of styles/sounds/flavours/etc.

I would challenge just about anyone who says they don’t like the taste of “beer” unless they have an aversion to the taste of alcohol itself, (and even then I could probably find something they like). There are so many types of beer, brewing techniques, darkness, strengths, flavours, consistencies, if you haven’t found a beer you like, you simply haven’t tried the right one yet.

And as a major beer fan myself, I still bump into varieties I don’t like – but I constantly try new beers, things I’ve never had before, and every one of them is a new experience.
-m

[Genghis Ares]

The taste of alcohol really makes me cringe. The only drinks I've ever liked are Mike's Hard Lemonade varieties, some Sangria my Dad made, and a bottle of Smirnoff Ice Triple Black someone left in the fridge after a party.

[Kara]

Well put Matt. I <3 beer.

I've been drinking for a few years, and that is being said that I'm not even quite 18 yet. I drink wine a lot with my family (we're Italians, are you surprised) with dinner, and I go out for drinks with my friends a lot of the time.
I also have a bit of a way of going partying a lot. So yeah, I drink quite a bit really. More recently I've just been drinking beer and lighter liquor at parties though. I do love to go out to The Mint (where they don't ID me) and go for drinks with some of my older friends when they're not going bar hopping. It's just a nice excuse for a social setting and something to do to relax everyone, not to mention you can get some fantastic drinks. =P

I guess what I'm saying is that it kind of varies by what situation I'm in as to why I drink. Sometimes it's for the experience and the effect, sometimes it's just something to do that happens to relax me a bit while I go for drinks with friends. It's all situational.

[InsaneFool]

Well put Matt.

*edit*
The whole thing with people saying they don't like the taste of alcohol really means they tried a lot of things. Ever had an After Eight mint? Try a Polar Bear, it tastes exactly the same. I've had several mix drinks that taste like Nerds and Gobstoppers. Hell straight up Goldschlager tastes like Cinnamon hearts.

Yeah there are terrible, abhorrent tasting drinks out there...Wild Turkey, Jagermeister, any type of Tequila.

[MarkVI]

That comparison isn’t really apt. Alcohol doesn’t get better if you stick with it, it stays exactly the same – you simply come to appreciate the nuances and flavours it presents to you. A better comparison would be learning to appreciate art, or music, or film. You don’t initially understand the technique, or the meaning, or what the artist was trying to convey, so you stick to the easy stuff, pop-music, (or bitch liquor :p ) if you will. Then as you expose yourself to more, you begin to branch out, to explore new sensations, to expand your palette. You come to find new art forms you enjoy, you start listening to progressive instrumental math rock, going to abstract art galleries, importing foreign avant-garde film. You find things you don’t like, you find things you do, and you experience a wide array of styles/sounds/flavours/etc.

I would challenge just about anyone who says they don’t like the taste of “beer” unless they have an aversion to the taste of alcohol itself, (and even then I could probably find something they like). There are so many types of beer, brewing techniques, darkness, strengths, flavours, consistencies, if you haven’t found a beer you like, you simply haven’t tried the right one yet.

And as a major beer fan myself, I still bump into varieties I don’t like – but I constantly try new beers, things I’ve never had before, and every one of them is a new experience.
-m

This.

On the comparison to music, when I was a kid everytime I heard jazz it often sounded like random notes being played. It just didn't sound right to me. But after a number of years of playing music and listening, your ear starts to pick up on the chords people play, you start to understand the harmonics of it and what the musicians themselves are hearing, and you start to appreciate when a musician plays something outside the standard vanilla changes (subsitution, tri-tone off, whatever).

I'd also even compare it to the understanding of a language. If you don't know how to communicate in a particular language at all, then it will sound very random anytime you hear someone speak it. But then you might start taking a class in that language and after a year you'll find you can pick out specific sounds, words, meaning, etc.

Basically, your sense are only as good as your own experience.

[Matt]

In the interest of full disclosure, I have written the entire category of IPA's off as undrinkable. It it the heavy metal or (gangsta rap) of beer.

-m