I have searched the Internet about this topic but all I was able to find is teeny talk. So I suppose the members of this forum are well educated and intelligent people that's why I have decided to start this discussion here. I hope that only grown up people with experience will comment.

I am quite the adult now 30+ or maybe somewhat older and I have never had the taste for alchohol. Surely I got drunk numerous times and sometimes really serious but it was just to try it out. I have tried different kinds of alchohol vodka, wisky etc. - I really don't get the idea how people could enjoy that stuff - it is tasteless. I don't like wine too. I know there are some benefits of drinking a little bit of wine but I don't like wine at all. The only alchoholic drink I can sometimes enjoy is beer and only the best brands. What I find most interesting is that sometimes I like the taste of the beer but most of the times I don't like it at all. I mean the same brand of beer. I guess in hot summer weather the beer tastes better and in winter it tastes bad.

I should note that I also do not smoke and I do not like coffee. Well, I actually like the taste of coffee when it is very sweet but I do not feel the need to drink it. It seems to me that everybody around me cannot function without drinking coffee on a regular basis but I don't feel like drinking it. Well, it appears that I don't like any of these "social actvities".
The only things that give me cravings are sugary things.

So do you have any idea why people love "hard" alchohol like wiskey, vodka, etc? Have you ever read anything about that?

While I've never liked "hard" alcohol myself, I think the theory can be summed up in two words: aquired taste. When alcohol affects pleasure receptors in brain, the bad taste will become associated with something pleasant. For developers also note the importance of Ballmer peak from http://xkcd.com/323/

Its certainly an acquired taste, whatever your poison may be.

If you want to know why you don't seem to care fore it, and why others do, that's not much of a story: it just is what it is.

If you're interested in, perhaps, acquiring (or at least exploring) a taste for these things, then I suggest taking a more systematic approach than you may have in the past -- understand the variables (spirits, styles, ingredients, regional influences) and control them to narrow in on what appeals to you and what does not.

Also, if you've been testing the waters on the cheap stuff, or just bellied up to the bar and asked for a liquour, rather than a specific type, I can say that it's remarkably easy to tell the difference between bottom-, mid- and top-shelf stuff quite easily. The bottom-shelf stuff tastes somewhere along the spectrum of rubbing alcohol and bug spray. It's almost always cut with pure-grain alcohol and then covered over with artificial additives (Jose Cuervo I'm looking at you!), rather than being fully authentic -- as a rule of thumb, I don't drink anything that comes in a plastic bottle (maybe in a mixed drink, but even then not of my own choosing). Top-shelf doesn't have to be expensive either, most of the stuff I buy runs between $30 and $60 for .750 bottles here in WA state.

For beer you've got a ton of varieties -- Ales, Stouts, Pilsners, Lagers are the primary varieties, I like Lagers myself -- but not the American brands that all taste like piss. I like Corona, Dos Equis, and Asian or Italian lagers.

A specific drink you might like if you try it would be Sake or Soju -- they have a rather mild taste and the alcohol content is about that of a strong wine.

I'd say though, that as a general rule, most clear or light-colored liquors are enjoyed more for their effect than their taste -- its mostly the darker-colored ones that are meant to be savored for their flavor (Scotches and Whiskeys, aged tequilas, etc).

Also, if you're giving into your sweet tooth often and/or eat a lot of processed foods, your tastebuds are probably all sorts of whacked. I cut processed foods, fried food, and most salt and meat out of my diet about 6 weeks ago, and you'd be amazed how much your sense of taste changes after a couple weeks.

So do you have any idea why people love "hard" alchohol like wiskey, vodka, etc? Have you ever read anything about that?

I never bothered for reading about it. I suppose they like the "punch" or "burn" associated to hard alchol, I can mildly understand this, it's a very unique sensation.

I should note that I also do not smoke and I do not like coffee.

What about tea? I think this is somewhat interesting, of the few people who don't drink I met, a good percentage of them were also non-smokers, not into coffee and some not even good with tea.
I never completely got in the "social" part of coffee myself. For me it was all about the caffeine.

EDIT: remove ASCII art. Couldn't make it work!

I'm totally with you. I can't even stand beer, except if it's mixed with about 50% lemonade. I can't see how one can "enjoy" the taste. Same goes for cigars. And licorice. And mushrooms.

I think this is somewhat interesting, of the few people who don't drink I met, a good percentage of them were also non-smokers, not into coffee and some not even good with tea.

Were they also Mormon?

@Zingam: I think mrjones hit it. It's an acquired taste, and to acquire the taste you either very carefully choose your alcohol like Ravyne suggests until you start to like it, or you build associations with alcohol in your brain some other way that it starts to see alcohol as something it wants because it associates it with something good.

I've never gotten the theory behind an "acquired taste." If you don't like it, why would you keep drinking it until you do? Isn't that indicative of a psychological disorder?

No no, please, don't anyone answer that. I also don't like (and therefore don't drink) alcohol, and I know I'm the weird one for it, not the other way around.

There are more variables than taste in life. Need for socialization, even if misguided, can sometimes override bad taste.

I don't think that "acquired taste" means that you're fooling yourself about liking something long enough to "convert" -- simply that some experiences are so unusual at first that you're simply not equipped to notice and appreciate any nuance involved. Certainly having enjoyable experiences hastens the "acquisition" by disengaging the part of your brain that tells you this has always been a horrible experience, though.

To make a Standard Internet Car Analogy (TM), most people settle for your average commuter car, even if they test-drive something a little more expensive with better handling. They can't fathom spending more money on "better handling" unless they've had some time to settle into what that is, and how it can affect their driving. But when you do settle into it, its something that driving afficianados come to expect and measure other cars by.

"Acquired taste" theory is bullshit.

I've liked beer ever since the first one I tried, I've liked dark strong coffee since a young age, and every form of liquor I've tried I've enjoyed to some degree (except tequila... blech). I never had to undergo any kind of "acquisition period" or adjustment to it; first time was enjoyable, and every time since.

Now, there is some truth to Ravyne's idea that you gain more appreciation of subtlety and nuance with experience. That's been true for me in coffee, beer, whisky, rum, cognac, even cigarettes. So it does take experience and time to develop a sophisticated palate. But the "like/don't like" thing is certainly not "just" a matter of acquired taste.


Some people just like certain things. It's how humanity works. I wouldn't sweat it.