tried beer for the first time yesterday, thought it would be better than the smell. Nope. Struggled through 3 sips then gave it to someone else 😭
I don’t really get alcohol tbh. Ive only had like 3 or 4 drinks but no matter what it is they all taste bad :/
Beers are very much an aquired taste. There’s your commodity beers and your piss beers from the big national brands like Pabst, Miller, Coors, etc. which largely are trying to sate a pallete that never liked the moonshine from the prohibition era (and all are crap in my personal opinion. It’s good for getting you buzzed and that’s about it), then there’s your microbrews which will vary wildly in style and flavor (if it’s on tap you can just tell the bartender you’ve not really had beer before and ask what they recommend and if you can try it before you commit to a full glass) and then there’s the stuff people don’t talk enough about: ciders (it tastes like apple juice but with a sharper, fuller flavor!) mixed drinks (again, ask the bartender if you’re unsure), and probably some other ones I’m not thinking of before you move onto the whiskeys and bourbons.
So basically it’s a wide world of alcoholic beverages and honestly people don’t encourage experimenting enough
So, the first thing you need to know about alcohol is it’s an intoxicating drug. It is a depressant, its short-term effects include reduced inhibitions which in the moment can feel like increased confidence, and overall reduction in physical motor skills, plus a mild euphoria. Also makes your face feel slightly numb. That’s most of alcohol’s selling point.
Alcohol on its own is rather unpleasant to have in your face. A lot of cocktail culture sprung up around hiding alcohol with other flavorings so they’re in any way pleasant to swallow.
You might try something like whiskey and coke, I’d specifically go with American or Canadian whiskies here; scotch doesn’t really bring the right flavors for this. There’s a reason Jack Daniels or Crown Royal are stereotypes. Vodka can also be a way in; it doesn’t bring a lot of flavor of its own so adding it to fruit juices can get you used to booze within familiar flavor profiles. Don’t worry about sticking to posted recipes, drop a tablespoon of vodka into a tall glass of orange juice and see what it does, then start upping the ratio.
Get used to that, you may then start exploring cocktails, getting into wine or beer, or neat spirits.
Unless it’s an IPA, they’re gross and if someone drinks them then I assume they’re just suffering to be pretentious.
/s?
As for other booze, just make it like something you like to drink. Fruity vodka and sprite is banging. Rum and coke is a classic. I like creamy stuff so I put vanilla vodka, bailey’s, and milk together.
It’s not that I hate IPAs, I don’t per se. I’ve home brewed IPAs for myself even though I prefer ales. The problem started with micro breweries trying to out do each other in seeing just how much hopps could be jackhammered into a beer. And it’s turned beer drinkers in pretentious snobs because they have no clue in what the reason is for IPAs to even exist in the first place or even how it’s supposed to originally taste.
Yeah I don’t actually hate IPAs either but as you said, finding one that does not contain an ungodly amount of hops is pretty rare nowadays. I like APAs more because they seem to have been spared by that trend so far
A lot of IPAs are gross. Some are quite good. Bitterness is the most maligned of all tastes. Tons and tons of bitter things that people love and every one of them is a love/hate acquired taste thing.
Grapefruit, bitter melon, bitter black coffee, any sort of bitter beer (IPAs aren’t the only one), heck even burnt sugar!
The biggest problem with IPAs is that crappy/inexperienced brewers use the bitterness of hops to cover up brewing defects. This leads to really gross aftertastes or overwhelming bitterness and only hipsters like drinking that crap.
For a hot minute there near the end of the Obama administration, craft beer was a thing in this country and we had some excellent beers. Then Trump got elected and I haven’t seen a craft beer that wasn’t an IPA or a token jet black “oatmeal stout” since.
The “craft” part got killed in the commercialization of the genre. So it’s become the modern version of Pabst. And there is a contraction of micro breweries at the moment as beer drinkers are slowly learning to pass on all the crap out there.
It’s a thing that happened and I’m not sure by what mechanism. 2018, lots of microbreweries and brewpubs most offering a wide variety, by 2021 you’ve got seven IPAs and one token stout on the menu.
We’ve moved on to sours or IPA/sour combos. I drink them because they are delicious to my palate. Always drank my coffee black even as a kid. I like bitter.
Honestly I fucking hate the term hipster. I’m not hip, I’m a laborer in my 40s. It’s just another way for people to divide each other.
Good for you I guess, but why’d the variety have to disappear? I want my ESBs and barleywines back. I haven’t seen a locally made wheat beer since before the pandemic.
Because sweet beers are fucking disgusting? Really though you like what you like. I live in a tiny state population-wise in the US. I can drive five minutes to several shops that have 30 different sweet wheat options.
Oh I don’t disagree with you. I’ve looked for decent non-IPA microbrews and have been puzzled at the lack of selection! I just wasn’t aware of the timing.
…let me introduce you to single cask-strength malts: one drop, drawn delicately through your lips, let diffuse across your palate by capillary action, that’s how i learned to appreciate alcohol for the first time after four decades of not getting it…
…the great thing about cask-strength sipping whiskies is that one bottle can last years if kept properly sealed between pours…
There is soon a great winnowing of craft distilleries coming also. There is a glut of barrels growing in rick houses are we speak and production is dropping. MGP, (probably the largest producer of custom/aged spirits for “craft” whisk(e)y brands in the US), has announced large cut backs in their production. The market share for spirits is declining in the US as the younger customers are swinging away from spirits to other types of intoxicants.
Im not usually a fan of alc but I do enjoy rice wine (korean flavored ones) and choya plum wine. Maybe you could try those? They’re moreso a sweet alcohol and doesnt have that weird earthy bitter taste imo
tried beer for the first time yesterday, thought it would be better than the smell. Nope. Struggled through 3 sips then gave it to someone else 😭 I don’t really get alcohol tbh. Ive only had like 3 or 4 drinks but no matter what it is they all taste bad :/
Beers are very much an aquired taste. There’s your commodity beers and your piss beers from the big national brands like Pabst, Miller, Coors, etc. which largely are trying to sate a pallete that never liked the moonshine from the prohibition era (and all are crap in my personal opinion. It’s good for getting you buzzed and that’s about it), then there’s your microbrews which will vary wildly in style and flavor (if it’s on tap you can just tell the bartender you’ve not really had beer before and ask what they recommend and if you can try it before you commit to a full glass) and then there’s the stuff people don’t talk enough about: ciders (it tastes like apple juice but with a sharper, fuller flavor!) mixed drinks (again, ask the bartender if you’re unsure), and probably some other ones I’m not thinking of before you move onto the whiskeys and bourbons.
So basically it’s a wide world of alcoholic beverages and honestly people don’t encourage experimenting enough
It’s a bit of am acquired taste but beers are by far not all created equal. There’s a stupid amount of diversity and large differences.
But if you don’t enjoy it don’t feel the need to force yourself.
So, the first thing you need to know about alcohol is it’s an intoxicating drug. It is a depressant, its short-term effects include reduced inhibitions which in the moment can feel like increased confidence, and overall reduction in physical motor skills, plus a mild euphoria. Also makes your face feel slightly numb. That’s most of alcohol’s selling point.
Alcohol on its own is rather unpleasant to have in your face. A lot of cocktail culture sprung up around hiding alcohol with other flavorings so they’re in any way pleasant to swallow.
You might try something like whiskey and coke, I’d specifically go with American or Canadian whiskies here; scotch doesn’t really bring the right flavors for this. There’s a reason Jack Daniels or Crown Royal are stereotypes. Vodka can also be a way in; it doesn’t bring a lot of flavor of its own so adding it to fruit juices can get you used to booze within familiar flavor profiles. Don’t worry about sticking to posted recipes, drop a tablespoon of vodka into a tall glass of orange juice and see what it does, then start upping the ratio.
Get used to that, you may then start exploring cocktails, getting into wine or beer, or neat spirits.
I fucking haaaaaaate hops, i hate the smell, i hate the taste, i also hate beer because i can literally smell the fermentation and it smells rotted.
Plenty of other ways to get turnt out there my friend
It’s an acquired taste.
Unless it’s an IPA, they’re gross and if someone drinks them then I assume they’re just suffering to be pretentious.
/s?
As for other booze, just make it like something you like to drink. Fruity vodka and sprite is banging. Rum and coke is a classic. I like creamy stuff so I put vanilla vodka, bailey’s, and milk together.
/sdefinitely not sarcasm.IPA haters rise up
It’s not that I hate IPAs, I don’t per se. I’ve home brewed IPAs for myself even though I prefer ales. The problem started with micro breweries trying to out do each other in seeing just how much hopps could be jackhammered into a beer. And it’s turned beer drinkers in pretentious snobs because they have no clue in what the reason is for IPAs to even exist in the first place or even how it’s supposed to originally taste.
Yeah I don’t actually hate IPAs either but as you said, finding one that does not contain an ungodly amount of hops is pretty rare nowadays. I like APAs more because they seem to have been spared by that trend so far
A lot of IPAs are gross. Some are quite good. Bitterness is the most maligned of all tastes. Tons and tons of bitter things that people love and every one of them is a love/hate acquired taste thing.
Grapefruit, bitter melon, bitter black coffee, any sort of bitter beer (IPAs aren’t the only one), heck even burnt sugar!
The biggest problem with IPAs is that crappy/inexperienced brewers use the bitterness of hops to cover up brewing defects. This leads to really gross aftertastes or overwhelming bitterness and only hipsters like drinking that crap.
For a hot minute there near the end of the Obama administration, craft beer was a thing in this country and we had some excellent beers. Then Trump got elected and I haven’t seen a craft beer that wasn’t an IPA or a token jet black “oatmeal stout” since.
The “craft” part got killed in the commercialization of the genre. So it’s become the modern version of Pabst. And there is a contraction of micro breweries at the moment as beer drinkers are slowly learning to pass on all the crap out there.
One of the weirdest takes I’ve ever seen. Bravo and well done for somehow working politics into this!
It’s a thing that happened and I’m not sure by what mechanism. 2018, lots of microbreweries and brewpubs most offering a wide variety, by 2021 you’ve got seven IPAs and one token stout on the menu.
Mostly because they can’t be good at all of them. And there were/are a lot of bad brewers out there that don’t care about mastering the craft.
We’ve moved on to sours or IPA/sour combos. I drink them because they are delicious to my palate. Always drank my coffee black even as a kid. I like bitter.
Honestly I fucking hate the term hipster. I’m not hip, I’m a laborer in my 40s. It’s just another way for people to divide each other.
Good for you I guess, but why’d the variety have to disappear? I want my ESBs and barleywines back. I haven’t seen a locally made wheat beer since before the pandemic.
Because sweet beers are fucking disgusting? Really though you like what you like. I live in a tiny state population-wise in the US. I can drive five minutes to several shops that have 30 different sweet wheat options.
Oh I don’t disagree with you. I’ve looked for decent non-IPA microbrews and have been puzzled at the lack of selection! I just wasn’t aware of the timing.
The double IPA, the “I’m not an alcoholic” drink of choice.
…let me introduce you to single cask-strength malts: one drop, drawn delicately through your lips, let diffuse across your palate by capillary action, that’s how i learned to appreciate alcohol for the first time after four decades of not getting it…
…the great thing about cask-strength sipping whiskies is that one bottle can last years if kept properly sealed between pours…
There is soon a great winnowing of craft distilleries coming also. There is a glut of barrels growing in rick houses are we speak and production is dropping. MGP, (probably the largest producer of custom/aged spirits for “craft” whisk(e)y brands in the US), has announced large cut backs in their production. The market share for spirits is declining in the US as the younger customers are swinging away from spirits to other types of intoxicants.
Beer is definitely an acquired taste. Plus there is a big fad around IPAs lately which are stupidly bitter even by beer standards
Im not usually a fan of alc but I do enjoy rice wine (korean flavored ones) and choya plum wine. Maybe you could try those? They’re moreso a sweet alcohol and doesnt have that weird earthy bitter taste imo