Hard News: Conversation Starters
401 Responses
First ←Older Page 1 … 5 6 7 8 9 … 17 Newer→ Last
-
The reason is because alcohol is a solvent.
Water is also a solvent. A very very common one.
Yeah, that'll really hit the spot ...
Well it probably would. There's a reason all those Gatorade ads have adults who need hydrating in them...
-
Graeme, did that ever actually get tested? I mean a lot of low alcohol beer is only half strength. It's well within my powers to drink 10-12 cans of it, and I'd be as drunk as if I'd had a 6-pack, which is too drunk to drive. Not that I ever would, or any sane person, for that matter, for reasons I've been elaborating.
-
I've just never been able to stomach the lying-to-oneself involved in saying yucky things are nice
So Ben, what tastes yucky to you MUST taste yucky to everyone else, they just convince themselves they like it? Because that does sound just a wee tad arrogant.
I don't like sweet things. I really don't like ice cream or milk chocolate. Am I lying to myself and pretending nice things are yucky, or do I just genuinely prefer savory tastes to sweet ones? Certainly I'm not going to go around telling people they're just pretending to like chocolate, because that would make me a total dick.
This excludes Schoc chocolate, which is obscenely delicious.
-
Yup, I quite like Powerade if I'm really thirsty. But if I have time to prepare I do actually mix water, sugar and salt, and save myself $3. That's only if I have actually dehydrated from hardout exercise, or being out in the sun too long. Otherwise water does the job just fine.
C'mon Ben, you don't really like grown-up drinks and you're generalising your experience to everyone else.
It's not just my experience. It's the experience of everyone I grew up with when we came to alcohol drinking age. Only a very few of them actually claim to like the taste, and these are the same people who love getting pissed way more than average. Funny that.
Furthermore I'm only saying I don't like the taste of 'grown up drinks'. I do like to drink them sometimes (more in the past than now), but I'm honest enough to admit the reason is for the alcoholic effects.
-
__Yeah, that'll really hit the spot...__
Well it probably would. There's a reason all those Gatorade ads have adults who need hydrating in them...
Sure, there's that weird more-quenching-than-water thing to yer Gatorades, but it also just tastes like a bunch of industrial chemicals. There is more to "refreshing" or "hitting the spot" than chemical cordial.
Compare to the way a decent lager, or good English best bitter, flows across the palate, triggering the the bitter taste receptors at the back of the tongue. That is restorative.
-
Furthermore I'm only saying I don't like the tasteof 'grown up drinks'. I do like to drink them sometimes (more in the past than now), but I'm honest enough to admit the reason is for the alcoholic effects.
So explain to me why I like Mac's Light and generally have some in the fridge. Is it not possible that I actually like the taste?
-
Something I've never been game to try, although according to Ben's argumentss it should hit the spot like nothing else: Pocari Sweat.
-
Emma, unless you are a freak, you trained those tastes. What I'm saying is that the reason so many people have trained themselves to like the taste of alcohol is for the bloody alcohol, not the inherent niceness of the tastes. It's a very simple point and I don't care how arrogant it sounds.
I am by no means alone in finding alcohol yucky, in fact I join the majority of species which have the ability to even discern the taste. Alcohol is poisonous so it's built in us to dislike the flavor, as is the natural aversion to inhaling smoke. Only humans will persist with it, and then only adults, who have trained inhibitions that they would like to lose.
-
I like beer, much more than i like wine. Unlike wine, beer is free of the intolerably stupid snobbery that surrounds wine.
Until this mutherfucker idiot came along -
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/07/dining/07wine.html?_r=1
US$35 for a beer. The man is clearly insane, or an liberal American snob which amounts to the same thing in my beer book.
-
It's the experience of everyone I grew up with when we came to alcohol drinking age.
Oh wait, so the plural of anecote is data? If only I'd known that before spending years studying social sciences...
I have time to prepare I do actually mix water, sugar and salt
I used to toss a pinch of salt into dilute raro, for much the same reason. Now that was something only worth drinking for it's benefits rather than the taste.
-
Graeme
Water is also a solvent. A very very common one.
yes but the full quote is...
The reason is because alcohol is a solvent. Many of the flavour compounds in wine dissolve in alcohol and not in water.
You do law, I'll do biology/chemistry :).
Seriously alcohol-free wine is possible and does sell, although it tends to be expensive. The problem is that ethanol can do things that water can't. And in the end, as hard as people have tried they cannot keep all the flavours in wine when they remove the ethanol AND you cannot taste the flavours in ethanol free wine the way you can when ethanol is present.
Ben my palate is different from yours. I like the flavours in Ata Rangi Pinot Noir. And I've always liked the flavours in wine. I have learned to appreciated them more with practice and learned to identify why I like some more than others.
I learned the pleasure of being tiddly/drunk with spirits. And I drank those even when I found some of them sickly sweet, I tend not to anymore. I can get drunk on wine but that is not why I drink wine and never has been.
I don't like beer, because I don't like the flavour of hops. Does that mean nobody else likes beer?
-
@ Rich
So you think it's ok, as a knee-jerk political reaction, to take a hard-working family's livelihood away? Because it might (read won't) stop a few people being drunk and obnoxious.
As I pointed out in my original post, the original law specifically precluded dairies from selling alcohol. If you think that you'll get around the law by placing a few bins of over-ripe fruit outside your front door, you've got to expect that there's a chance that loophole could be closed.
The evidence is very clear, that after hikes in alcohol excise (which are politically unpalatable - see Cullen's rejigging of the thresholds and the furore over the reclassification of sherry) the best way to reduce alcohol related harm is to reduce the number of outlets selling alcohol in a community. Do you honestly believe that the Government should not introduce regulations or legislation that will reduce social harm because it is going to affect some people's profits?
Look at it from another example: should tobacco displays in shops be banned (i.e. tobacco products be hidden from view)? There is overwhelming evidence that banning displays will have significant social (and economic) benefits to the country. But this of course will impact on your local dairy owner's profits. Is it fair?
Sometimes there are things more important than a business owner's profits.
-
Emma, unless you are a freak, you trained those tastes.
Slow down there, buddy. Someone who does not share your palate is a "freak"? That's just silly.
I too prefer savoury to sweet tastes, dark chocolate to milk. I used to drink coffee with milk, but then I discovered I liked it more, well-made, on its own. When the espresso is coming out well from our Domobar I actually get excited about drinking it, and serving it to people.
What I'm saying is that the reason so many people have trained themselves to like the taste of alcohol is for the bloody alcohol, not the inherent niceness of the tastes. It's a very simple point and I don't care how arrogant it sounds.
It's only a simple point because you have made it so.
The fact is, people taste things differently. About 20% of people are supertasters -- like my darling, who won't eat (or suffers bravely through) a number of foods I love. Her son is an Aspie -- he's got a really fussy palate ...
-
So explain to me why I like Mac's Light and generally have some in the fridge. Is it not possible that I actually like the taste?
Because you have drunk a lot of beer and trained yourself to like it.
Of course there is no non-arbitrary measure of yucky. Some weird people eat dirt and love it. I just think it's incredibly unlikely that you would have come to like the taste of beer if it did not get you drunk.
-
Oh wait, so the plural of anecote isdata?
Only if you agree with Ben. If not...
Emma, unless you are a freak, you trained those tastes.
Freak'll do fine, Ben, I've already had my sexuality called 'disordered' this morning, so we're on a roll. As I got older my tastes changed away from sweet things even though I tried to stop it happening. I used to love Fry's Turkish Delight, now I can't stomach it. And I miss that. But doubtless I'm just deluding myself.
What I'm saying is that the reason so many people have trained themselves to like the taste of alcohol is for the bloody alcohol, not the inherent niceness of the tastes.
So why don't people prefer Chardon to Macs, then? It's got more alcohol in it. And how come people prefer one alcohol beverage over another but that varies completely from person to person?
-
the best way to reduce alcohol related harm is to reduce the number of outlets selling alcohol in a community
The 'best' way to reduce the driving-related harm is to reduce the amount of driving in a community.
-
Slow down there, buddy. Someone who does not share your palate is a "freak"? That's just silly.
No, it's just a simple observation that basically no children like the taste of alcohol, nor do people who have never tasted it before. And there is a very simple reason for that, it is poisonous. It causes your body damage. Therefore it is a trained taste, not innate.
I doubt you would have ever learned to drink something as nasty and bitter as straight expresso, if coffee did not also alter your consciousness in a pleasant way. You put milk in your coffee originally for a reason, because I'm sure when you tried it without you didn't like it. You say you 'discovered' that you like it on it's own. I put it to you that your tastes actually changed as you became accustomed to that which you originally did not like.
-
Because you have drunk a lot of beer and trained yourself to like it.
No. Absolutely not. I can actually recall the point as a teenager when beer suddenly started tasting good, and it actually seemed to me at the time that something in my palate had changed. Up till that point, I had not drunk much beer at all.
I was also relieved to discover a bit later on that wine came in flavours that weren't sweet and fizzy, and that there was life beyond Liebestraum.
-
How about re-labelling, say, pinot noir as grey peanut, to placate the wanker-wowsers.
-
You say you 'discovered' that you like it on it's own. I put it to you that your tastes actually changed as you became accustomed to that which you originally did not like.
Sigh ... and why, pray tell, do cafes continue to successfully sell lattes and flat whites? Perhaps some people prefer them?
-
Sorry, black peanut. Along with grey peanut. Any suggestions for chardonnay?
-
Chardonnay can be called aromatic cooch.
-
Of course there is no non-arbitrary measure of yucky
That's wrong on a number of levels. There are some things in appropriate concentrations that most if not all people will find yucky.
There are plenty of smells, whose perceived yucky-ness is contingent on your genes. Hence, some people find musk pleasant, others like it, and others can't smell it. Depending on your genes, the same chemical has a categorically different perception. Similarly, some people can't tell mercaptan (the chemical they put in LPG so that you can smell it). People differ in the proportion of each type of taste bud they have, so some people prefer spicey, bitter or sweeter foods, all of which have a profound difference on what might be determined as unpalatable.
There is also a strong psychological role in the perception of flavours and odours. There are plenty of studies where people either like or find yucky things based on the manipulation of properties that don't impact on the chemical senses (from the brand name on the bottle, to the colour of the food). Kids even prefer carrots from McDonald packets.
-
So why don't people prefer Chardon to Macs, then? It's got more alcohol in it. And how come people prefer one alcohol beverage over another but that varies completely from person to person?
Not sure why you're asking me this. Is it some kind of argumentum ad absurdum?
And note (although this should not need to be noted) that I did not call you a freak. I said you trained your tastes OR you are a freak. I think the first case is more likely by nearly 100%. I don't know if you are actually a freak who as a child would have supped down beer and liked it. You tell me. Your sexuality has nothing to do with this.
Losing a taste for sweet may be quite normal and nothing to do with training. I don't know about this. Adults have different dietary needs to children. But training is surely a factor, as it is with all tastes.
-
Sigh ... and why, pray tell, do cafes continue to successfully sell lattes and flat whites? Perhaps some people prefer them?
Yup, so what?
Post your response…
This topic is closed.