I worded that poorly. I wasn't referring to the flavor of the ethanol, I was referring to the flavor of the alcoholic beverage. And by flavor I was really referring to the sensory experience of consuming the beverage, including taste, smell and touch sensations, not specifically the way it binds to receptors in your taste buds. So I don't think that's a big problem, more like a nitpick. I encourage you to be more charitable in your future readings of my comments, to say "what here might be true, or pointing to a true effect" and then engaging with that, rather than searching for things to be dismissive about.
From the inside, it genuinely feels like I enjoy the sensation of drinking whiskey. I am the sort of person that will look for tasting notes in spirits. But I don't drink non psychoactive drinks that way, and no one else does either, which you would expect they would if the flavor's subtle complexity on its own were enough to explain the fact that it tastes good. If everyone were going around drinking something that tasted just like 30 year-old scotch, but without alcohol, and they all talked about how interesting, subtle and complex its flavor profile it, I'm pretty sure I would have tried it once and said, "This tastes gross" and never tried it again. So I don't think a purely social explanation is sufficient.
I was referring to the flavor of the alcoholic beverage
I don't understand what do you mean. There is no the alcoholic beverage. The flavor of a Bud Light is entirely different from the flavor of an Imperial Stout which is entirely different from the flavor of a Cabernet red wine which is entirely different from the flavor of tequila, etc. etc.
I'm not nitpicking, I'm disagreeing with you :-)
But I don't drink non psychoactive drinks that way, and no one else does either
However a lot of people eat food this way. Cheese, for example, has no psychoactiv...
following on from this thread:
http://lesswrong.com/lw/m14/id_like_advice_from_lw_regarding_migraines/c9kr?context=3
User Algon asked:
I don't drink alcohol, but is it really all that? I just assumed that most people have alcoholic beverages for the 'buzz'/intoxication.
I related my experience:
I have come to the conclusion that I taste things differently to a large subset of the population. I have a very sweet tooth and am very sensitive to bitter flavours.
I don't eat olives, most alcohol only tastes like the alcoholic aftertaste (which apparently some people don't taste) - imagine the strongest burning taste of the purest alcohol you have tasted, some people never taste that, I taste it with nearly every alcoholic beverage. Beer is usually awfully bitter too.
The only wine I could ever bother to drink is desert wine (its very sweet) and only slowly. (or also a half shot of rum and maple syrup)
Having said all this - yes; some people love their alcoholic beverages for their flavours.
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I am wondering what the sensory experience of other LW users is of alcohol. Do you drink (if not why not?)? Do you have specific preferences? Do you have a particular pallet for foods (probably relevant)?
I hypothesise a lower proportion of drinkers than the rest of the population. (subject of course to cultural norms where you come from)
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Edit: I will make another post in a week about taste preferences because (as we probably already know) human tastes vary. I did want to mention that I avoid spicy things except for sweet chilli which is not spicy at all. And I don't drink coffee (because it tastes bad and I am always very awake and never need caffeine to wake me up). I am also quite sure I am a super-taster but wanted to not use that word for concern that the jargon might confuse people who don't yet know about it.
Thanks for all the responses! This has been really interesting and exactly what I expected (number of posts)!
In regards to experiences, I would mention that heavy drinking is linked with nearly every health problem you could think of and I am surprised we had a selection of several heavy drinkers (to those who are heavy drinkers I would suggest reading about the health implications and reconsidering the lifestyle, it sounds like most of you are not addicted). about the heavy drinkers - I suspect that is not representative of average, but rather the people who feel they are outliers decided to mention their cases (of people who did not reply; there are probably none or very few heavy drinkers, whereas there are probably some who did not reply and are light drinkers or did not reply and don't drink).
I hope to reply to a bunch of the comments and should get to it in the next few days.
Thank you again! Maybe this should be included on the next survey...
Edit 2: follow up post -http://lesswrong.com/r/discussion/lw/m3j/tally_of_lesswrong_experience_on_alcohol/