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Not sure what your point is here. You've never tried it, so you don't know why people enjoy it? So why don't you try it and find out? There's a reason drinking is a popular activity all over the world. It's a lot of fun.

There's no point to be made: it's just a question. Though, your logic doesn't seem to make sense to me: would you encourage people to try everything to find out for themselves as opposed to asking people who've tried it before? That sounds like a recipe for disaster.

>>It's a lot of fun.

I quit drinking about 6 months ago and I couldn't feel better. I have a lot of fun with my drinking and non-drinking friends.

There's a huge difference between not drinking because you quit and never having tried it.

There is no doubt that you can have fun without drinking. The problem with never trying it is that you close yourself off to a massive part of the Western human experience. It is baked into the culture and is also a huge part of business relations. Being a lifelong teetotaller is in some ways tantamount to being a virgin.

I don't know why you've been downvoted. This comment is depressing but it is at least partially true. I wouldn't go as far as the 'virgin' part, but there are definitely people in the UK who view teetotallers with some suspicion.

I'm not sure why you're being down voted, but I generally agree. And I'm not passing judgement either - there is nothing wrong inherently wrong with drinking or chastity - but it is an undeniable part of our culture.

and this my friends is the face of addiction.

As a non drinker you probably don't like the taste of any or most alcoholic beverages. Whether it is conditioning or not, I do enjoy the taste of a good beer. There is not more 'benefit' to it than eating good food.

Yeah, I also enjoy a good beer and also a nice glass of wine with a meal. Wine in particular does a great job at complementing food.

I also have the self discipline to have one beer or one glass of wine, while many do not. If one beer always led to a 6-pack I would stop drinking.

What's your favourite beer?

For me, the answer is it depends.

What I buy depends on the context. If it's the middle of summer and I'm at a baseball game, I'll always get a hot dog and Budweiser.

Tonight I'm going to grill something and I'll have a Shiner Bock with it. Right now in my fridge I have two cans of Guinness (the doo hickey in the can always impresses me).

Guiness is too thick for me. I'm Molson or Sam Adams or Miller Lite, on a hot day.

Beer has good health benefits. It doesn't have sugar in it, so it's something you can drink without damaging your teeth. It doesn't have caffeine, so it's not going to stop you sleeping (hence why people meet for a coffee during the day and a 'drink' in the evening). Apparently it helps your cholesterol. It also kills germs/bacteria - when I was in India I tried to drink beer every day and I never got sick.

In terms of taste, I think it becomes much more appealing in hot weather, as a chilled beer is very refreshing. Also, it's something you tend to sip gradually, which lends itself to situations where you are sitting with friends for extended periods. Similarly with wine.

It does seem to cause people to lower their inhibitions which leads to easier conversation. Drunk people are very tiresome though.

It's a bit unfair to only list the health benefits of beer and the downsides of other beverages.

Alcohol is also a carcinogen and even if you stop drinking the effects still lingers for at least 15 years: https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/a...

As a home brewer, I'd dispute "doesn't have sugar in it".

The wort is stuffed with maltose, dextrose before fermentation.

The yeast turns most of the fermentable sugars into alcohol, true, but some are left, and some are required.

The yeast cannot work above a certain level of alcohol (%ABV), so any sugars added above that will not be fermented.

Some styles have added non fermentables (lactose) to add sweetness.

Also in cold weather, a mulled ale is amazing. :-)

Beer is about as caloric as sugar-sweetened soda and has comparable carbohydrates. It's not health food. :)

But as long as you realise that and monitor your intake/diet accordingly, why is that problem? Are carbohydrates necessarily bad?

>It doesn't have sugar in it, so it's something you can drink without damaging your teeth.

I'm keeping this in my mental file cabinet for the semi-weekly "beer, wine or vodka and fruit juice" debate.

>It also kills germs/bacteria

I'd wager that moonshine kills them deader.

>I think it becomes much more appealing in hot weather, as a chilled beer is very refreshing.

>Also, it's something you tend to sip gradually

Those aren't the same drink. Beer can be downed rapidly after finishing a laborious task. IPAs and other "beer inspired" substances are what you slowly sip when you have a lot of time on your hands.

Can confirm. Being the only nondrinket at a party sucks. Everyone becomes a strange kind of boring where the stupidest things entertain them and you just can't see it.

Happens to me a lot because I don't like wine and beer and it seems that in the US people really really don't like to drink spirits socially. Or even to mix their own cocktails.

Sometimes I miss parties with my slavic friends where we go through bottles of gin and vodka and such things. Def don't miss the next day hangover tho :D

And yes it IS a social lubricant. Lowers inhibitions.

Edit: on second thought, maybe avoiding spirits at parties isn't a US thing. Maybe I'm just getting older and people around me no longer enjoy getting smashed

Not sure where you got the idea that in the US people really really don't like to drink spirits socially. I'm sure it's different around the country but that's not the case anywhere I've been.

I find that they drink them at clubs but not at home parties. Should've been more clear.

And anyway it probably has more to do with age than geography. People don't get as smashed in their late 20's as they do in high school and college when drinking is more like a competition on who can get the most drunk the fastest.

Or maybe I'm just going to the wrong parties. You're right, geography is prob a correlation.

Next time you go to a party at a friend's home, offer to bring some spirits and mixers. Most people stick to beer/wine at self-hosted parties because anything else is a PITA, not because they don't like spirits.

Bring some ice too.

Not sure where you live, but if you head on down to the south nearly everyone has bourbon.

Many many religious people don't do alcohol at all. In the USA, especially the south, many Christians don't drink. In most of Europe most do, "in moderation".

> For example, tea

Honestly, as a tea lover it baffles me how people can prefer alcohol at parties. A high quality sencha can make you "tea drunk" which is what I prefer over being ordinary drunk. The magical combination of caffeine and l-theanin (and maybe some unknown stuff) can put you in a relaxed, slightly euphoric state with a thirst for action. Oddly enough, at times it can even reduce the power negative feelings have on me. Alcohol, otoh, makes me feel rather ... numb.

I am the same exact way. Can you please recommend where to buy the teas you recommend for the stated effects?

I buy at some (local) German stores so these are probably out of the question for you. But I think any serious tea dealer (they know which region their teas are from, what cultivar they are etc...) will do. However, r/tea (reddit's tea community) has a list of their favorite vendors. Maybe you find something good there.[0] I think Ocha is rather popular over there.

As far as the tea is concerned, tea starting at roughly 12 (€|$) / 100g (maybe a little cheaper if you're lucky) tends to have this effect. Furthermore, the effect also depends on finding the right steeping time, water temperature and tea-leaves/water ratio for each individual tea. Moreover, I suspect different teas work for different people. If you're "seriously" into Sencha it's advisable to get a Kyusu which is a traditional Japanese teapot that helps bringing out the best flavor.

Incidentally, I find tolerance builds, unfortunately, rather quickly when I drink Sencha very frequently. So at times it seems like a good idea to skip it for a few days.

[0] https://www.reddit.com/r/tea/wiki/vendors/page_01

The information could be relevant for me. Where do you buy what?

I dropped you an e-mail re: recommendations.

Alcoholic drinks taste great (some), but the important bit is alcohol makes you feel really good. Temporarily.

It also helps people who struggle with small talk, or interacting with others in general, to relax and loosen up.

I second randlet's and aetherson's posts.

A warning ( and possible reason to _never_ drink): some who have a tendency toward alcoholism may enjoy drinking much more than the rest of us. Some alcoholic authors' descriptions of the allure of alcohol are quite striking.

My experience: one drink relaxes me - more makes me ill. I enjoy a drink in social company. My linguistic faculty (esp. foreign languages)(no pun intended) _seem_ to improve under the influence, but maybe that's the liquor speaking! I like many of the sayings associated with social drinking, e.g.,

"In vino veritas!"

There's probably no good health reason to consume alcohol. If you haven't started drinking, it's probably best to never try it, from a health perspective.

Nobody is saying you should start drinking if you don't want to, but there are definitely some benefits for social drinking. Lower inhibitions, feeling more relaxed, getting rid of anxiety or just enjoying a good drink. Again, not for everyone, but it works for a lot of people.

Replace alcoholic drinks with a good pizza, and you might answer your own question.

It creates a feeling of mild euphoria.

It's a "social lubricant" because it helps people relax their inhibitions and social anxieties.

Most people experience some form of anxiety when socializing.

Other things can help, like familiarity (groups that know each other well) and structure (e.g. playing a game together).

On balance, there does not seem to be any direct health benefit to drinking. Or the upsides are nullified by the downsides, but there may be indirect benefits depending on who you are. Just a course example: if not drinking leads to social isolation, there are well known health risks associated with isolation.

It makes me a better dancer and singer.

I don't drink either, but I can see the benefit of something that lowers inhibitions. Especially for professionals, we kind of learn to be somewhat guarded and uptight all the time.

I know when I'm very tired (from being up late or exercising a ton) I get somewhat loopy and it seems to have a similar effect on my inhibitions.

Red wine has long been believed to be good for the heart, whether that's true or not is very debatable. As for the believed benefits of moderate drinking, many believe moderate drinking reduces stress. Reduced stress leads to better health.

I've tried once(Vodka), and i regret it. awful taste. vomits everywhere, felt bad, the next day is a mess. I'll stack with weed. (especially that i am from Morocco, we have good weed and Hash)

You clearly didn't just 'try' Vodka if you were vomiting. You drank to excess.

5 small cups... i don't think it's excess. but maybe because it was my first time, i was worried of losing control (i remember i did 40 pushups to prove to my friend i still in control). Anyway never tried again. i hate it

5 small cups... i don't think it's excess.

That sounds like a lot of vodka, especially for a first-time drinker! Depending on the size of the cup, that was likely at least 5 drinks, and likely more (1 drink of spirits is usually less than you think, and almost always less than what you see poured on TV).

Given that it is also easier to drink liquor faster than something like beer, you likely had quite a bit of alcohol in a pretty short time. I'd be sick, too.

>Given that it is also easier to drink liquor faster than something like beer,

The kind of vodka that someone having their first drink does not go down quicker than beer unless you're already drunk.

In a bar in Britain, 5 single vodkas (35ml each) is half the maximum recommended weekly consumption of alcohol. One additional vodka takes you over the official amount for "binge drinking", drinking a lot in a short period in order to get drunk -- and that's for someone who probably consumes alcohol regularly.

Measures poured at someone's home tend to be more than 35ml.

Mow the lawn on a hot day then have an APA in the shower. It's truely life changing. No sarcasm or anything, it really is.

How do you explain psychedelics? Alcohol is a terrible drug as those go, but it is legal, so you might as well try once.

Works wonders for my depression.

I'm sorry to hear that you're depressed. If you don't mind sharing, what else have you tried? Isn't alcohol a depressant? I'm no psychiatrist but it seems paradoxical that alcohol would help with depression

Isn't depressant just the opposite of stimulant? I don't think it has anything to do with depression the syndrome.

It doesn't, but there is a connection: for people who have a predisposition, alcohol is risky in that it can trigger a depressive episode. Typically one of the first things a psychiatrist or therapist will tell you to do in such a situation is to stop drinking. The GP's experience (that alcohol helps their depression) is not typical, but everyone is different.

Things feel more fun when you're drunk with other people. Having a drink or two isn't. In that case its just kind of relaxing. Takes the edge off if you are feeling anxious or stressed about the earlier work day for example.