Yep, It's Official, I Really Can't Stand The Taste Of Alcohol
www.publix.com/pd/high-road-ice-cream-bourbon-burnt-sugar/RIO-PCI-537206
Because I don't have health insurance or a lot of disposable income, I've never been "tested" for my alcohol "allergy". It's not even an allergy, it's just something I react to, but it's easier to shorthand that with "allergy". But it's not just that I "don't like alcohol", or even that I just "don't like the effects of alcohol" - it's something that makes me experience it in a way that's different from other people, and that way is unpleasant.
Basically, I feel what feels exactly the same as a lactic acid burn in my shoulders. It feels like I've been lifting weights, only without the muscle strain. And my core body temperature, not just the surface temperature, actually rises a degree or two.
I also suspect that I'm a supertaster, from the description. This is an actual genetic marker that we have identified on DNA, but I haven't had the spare cash to get one of those DNA tests done to see if I have it or not, but I sure tick off all the checkboxes. Then there are those people who think cilantro tastes like soap. I'm not one of them, but, again, there's an actual genetic marker for it.
Here's why I believe that my alcohol thing is not just a "preference" but something actually different about me, possibly genetic but who knows? Just like those people with cilantro, and there's some other food that does a similar thing, alcohol all tastes like "alcohol" to me. It doesn't matter what it's made from, it doesn't matter what the quality is, everything with alcohol in it *tastes like alcohol*.
I can recognize different drinks. I can tell the difference between wine and vodka, for instance, but underneath the grapes and potatoes, wine and vodka has the same "alcohol" taste underneath it and it's all fucking terrible, just like how all cilantro tastes like soap. And beer - I can tell that beer is different from wine or vodka, but ALL BEER TASTES LIKE BEER. No, I don't care how hoppy it is or what-the-fuck, it all fucking tastes like goddamn beer.
So here's another data point that adds weight to my hypothesis that I have an actual -something- the way supertasting is a thing and cilantro-as-soap is a thing. I bought some bourbon ice cream because I was curious. It's made with actual bourbon but it's non-alcoholic (I assume the alcohol is just lost during the processing). And I can taste the thing that makes it bourbon *but I don't taste alcohol* so I actually like it. It might not compete for my top favs like pomegranate-vanilla cream with chocolate swirl by Hagaan-daaz, but I'll eat the whole pint (in several sittings).
I used to drink frou-frou mixed drinks all the time, before I decided that my not-allergy made drinking totally not worth the expense or the side effects. My favorite was a Godiva something or other from Bennigans - basically it was a vanilla ice cream and Godiva chocolate swirled milkshake with Bailey's Irish Cream. It was fucking delicious. Except for the alcohol taste underneath all the sweet creamy goodness. If I could have gotten them to make the same thing without the alcohol and to drop the price since there's no liquor in it, then I would have just ordered it virgin.
I also bake with alcohol all the time. My special developed-in-my-own-kitchen frosting recipe uses a shot of different alcohols, depending on what taste I'm looking for. The alcohol isn't cooked off, but it's one shot or less for an entire batch of frosting, divided up among usually 96 mini-cupcakes. That's not *enough* alcohol to register, apparently.
So, when I say that I don't like the taste of alcohol, I'm actually referring to the *alcohol*, not necessarily the drink (although, honestly, some of the shit y'all drink wouldn't be worth drinking even if they had a virgin version available - there's absolutely no reason to drink tequila, IMO, if you don't want to feel the effects of alcohol). Because, apparently, if I can have the taste without any of the alcohol, I guess I like some drinks after all.
This post was originally posted at https://joreth.dreamwidth.org/383927.html.
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