I have a working theory that the availability of sweeteners has altered drinking preferences over generations.
When I was growing up everybody drank coffee and beer (and smoked cigarettes, which is probably a little related but a different story).
Coffee and tea were the only feasible way to get caffeine. Sure, cream and sugar was available and used, but as you get more acclimated to the taste you can forgo the stuff and just drink it black.
Likewise, beer is what you had. That was it. There were no sweetened alcoholic drinks in the can or 12 oz bottle form. With the exception of wine coolers but that was marketed more towards older women. And those usually only came in 4 packs. You could do wine or hard liquor with a mixer, but that was expensive and/or likely to get you hammered too quickly. If you wanted affordable casual drinking with friends you were drinking beer. And there weren’t even craft beers or microbrewers, just watery chilled donkey piss like Budweiser, Coors, etc.
Most people who started drinking did so with beer. By the time you had a year of sneaking beers with your buddies you were already used to the taste. Hell, I remember when Zima came out and it was a big deal (it was one of the first widely available easy to drink sweetend adult beverages, probably malt, I would guess).
And weed wasn’t common either, except in very secretive circles, so if you wanted a buzz, you were drinking.
Anyway, now you’ve got a whole cornucopia of alcoholic drinks that are easy to sip, caffeine that tastse like a soda, and vapes that taste like candy.
Nobody has to ever acquire a taste for bitter things again.
We must be the same age. Zima was a revelation, especially with the jolly rancher in it. Then in college it was just Beast Light because that’s what was available to me.
How old are you? (this is a legit question, not trying to judge or anything). Do you drink coffee? If so, how do you like it?
Late 20s, never got into coffee except for mocha on rare occasions
I have a working theory that the availability of sweeteners has altered drinking preferences over generations.
When I was growing up everybody drank coffee and beer (and smoked cigarettes, which is probably a little related but a different story).
Coffee and tea were the only feasible way to get caffeine. Sure, cream and sugar was available and used, but as you get more acclimated to the taste you can forgo the stuff and just drink it black.
Likewise, beer is what you had. That was it. There were no sweetened alcoholic drinks in the can or 12 oz bottle form. With the exception of wine coolers but that was marketed more towards older women. And those usually only came in 4 packs. You could do wine or hard liquor with a mixer, but that was expensive and/or likely to get you hammered too quickly. If you wanted affordable casual drinking with friends you were drinking beer. And there weren’t even craft beers or microbrewers, just watery chilled donkey piss like Budweiser, Coors, etc.
Most people who started drinking did so with beer. By the time you had a year of sneaking beers with your buddies you were already used to the taste. Hell, I remember when Zima came out and it was a big deal (it was one of the first widely available easy to drink sweetend adult beverages, probably malt, I would guess).
And weed wasn’t common either, except in very secretive circles, so if you wanted a buzz, you were drinking.
Anyway, now you’ve got a whole cornucopia of alcoholic drinks that are easy to sip, caffeine that tastse like a soda, and vapes that taste like candy.
Nobody has to ever acquire a taste for bitter things again.
We must be the same age. Zima was a revelation, especially with the jolly rancher in it. Then in college it was just Beast Light because that’s what was available to me.