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Lambic isn't bad. But essentially, the issue with beer is that I don't like hops. I've tried wheat beer, barley beer, cherry beer, light beer, dark beer, but I can still always taste the hops. Lambic is nice because, at least with most flavors, you can't taste hops. Of course, for most beer drinkers, hops are what you're paying for. But they are bitter and linger on the tongue, and I can't stand them. So in this case, it's not really entirely like the sherry discussion, because it's not a matter of having enough options -- it's a matter of getting rid of the ingredient that pretty much defines beer.

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"Nothing important is easy." Patrick White (Australian Nobel laureate)

http://waltzingaustralia.wordpress.com

I wouldn't say there's anything, I can't drink, but there are a few things I'd prefer not to: I've determined that I don't really like hops, so the only beers I really enjoy are Belgian lambic fruit beers. I do keep trying every now and again, though.

I'm not fond of Italian bitters, such as Cynar and Campari, unless they're well disguised. And I've yet to find anything that disguises the taste of Malort.

I don't care for exceptionally sweet cocktails. When the cocktail craze started up, it seemed as if booze manufacturers had concluded that younger people didn't really like the taste of alcohol, but thought martini glasses were cool, so we saw a lot of what I think of as "kiddie" drinks made with sweet liqueurs and called "martinis."

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LAZ
Dining Chicago
Index to LTHForum Recipes, 2004-2008

Hops don't necessarily define beer. By definition, beer is any beverage produced by fermenting grains or starches. For example, Sake is a rice beer. Chicha is a corn beer. Gruit is a beer made with a variety of herbs, most popular before hops were introduced into the mainstream beer brewing process. Belgians typically (or at least historically) have used aged hops, to minimize the hop flavor, and have used them only for the hops' preservative qualities. A well-aged barley wine (think Thomas Hardy's) will have lost almost all of its hop flavor, in favor of a caramelly, sherry-like sweetness. So, if you're especially sensitive to hops, there are plenty of beer styles - maybe not all easily available - that don't use hops, or minimize hop flavors to the extreme.

If you like, I'll brew a non-hopped beer for you.

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Chicago Craft Beer Week!

All right, I'll 'fess up. I'm not aware of anything I "can't" drink (I had the same experience Ronnie did with Southern Comfort except mine was with tequila and, fortunately, I overcame that, uh, experience). However, given the choice, I won't drink scotch.

I think my first encounter with the vile stuff ( ) was in 1972 when I spent six weeks bumming around Europe with a friend. We had the great good fortune to be picked up hitchhiking one day on an out-of-the-way stretch in northern Scotland by a lawyer in a Jaguar (my first and only time in one o' them). We hit it off and he arranged for us to visit one of his clients: Macallan's. Well, I'd never had scotch before and it's fair to say I hadn't much experience drinking anything with much alcohol in it. Long story short: we were given a private tour of the distillery which ended in the private tasting rooms. There, the director who had given us our tour poured out some samples taken from the barrel. I won't even mention the part where we poured the stuff we hadn't drunk down the sink when he left the room for a moment....


P.S. Yes, I know that there are many kinds, varieties, and tastes of scotch. The answer is still no.

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Gypsy Boy

“How can a nation be called great if its bread tastes like kleenex?” (Julia Child)

+1 It tastes like tree bark. The more aged Macallan gets (12 yr, 18yr, etc), the more it tastes like you are sucking on tree bark.

Well, I'm not sure I'd agree with "tree bark." But, lest anyone think I'm picking on Macallan, I'm not. The Macallan was an illustration (and, coming as it did during my "formative years," is, I believe, partially explanatory); I don't drink scotch, period.

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Gypsy Boy

“How can a nation be called great if its bread tastes like kleenex?” (Julia Child)

I found what I believe to be the best possible use of Malort one day when my office threw a party but only had Miller Lite, tequila, and Malort available for some bizarre reason. Anyway, a shot of Malort dropped into an American macrobrew (a la the boilermaker) improves the flavor of both. Which is to say, I guess, it finds a happy medium between no flavor and HOLY CRAP TOO MUCH BITTER. I wanted to call the concoction a widowmaker but apparently that name is taken.

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Well I got drunk and I ate a chicken
I ate a chicken I found in my kitchen
Not just a leg and not just a wing
I'd like to let you know that I ate the whole damn thing

What kind of trees taste like Macallan? I'd like to plant a few in my yard!

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i used to milk cows

lol, I'll admit I exaggerated the wood taste just a 'lil bit

That's a very kind offer. If there are no hops, I might like it. Perhaps I should have stated that, as far as beers you buy in the beer section of a Binny's or find on tap anywhere that serves the public, at least in English-speaking countries, they all have hops. (And if you do a Google search, all definitions in English come up as "fermented cereal grain beverage flavored with hops." ) So while it may be possible to have beer without hops, my belief that hops are pretty central to the beer experience is certainly understandable.

I've had sake, though I've generally heard it described as rice wine, and chicha is pleasant, though again, I've never heard it described as beer. So hop-free beer might be pleasant. Though I'm so happy with good hard cider, I don't really feel like my life is incomplete.

And to be perfectly honest, I've always considered a blessing that I didn't like beer. There need to be at least a couple of high-calorie foods I don't like.

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"Nothing important is easy." Patrick White (Australian Nobel laureate)

http://waltzingaustralia.wordpress.com

Katie, sorry that I didn't see the stuff you added here.

This is an example of cooking sherry: Holland House. This is likely the same stuff you probably saw in the grocery store.

As I noted above, Lustau is a good brand of sherry and is widely available. Here are some tasting notes on many of their offerings:
http://www.starchefs.com/wine/starvintn ... stau.shtml

You might find sipping sherry a little better if you chill it a little bit. Most are meant to be served in the 50-60 degree range.

Thanks, LAZ and Darren72, for the suggestions.

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"I would gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today."

When I was a sophmore in high school, I went to visit the better brother at CU in Boulder. I had never been drinking and he turned me on to scotch and soda. After 5 of those babies, I was sick as a dog, suffered a mental blackout, experienced my 1st major hangover, and have never been able to drink Scotch since. Pretty sad I can't enjoy a great aged, single malt scotch.

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"I feel sorry for people who don't drink. When they wake up in the morning, that's as good as they're going to feel all day." Frank Sinatra

There's a couple out there you can find, but you're mostly correct. Dogfish Head's Midas Touch is hop-less. The Finnish style called "sahti" (which Goose Island occasionally has on tap) contains little-to-no hops. Its bitter component comes from juniper berries. Plus, there are a couple breweries out there I've seen try to bring back beers bittered with spruce instead of hops. As well, I remember seeing at Binny's some Scottish ale flavored with heather instead of hops. But all these additions add a bit of bitterness to the balance the malt of the brew, so you may not like them anyway. You might enjoy the Midas Touch, though, which also has grapes, honey, and saffron in it.

Thanks so much for the info and guidance.

I tested strongly for "supertaster" a few years back at an LTH event -- which means bitter isn't something I delight in. So I suspect you're right that the bitter elements of any hue might not make my day. However, that Midas Touch, with grapes, honey, and saffron sounds worth trying.

That said, with so many good ciders and wines available in the world, I don't feel too shortchanged in the beverage department.

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"Nothing important is easy." Patrick White (Australian Nobel laureate)

http://waltzingaustralia.wordpress.com

I love tomato juice, but recently was told by my Dr. to cut down on my salt intake, and it seems like tomato juice is all dosed up with salt. Does anybody know where to find low or no salt tomato juice?

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What if the Hokey Pokey really IS what it's all about?

I know they make low-sodium V8 (I bought it once by accident). I'd imagine if they have low-sodium V8, they'd have low-sodium regular tomato juice.

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"Nothing important is easy." Patrick White (Australian Nobel laureate)

http://waltzingaustralia.wordpress.com

Anything too "perfumey" like Gin or Cognac just leaves me cold. Can't drink it. Don't like it. Wish I could appreciate them but alas, it is just not my world. On the other hand, give me the tree bark any old day. Nothing like Lagavulin when it's horribly cold.

The smell of Midori is just awful and makes me run screaming out of the room. Had a dear friend in college who loved both Midori and cheap brandy and suffice it to say, we didn't drink much together. These days she drinks nothing and I think it's because she couldn't move away from those horrible options.

I steer clear of Vodka mostly because it tends to make me take off my clothes. Nuff said.

I refuse to drink cheap beer. Life's too short for bad beer.

Southern Comfort, just a whiff in someone else's drink triggers my regurg reflex.

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Sauce on the side, always, implied, axiomatic..........never a doubt, BBQ sauce without.

Low & Slow

You can find it, but you will probably need to add something to make it drinkable -- lemon or lime juice, cilantro, on ice -- that's how I drink it. Maybe you can add a bit of hot sauce (does hot sauce have salt?).

Where do you find it?

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What if the Hokey Pokey really IS what it's all about?

The low-sodium V8 is just in the tomato juice aisle at a regular grocery store. Campbell's puts out a low-sodium tomato juice, also generally available at regular (i.e., Jewel, Dominick's) grocery store. That's probably where I'd look first. I'd be willing to bet Whole Foods would have something in that line, too.

And yes -- without salt, it needs doctoring. But that can be part of the fun. A little garlic, a little hot sauce, and suddenly it's a treat.

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"Nothing important is easy." Patrick White (Australian Nobel laureate)

http://waltzingaustralia.wordpress.com

Add my name to the never-want-to-drink-Southern-Comfort-again club. Swore it off 30 years ago after an absolutely horrendous night and a week-long hangover that followed. I thought I was going to die. Have not had one sip since, and the smell sickens me.

Other than rum, tequila and wine, most liquor tastes really bad to me. Can't do: whiskey, vodka, gin, bourbon (went to the Ky Derby a couple of years ago and couldn't manage to choke down even a little Mint Julep -- yuck), Scotch... To me, they smell like gasoline; I don't taste any flavors per se, just the anonymous bite of the alcohol, which I do not find pleasant.

Oh, and I can't drink milk. Love to cook with it, even put it in my tea, but a glass of milk? Gross.

Sounds like a lot of people gave up SC after a night ended by barfing! I, too, used to like it, but now don't, due to an evening where I ran out of wine and switched over to SC. A deadly combo, to be avoided at all costs, like ouzo and beer, which is worse.

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What if the Hokey Pokey really IS what it's all about?

I know you can buy tomato sauce with no salt so I imagine if you read labels enough you can find a no salt juice. Low sodium V-8 has 80mg per serving.

I like gin, and tonic water, ideally together , but both are acquired tastes for sure. I sympathize with those who put gin and/or tonic water on their "can't drink this" list. I remember my dad once saying about gin that he couldn't understand why anyone would want to drink something that smelled like lighter fluid.

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"I would gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today."

Okay -- not only is sahti available, it's historic. I would have known more about this if I read the blog of my very own kid brother, who is my polar opposite as regards beer. He loved it from the first time her tried it, way back in his teens. (He was in Germany, so it was legal.) He figured it was why he'd been put on earth. Here's an entry he did that included info on the juniper berry beers. I'm still not convinced I'd like them any better, but it is fascinating to learn that hops area a relative late-comer.
http://beerlieder.wordpress.com/2010/09 ... rews-news/

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"Nothing important is easy." Patrick White (Australian Nobel laureate)

http://waltzingaustralia.wordpress.com

So far as I know, ale/beer has a much longer history of being brewed without hops than with hops. (The reason I say "ale/beer" is because, once again, from my understanding, historically the difference between "ale" and "beer" was the presence of hops, with the former not having them and the latter having them.)

Rum. Like a lot of people, it comes from a night of excess (at a house-warming party). I had nightmares for a while of what nearly occurred to that house.
Another one -- cheap sweet Greek wine. Painfully bad. At my wedding, on the alter I had some for Communion. Forgot I had to do three sips (Greeks do everything three times) so the first sip was an actual sip. The next two were fake. I spent about 20 minutes of the wedding hoping that I would just get that taste out of my mouth and in doing so, avoid sick on the alter.

Budweiser, the most vile version of beer thrust upon an unsuspecting public. A great marketing machine trumpeting the virtues of fizzy pee, and being very successful at it.