Bourbon Knowledge (Or Lack Thereof)

[KYPayne]

Anything is harmful for you in excessive quantities, and I would suggest not turning your righteous indignation with alcohol prohibitionists around on pro-legalization advocates, thereby becoming the prohibitionist yourself on a subject of which you are ignorant.

I've never known anyone to smoke marijuana for any other reason besides intoxication just as in my own experience with drinkers they all just want to get drunk. That simply illustrates that most people's concern is getting intoxicated regardless of the method.

[Trey Manthey]

I've never known anyone to smoke marijuana for any other reason besides intoxication just as in my own experience with drinkers they all just want to get drunk. That simply illustrates that most people's concern is getting intoxicated regardless of the method.

Just because you've never known something doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

I drink bourbon (and sometimes Scotch) to relax not because I crave the effects of liquor but because I enjoy the flavors. There's a certain pleasure that's wrought from it. The question is though, would I still drink bourbon if it didn't have any sort physiological effects? I think I would. It might sound strange, but I approach soft drinks with a certain connoisseurship on occasion when I find a bottle of Double Cola or something with limited distribution. I drink the coke for the experience of drinking it.

You're talking about "experiencing flavors" as if it were somehow a loftier goal than what other people expect when they are partaking in something for enjoyment's sake. FYI, different varieties of marijuana have different tastes, smells, and effects.

[tmckenzie]

Well this is an excellent illustration of how easy it is to waive opinions or prejudices around and call them undeniable fact in just the same manner this thread is discussing general ignorance when it comes whiskey. In fact, I'm not sure what your point is with this paragraph other than to try to gather up the responsible bourbon drinkers around here and gang up on the legalization of marijuana.

"Being totally bereft of experience," as you put it, you really have no basis to make claims that the sole purpose of ingesting marijuana is to get "totally blasted," nor to claim that "the only effect of grass on the palate is it gives you the munchies." Rest assured, and this is coming from someone who does have experience, there are other ways to enjoy the effects of marijuana than just getting totally blasted and resorting to eating a pan of brownies, not that there's anything wrong with that!

Anything is harmful for you in excessive quantities, and I would suggest not turning your righteous indignation with alcohol prohibitionists around on pro-legalization advocates, thereby becoming the prohibitionist yourself on a subject of which you are ignorant.

I could not have said it better. And just like whiskey, marijuana in moderate doses has some good medical benifits.

[KYPayne]

Just because you've never known something doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

I'm not saying that people don't use marijuana for different reasons. I'm not disagreeing with you. What I'm saying is that from my experience the majority of marijuana users do not care about the nuances of various varieties of pot just like most drinkers don't really care about the myriad of whiskeys available to them. There's a whole "let's get stoned" crowd that correlates to the "let's get drunk" crowd. They're different substances used for the same purpose by many people. Like with liquor, most people fail to see that there's any possible of moderation with marijuana.

[Trey Manthey]

Really the only time I flex any knowledge of whiskey is if someone asks me because they know I'm into it, or when I've got them captive at my bar and express some interest in the difference between all the bottles. I often get the "What's the difference between scotch/bourbon and whiskey." When I'm at my home base, I can let people smell and taste different things, find what they like, then make them a cocktail they'll enjoy. If they're brave I'll pour it neat, but this almost always ends up with a barely sipped glass.

It's fun for me, because I remember when I was clueless about the same things, and I enjoy passing the knowledge on in a sensory, hands-on fashion. Much more exciting than reading about it on Wikipedia and tasting it alone at home.

[mosugoji64]

This reminds me of an experience I had a while back when I stopped into a local store looking for a couple of specific bottles. The clerk stated that they did not have the bottles in question, but pointed to some bottom-shelf bottles saying, "Why spend a lot of money when you're just gonna piss it out anyway?" I kindly thanked him for his assistance and left.

[White Dog]

This reminds me of an experience I had a while back when I stopped into a local store looking for a couple of specific bottles. The clerk stated that they did not have the bottles in question, but pointed to some bottom-shelf bottles saying, "Why spend a lot of money when you're just gonna piss it out anyway?" I kindly thanked him for his assistance and left.

Wow. What a great "up-sell." I bet the owner would've loved that line!

[soad]

Well this is an excellent illustration of how easy it is to waive opinions or prejudices around and call them undeniable fact in just the same manner this thread is discussing general ignorance when it comes whiskey. In fact, I'm not sure what your point is with this paragraph other than to try to gather up the responsible bourbon drinkers around here and gang up on the legalization of marijuana.

"Being totally bereft of experience," as you put it, you really have no basis to make claims that the sole purpose of ingesting marijuana is to get "totally blasted," nor to claim that "the only effect of grass on the palate is it gives you the munchies." Rest assured, and this is coming from someone who does have experience, there are other ways to enjoy the effects of marijuana than just getting totally blasted and resorting to eating a pan of brownies, not that there's anything wrong with that!

Anything is harmful for you in excessive quantities, and I would suggest not turning your righteous indignation with alcohol prohibitionists around on pro-legalization advocates, thereby becoming the prohibitionist yourself on a subject of which you are ignorant.

Well said sir, well said.

[KYPayne]

This reminds me of an experience I had a while back when I stopped into a local store looking for a couple of specific bottles. The clerk stated that they did not have the bottles in question, but pointed to some bottom-shelf bottles saying, "Why spend a lot of money when you're just gonna piss it out anyway?" I kindly thanked him for his assistance and left.

That's awesome! Every time I'm approached by an employee about the bottle I'm looking at they always seem to say, "Have you ever had that?" I usually say, "Nope," regardless if I have or not. "I have. It's so clean and smooth."


Those are the two most common descriptors liquor store people give me.

[CoMobourbon]

My Dad, I believe, doesn't enjoy beer as much as he enjoys the effects...

My Dad, in a way, self medicates with beer. He drinks it to relax. I drink bourbon (and sometimes Scotch) to relax not because I crave the effects of liquor but because I enjoy the flavors.

There's a dichotomy: people who drink for pleasure for nearly medicinal purposes and people who drink for pleasure of the experience.

As useful and even necessary as it it to outline this dichotomy, it is even more necessary to tear it down. It's worth saying, but only if we immediately follow it up with 'of course it doesn't really work like that'.

"Medicinal pleasure" and "pleasure of the experience" (the quality and complexity of flavor, etc.) are distinct only as categories. Really, the physiological effects of alcohol are so inseparable from the "pleasure of the experience" - what we call the flavor profile of a good whiskey - that there is no drawing lines between these pleasures or between those who partake in them. The pleasant tastes of whiskey depend on the pleasant relaxing effect of alcohol. Even when we think we want the flavors (or even the scents), it is only because we have come to associate them with that medicinal goodness.

Think of it in terms of conditioning. When it comes down to it, there are only a few flavors that we as human animals find inherently pleasing - fatty, salty, and sweet, I think - and there are tons of cheap, easy ways of getting these flavors in much more intense forms than straight whiskey could ever provide. Kettle corn pretty much covers it. Our hankering for any other flavor profile is acquired, and it is acquired by conditioning associations between those profiles and experiences/pleasures we find inherently pleasant. Apparently we find the physiological rush of alcohol consumption pleasant, and the flavors that mediate that rush become desirable by association. We drink whiskey with flavors X, Y, and Z, we experience alcohol effects that our bodies like, and we eventually start to just look for flavors X, Y, and Z. Presumably marijuana, wine, beer, sex, etc. work the same way.

So yes, there are people who are more or less only after the alcohol effects. And I totally agree with you about the crucial difference between dependency and deliberate enjoyment. (If anything, dependency is more scary to me because of what I have just said.) But if we really let ourselves believe that we are transcendent connoisseurs who are ever in it only for the flavors, we are s-----g ourselves. Even if we only ever experienced whiskey by the nose, the promise of alcohol would be a huge determining factor in our enjoyment.

*Now I am off to enjoy my daily breakfast of bacon, cocoa puffs, and vodka.