Variety would explain different drinks. It would not explain significantly-more-expensive, bad-tasting drinks.
Except that they don’t taste bad. All the milkshake question shows is that they don’t taste as good as milkshakes. Your insistence on this is puzzling.
But yes, there are many factors that go into a decision. My claim is just that the one typically given—that people like the taste of alcoholic drinks—cannot be correct.
It seems like the simplest hypothesis here is that people who claim to like the taste of alcoholic drinks are for the most part doing so because they like the taste of alcoholic drinks.
I like pepsi more than beer, and drink more pepsi than beer. I also like chicken mcnuggets more than snackwraps, and buy mcnuggets more often than snackwraps. But I still get snackwraps sometimes, even though they’re more expensive. Does it make more sense to chalk that up to signaling, or liking variety?
It seems like the simplest hypothesis here is that people who claim to like the taste of alcoholic drinks are for the most part doing so because they like the taste of alcoholic drinks.
But my point was, this can’t account for how I describe my liking of alcohol the same way as other people, except that I conclude I don’t like the taste of alcohol, while others conclude it means they like the taste. In other words, other people AND I meet the following characteristics:
-Think milkshakes are better tasting than the best alcoholic drink.
-Enjoy the taste of alcoholic drinks when it is drowned out with some other flavor.
-Believe it changes our mental states in a good way.
-Could not comfortably chug down a alcoholic drink the way we might a milkshake.
I classify all of that as “not liking the taste of alcohol, but liking to consume it anyway”. Other people classify all of that as “liking alcohol, including its taste”. Hence the dilemma.
All that your variety examples show is that if you have too much of one thing, you’ll “tire” of it temporarily and want something else. But that’s not what people claim makes them want alcohol. They really claim it’s the taste. They really claim they spend lots of money to get that taste (think about how expensive some wines/liquors are). And they claim it can’t match the taste of milkshakes, which, contrary to your example, people don’t regularly have and aren’t tired of.
People could have all the variety they wanted, and still alcohol wouldn’t be in the top 30 drinks by taste, and people still claim they like the taste. This doesn’t make sense.
Think milkshakes are better tasting than the best alcoholic drink.
I do not share this characteristic.
Enjoy the taste of alcoholic drinks when it is drowned out with some other flavor.
I’ve learned to tolerate ethanol in order to appreciate unique flavors in the alcohol itself.
Believe it changes our mental states in a good way.
I dislike all the mental effects of alcohol and would drink it more often if it lacked these effects.
Could not comfortably chug down a alcoholic drink the way we might a milkshake.
Agreed, only insofar as this is a point against milkshakes. If I am drinking something for the flavor, I wish to savor it slowly; otherwise, I am drinking it for sustenance in which case if I’m drinking alcohol or milkshakes something has gone terribly, terribly wrong.
People could have all the variety they wanted, and still alcohol wouldn’t be in the top 30 drinks by taste, and people still claim they like the taste. This doesn’t make sense.
I’m pretty sure some alcoholic drinks would make it into my top 30, actually.
And yes, even if alcohol doesn’t make it into the top 30, it still makes sense. It’s entirely possible to like more than 30 things. Something not making it into my ‘top 30’ (or ‘top X’ for whatever X) doesn’t mean I don’t like it.
Also, I don’t see your list above logically implying not liking alcoholic drinks (though I couldn’t ‘chug’ a milkshake, so that might be relevant). If you add ‘I like the taste of alcoholic drinks’ I don’t see any contradiction, or even a tension, with the things you list.
Except that they don’t taste bad. All the milkshake question shows is that they don’t taste as good as milkshakes. Your insistence on this is puzzling.
It seems like the simplest hypothesis here is that people who claim to like the taste of alcoholic drinks are for the most part doing so because they like the taste of alcoholic drinks.
I like pepsi more than beer, and drink more pepsi than beer. I also like chicken mcnuggets more than snackwraps, and buy mcnuggets more often than snackwraps. But I still get snackwraps sometimes, even though they’re more expensive. Does it make more sense to chalk that up to signaling, or liking variety?
But my point was, this can’t account for how I describe my liking of alcohol the same way as other people, except that I conclude I don’t like the taste of alcohol, while others conclude it means they like the taste. In other words, other people AND I meet the following characteristics:
-Think milkshakes are better tasting than the best alcoholic drink.
-Enjoy the taste of alcoholic drinks when it is drowned out with some other flavor.
-Believe it changes our mental states in a good way.
-Could not comfortably chug down a alcoholic drink the way we might a milkshake.
I classify all of that as “not liking the taste of alcohol, but liking to consume it anyway”. Other people classify all of that as “liking alcohol, including its taste”. Hence the dilemma.
All that your variety examples show is that if you have too much of one thing, you’ll “tire” of it temporarily and want something else. But that’s not what people claim makes them want alcohol. They really claim it’s the taste. They really claim they spend lots of money to get that taste (think about how expensive some wines/liquors are). And they claim it can’t match the taste of milkshakes, which, contrary to your example, people don’t regularly have and aren’t tired of.
People could have all the variety they wanted, and still alcohol wouldn’t be in the top 30 drinks by taste, and people still claim they like the taste. This doesn’t make sense.
Just to add another counterexample:
I do not share this characteristic.
I’ve learned to tolerate ethanol in order to appreciate unique flavors in the alcohol itself.
I dislike all the mental effects of alcohol and would drink it more often if it lacked these effects.
Agreed, only insofar as this is a point against milkshakes. If I am drinking something for the flavor, I wish to savor it slowly; otherwise, I am drinking it for sustenance in which case if I’m drinking alcohol or milkshakes something has gone terribly, terribly wrong.
I’m pretty sure some alcoholic drinks would make it into my top 30, actually.
And yes, even if alcohol doesn’t make it into the top 30, it still makes sense. It’s entirely possible to like more than 30 things. Something not making it into my ‘top 30’ (or ‘top X’ for whatever X) doesn’t mean I don’t like it.
Also, I don’t see your list above logically implying not liking alcoholic drinks (though I couldn’t ‘chug’ a milkshake, so that might be relevant). If you add ‘I like the taste of alcoholic drinks’ I don’t see any contradiction, or even a tension, with the things you list.