Why do men stupefy themselves? Leo Tolstoy on why we drink (2014)

Re:Why do men stupefy themselves? Leo Tolstoy on why we drin... by retsibsi on Friday June 30, 2023 @06:26AM (#36532643)

> Alcohol by itself is tasteless though.

There seems to be disagreement over this.

To me, alcoholic beverages have a distinctive taste in common (stronger in spirits and weaker in beer or wine), which I always assumed was the taste of the alcohol itself.

Some sources describe pure ethanol as 'tasteless', albeit strongly odoured; if this is true, then I guess what I interpret as a taste is really the combination of the smell & the burning sensation.

But other sources describe it as having a taste -- e.g. CAMEO Chemicals (via PubChem) says ethanol has a 'pungent taste', and a paper I find when googling says 10% ethanol tastes bitter to everyone and sweet to some (and I know that's not exactly alcohol 'by itself' but they do attribute the taste to the ethanol).

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Why do men stupefy themselves? Leo Tolstoy on why we drin... by Aeolun on Friday June 30, 2023 @07:31AM (#36533097)

I think if something has a strong smell it by definition has a strong taste? Most of what you taste is the smell. If you close your nose a lot of food becomes quite tasteless.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Why do men stupefy themselves? Leo Tolstoy on why we drin... by tharkun__ on Friday June 30, 2023 @08:03AM (#36533388)

And yet coffee smells awesome but the taste is nothing like it. Not that it's tasteless but it's definitely very different.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Why do men stupefy themselves? Leo Tolstoy on why we drin... by mr_toad on Friday June 30, 2023 @08:27AM (#36533687)

Coffee contains many alkaloids (including caffeine), which are quite bitter but have little or no odour. Alcohol on the other hand has a very strong odour.

[ Parent | on HN ]