December 2010

The Lush Chronicles: Acquired Tastes

Alcohol is weird. More so than any other food, if we can even call it food, alcohol compels us to indulge in unusual flavors. It's all bizarre stuff if you really think about it. Whiskey is nothing but used wood solvent. Rum is diluted molasses that has gone bad. Beer is spoiled grain augmented by the flatulence of microscopic fungi. More to the point, ethanol is poison. Our bodies treat it like a toxin and it inhibits neural function. The fact that we consume the stuff on purpose, for fun, is beyond absurd. Maybe that's why we're willing to drink alcohol with weird or downright off-putting flavors. We're already consuming something wretched and strange, so why not take advantage of the requisite state of mind and experience other odd things at the same time? This is where the acquired tastes of alcohol begin.