If you drink alcohol, why do you drink it?

[JustWonderingIfImNormal]

I’m sat here sipping my vodka and coke and this random question popped into my head.
Do you drink because you like the taste or something else?
I drink alcohol to numb my problems (not healthy really, I know) I also drink because It relaxes me. Just to add I’m not an alcoholic- I rarely drink really! And I’m only having the one.
Also what is your favourite tipple? Mine at the moment is Smirnoff cherry vodka and Coca Cola. I’ve only just discovered it and it tastes good.

Zinfandel was my favourite before my sulphite allergy/intolerance.

I used to drink to blank out and numb my shit life for a few hours. hate the taste of every alcoholic drink I ever tried, just used to chug down cheap wine. I would have take drugs instead but I was too scared.

I stopped about 2 years ago now. I miss it.

This was one of my symptoms with wine of sulphite allergy.

I know it's my issue, but I cannot understand how anyone can like the taste of alcoholic drinks. To me all spirits taste like cleaning fluid or meths, white wine tastes like battery acid, red wine tastes like mouldy old wood, and beer tastes like sour and bitter river water.
Only ever drunk due to social pressure and for the effect.

I'm having a gin and tonic because I like it. Will have another 1 and that will be it for the night. No numbing or pished affects here.

Giving it up for 2 years is a great achievement, especially when you felt you needed it to block things out.

I like how relaxed I feel and love the mildly tipsy feeling as it definitely helps to numb stress. I try not to drink every night though as don’t want to get reliant on it. My favourite is spiced rum

I might have 1 drink when I feel like it and I like the feeling it gives me. Chills me out

The taste and the fact that juice or soda is just too sweet for me.

I only re-started the odd glass of wine after I suddenly had some issues with headaches and found that none of the zero varieties areound for sparkling wine/white wine really give me the same satisfaction taste wise. I am ok with zero Cider and DH finds some beers are ok.

For me it's the dry taste of a good white wine.

Like the taste of wine and find it relaxing/good for socialising. I drink beer too, love it outside on a sunny warm afternoon.

Same, sadly as an escape, that first beer buzz. Never used to have alcohol in the house, now we make sure we have enough x

I like the taste, I'm drinking real ale currently in the local independent bar, 6 real ales on from small breweries, yum!

I like the taste of red wine. I like drinking it at room temperature and the fact that there’s no rush to drink it. I like to drink hot drinks hot and cold drinks cold, so they don’t last long.
Red wine, I can sip and it doesn’t matter

I like the taste of a crisp white wine, and also like the slight relaxation from one glass.

But I have to stick to one because I don't like the buzz from having any more. Shame really because my taste buds still want more.

I like the taste if I could get a non alcohol version that tastes exactly 100% the way I want I would drink that

Alcohol does not drown out problems it just turns someone into an alcoholic

I like ceremony around drinks.
I to carafe wine.
I also like to piss about with various teapots, teas, coffee makers, carafe other things.
And squeezing fruit with soda stream fizzy water.

I like lotion and potion making cocktails.
Jugs of Pimm's with fresh bits thrown in.

I like the aesthetic of condensation of cold beer on a summer's day.

So yeah ceremony particularly.

Plus it makes you not quite sober.

So interesting to hear people say they like the taste.

I've never liked the taste of alcohol.

In my teens and 20s would drink to get drunk, but as time went on it became too much of an effort due to really disliking the taste.

Also really hated the hangovers. I never slept well if I'd been drinking (even just one) so I eventually just stopped.

Now haven't had a drink in 4 or 5 years.

I actually used to get quite a sore throat and occasionally sore limbs when I drank, so wonder if I might have some sort of intolerance.

I drink so I can sleep. I suffer badly from GAD and find falling asleep difficult and also staying asleep. I drink to sleep. It has less effect on my next day performance than the exhaustion would.

I've always liked the taste and effects of alcohol but drink very little these days. I used to work in very high pressured job with a tiresome commute so when i got home from work DH and I would split a bottle of wine or dry sherry about three times a week, with dinner.
We also got quite 'into' wine, went to tastings, stocked up on holidays to French wine regions and became quite the collectors.
Then I don't know what happened but I just lost my taste for most of it and can go weeks without touching any alcohol. If i do drink it will be just one or at the most two on any single occasion and no more than once or twice a week, often much less. I can't remember the last time I was even slightly drunk.
That said, I still love a perfectly made dry martini (Beefeater gin, noilly prat, rocks and a twist) in a gorgeous 5* hotel bar before lunch, perhaps once a year. The 'aaahh' as that hits the bloodstream is deliciously seductive. An Aperol Spritz in the summer sunshine has a similar effect. (Perhaps twice a year for that one.)

I like that tipsy feeling that you get after a good few wines and shooters and shots. I rarely drink but I do like being on the other side of sober.

Both for taste and effect - but depends on when and what I'm drinking. If I drink at home it's a small glass of red wine . I like the taste but can't handle more than the odd one or two glasses.

Socially I drink lager as it's a longer and more refreshing drink . I may also drink a spritzer or cocktail under the same circumstances.

I have a much lower tolerance for alcohol than I did when younger and don't like the feeling of being properly drunk . I don't drink alone.

I like the taste
I like how it makes me feel
I like the social aspect
i don’t get hangovers

I love wine and light spiritus and the fizzy feeling it gives me. I have a few alcohol free days a week.
I’d never drink non-alcoholic wines/spirits, as they’re sugary and a want a few healthy days each week.

Rum and ginger (beer or ale depending on the rum). I like the taste and it numbs my pains a little bit.

Haven't had wine in two years because I didn't like the drunk it was making me.

Like the taste.
Like the 'end of day' vibe which means once I drink alcohol I can't and don't have to run around after anyone else. I actually drink more alone than when I'm being sociable because I associate having a drink with relaxing alone. I can be quite happy not drinking when out. I should add I don't get drunk, just enough in an evening to trigger that relaxation.

Obviously I know this isn't probably healthy, but I have been doing self reflection on why I like having a drink and this seems to be the answer.