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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Who Else Cannot Stand Alcohol and Never Drinks It?

89 replies

IncandescentSilver · 16/10/2020 14:27

I really hate the taste and never have any urge to drink anything containing alcohol (friends always try to tell me its just because you've not tried gin/Baileys/a certain cocktail/some wine/whatever). I never have the urge to drink it as it tastes unpleasant to me, and remains unpleasant tasting even if I do get drunk. I get very flushed in the face on the very rare occasions I force myself to drink to be sociable and either feel sleepy or become warlike and want to fight like a God, in every case I wake up the next morning feeling normal and have never experienced a hangover effect. But I just don't want to drink.

It seems that the whole world is about looking forward to a drink, prosecco, wine, whatever. I just can't stand the attraction. Is there anyone else out there who feels the same? (I have no problem with people who do enjoy drinking and I enjoy going out and partying, I just stay sober)

OP posts:

FuzzyPuffling · 16/10/2020 14:30

I hear you. I don't hate alcohol and might occasionally (as in once a year) have a beer, but that's it. I can't tolerate wine (makes me feel awful) and I don't like the taste of gin (I really don't get the gin-mania at the moment).

And I do dislike the "you can't possibly have any sort of fun without alcohol" trope that's currently popular. If I prefer my tonic without gin (and I do) please stop telling me I haven't found the right gin yet!

Curiosity101 · 16/10/2020 14:31

I do drink but I know lots of people that are completely teetotal or very rarely drink. I would never dream of telling them they were wrong and that they'd just not tried the right alcohol yet. It doesn't matter what your reason for not drinking is, you're not hurting anyone by abstaining and shouldn't feel the need to drink to fit in.

I feel like your friends need to learn to mind their own business and stop peer pressuring you.

Nonamesavail · 16/10/2020 14:32

Been about 7yrs now since I had some. Don't enjoy the taste.

Shinyletsbebadguys · 16/10/2020 14:32

Hmmm sort of . I like the taste of two drinks and that's it. I don't like the taste of wine or gin etc. I drink maybe once every 6 months if that , I had a drink a couple of weeks ago and I think it was actually more like 8 months prior that I had had one.

Oh the two drinks I like are heavily flavoured with lemon. So no I probably don't like the taste.

Having said all that I'm an oddity as I have drunk more previously in different parts of my life (never really liked the taste but in my errant early twenties drank to get drunk. I also spent a very long time working in addiction services with both drug users and heavy alcohol addicts , I don't think that's what stops me drinking but I suppose it could have had an effect.

Darkestseasonofall · 16/10/2020 14:32

Funnily enough I realised yesterday that I haven't had an alcoholic drink since February, and I hadn't even realised. Made me stop and think a bit.
I don't dislike the taste of alcohol, but it does make me sleepy and dopey, and the hangovers are endless.
I'm not sure I'll really bother to drink much at all going forward, although I was an absolute party animal in my twenties.

DrivingMo · 16/10/2020 14:34

Yeah, I don't like it. As a student, I drank because it's rubbish to be sober when others are drunk but I don't like the taste and have never wanted just one.

SimplyPizza · 16/10/2020 14:35

What do you want, a medal? Some people don’t like alcohol and some people do. So what? What is the point of this thread as I can’t see what you’re asking what you are being unreasonable about and it seems you’re just trying to humblebrag from your high horse quite frankly.

Lazysundayafternoons · 16/10/2020 14:35

Yeah, I am the same. I could very rarely find an alcoholic drink I like the taste of and just cannot be bothered with having a drink, getting tipsy, feeling unwell the next day.

I much prefer to sit down in the evening with a warm drink, like a de-caf coffee, I love the warmth of it and do look forward to that. But you will find plenty of people out there who hate the taste of every brand of coffee too and dont get the attraction I have to that aswell

Soubriquet · 16/10/2020 14:36

Yes

I used to enjoy drinking, but then about 3 years ago, I suddenly stopped. I didn’t like the taste anymore and I still don’t

Haven’t touched alcohol since despite several people saying “oh go on. It a just one drink”

And! I just don’t want to

TisConfusion · 16/10/2020 14:40

I get it. There’s probably only a couple of alcoholic drinks I actually like and to be honest they don’t taste alcoholic - they’re usually fruity.
I don’t get the obsession with gin. But each to their own I suppose.

GnomeDePlume · 16/10/2020 14:42

My DS (21) dislikes the taste of alcohol, was quite happy to dodge the life affirming experience of getting blind drunk for either his 18th or 21st birthdays.

He meets his friends at the pub (when permitted) where they all get riotously chatty and talk about computer games over pints of diet coke.

I believe there is a genetic component to whether or not you like the taste of alcohol.

spacegirl86 · 16/10/2020 14:43

I rarely drink and if I do it's drinks that don't really taste of alcohol. I really don't like wine or beer. On the very rare occasions that I have more than a couple I end up feeling rough either at the time or the next day, so definitely not worth it. It bothered me before that I was left out at formal college dinners etc or had to take a very unclassy bottle of vodka to go with my lemonade, and I could never take advantage of free booze but that was back when I could enjoy getting drunk which I don't anymore.

Now I just feel happy that I'm saving a lot of money and not having to worry about not being able to drive. Everyone who knows me knows I don't really drink so they don't fuss about it.

IceCreamAndCandyfloss · 16/10/2020 15:05

I don’t drink, part I don’t link most alcohols taste but mainly because it’s not good for health and I didn’t want it to be something the children thought was part of daily or weekend life.

SecretWitch · 16/10/2020 15:07

I drink alcohol very rarely and only if it is ungodly pink with little umbrella stuck to the rim.

JuneFromBethesda · 16/10/2020 15:10

I believe there is a genetic component to whether or not you like the taste of alcohol

You could be right NomDePlume. My father hates the taste of alcohol and so do I - I’ve always been teetotal.

JuneFromBethesda · 16/10/2020 15:10

Sorry - quoting @GnomeDePlume there!

MissConductUS · 16/10/2020 15:15

I don't drink because I can't and haven't for the last 25 years. I get what you are saying about peer pressure, but it seems to be less now than years ago.

I don't really miss it, with the possible exception of a cold beer on a hot day.

catnoir1 · 16/10/2020 15:19

I drink very occasionally. Maybe once a year if that.

I couldn't think of anything worse with my dinner or at the weekend, I want to relax with a bath and a film, a takeaway.

I'm fussy too so I don't like overly sweet things, I don't like coffee flavoured stuff or wine.

caughtalightsneeze · 16/10/2020 15:23

My mother is like you OP. She is in her late 80s and has never drunk alcohol because she just doesn't like it. Any of it.

I love a drink but I don't understand people who are obsessed with getting others to drink. I have loads of teetotal friends and they're all perfectly happy like that. I wouldn't dream of saying 'go on, try it'.

ThePerfectPintOfIceColdBeer · 16/10/2020 15:25

I do drink but there are some alcoholic drinks I absolutely hate the taste of.

Gin being the main one. I just don't get gin at all, it is not a pleasant taste. I do like beer and wine and a couple of other things though.

It's kind of like if you don't like the taste of tea or coffee. Some people do, some people only like one of those things, some like both of them and others can't stand them. I can't stand the taste of most fruit juices either.

Yourpartjewishfriend · 16/10/2020 15:27

I wish I didnt like alcohol! I love an ice cold larger on a warm day or a lovely glass of white with pasta! You're far healthier for not having it anyway! So it's win, win!

GunsAndShips · 16/10/2020 15:30

Nothing to do with high horses @SimplyPizza If you don't drink you have a lifetime of people saying ooh just try x or you simply must have y, rude questions, occasional drink spiking, aspersion casting with accusations of thinking you're better than everybody else (ring any bells?!). It is really reassuring to talk to other people who simply don't like alcohol because you're made to feel like a pariah by some people.

Frazzled13 · 16/10/2020 15:30

I find it odd when people say they hate the taste of all alcoholic drinks, given that there is a huge range of tastes.
But disliking the way it makes you feel is perfectly reasonable.

workhomesleeprepeat · 16/10/2020 15:33

I do drink because I do like getting a little tipsy, but tbh most alcohol tastes like absolute shit.

I can tolerate lager, some wines, prosecco, and vodka sodas.

Anything with gin or whiskey is vile, ales are truly the devils piss, first time I tried rose (it was cheap) I thought it was literally some kind of joke drink

CarterBeatsTheDevil · 16/10/2020 15:35

I like a drink occasionally, but months can go past without me thinking of having any.

Cake, on the other hand, cannot live here because I want to eat all of it all the time.

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