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Yes, Beer is Enjoyable Too

Brief Update: The experimental technique is still looking very promising! More details later.

In response to yesterday's post, a reader wrote to me to ask me about beer and why I considered it different.

Please do not get me wrong, I enjoy beer greatly! Yet, it is a very different beast than are liquors, at least in my opinion. Yes, both do contain alcohol, yet the difference in the quantity of alcohol creates a different set of use strategies for each type of liquid.

Liquors are typically consumed cut down with water, or some flavored liquid like a sodapop or fruit juice. The reason being is of course for flavor and to modify the total alcohol content of the drink being consumed. Alcohol, at the level of liquors is quite medicinal in its effect. It is fairly easy to get "sloshed" with liquors with relatively little volume of fluid. When I mix myself a gin-and-tonic, or a whiskey-and-7-up, I typically tend to prefer the alcohol be at a higher concentration compared to the mix than many. I am a relatively big, robust fellow (6'3; roughly 200 pounds) and in order to obtain the pleasant medicinal effect, I require a bit more of the liqour than say a smaller fellow. This makes perfect sense.

Beer on the other hand, is a beverage all unto itself (except for boilermakers, of course, which is when you take a shot-glass of whiskey and drop it into a mug of beer... very nice). Most times (again except with boilermakers) a person drinks beer in a similar way one would drink sodapop.... as a thirst quenching beverage. The alcohol content of beer is low enough, that in most circumstances, one would not get "sloshed" with beer being consumed at a moderate pace. Instead, the person may get a bit relaxed but that is the typical maximum. Now, do not get me wrong... it is OF COURSE possible to get "sloshed" on beer alone. Hell, it is perhaps the most typical manner for college kids to do so, and many adults still follow that method as well. However, for me, I do not indulge in beer in that manner (and probably have not done so since graduate school long ago), because of the volume of beer required and the speed of intake required to ellicit that sort of effect. I prefer to enjoy beer in another, simpler way, and if I wish to feel "sloshed" I will indulge in gins or whiskeys.

PipeTobacco