As far as beers, ales, lagers, stouts, and other potables, my feet are in the trough. I've never been much a beer drinker. The few that I have tried leave me with no particular pleasure. They ALL taste like "Old Horse Blanket" (i.e. filtered through a closely woven used horse blanket!) But then, I can't drink wine either. I taste the vinegar immediately and just can't enjoy it. Before anyone starts, ALL naturally fermented wines have a balance between sugar, alcohol, and acetic acid because there sort of a Gaussian distribution of just how far the fermentation process works. And for better or worse, I'm a hyper-taster, so I catch the extremes quickly. In college I would have mixed drinks now and then, but not that many.
Part of that aversion includes olfactory effects. I worked as a musician in a bar filled with the odors of cigarettes, beer, and (unfortunately) other odors of a completely repugnant nature. The odor of beer became associated with too many other odors, and yet back at that time, we still considered ourselves lucky to have that gig because our little band had not hit the big-time stages. So playing live music with a bunch of young, inexperienced (including ME) in an old New Orleans bar... it was welcome money that each of us needed for college expenses.
I didn't drink much - hardly at all - because I quickly became the "designated driver" to bring the guys back after a dance or party gig. So I never had the time to acquire the taste for sweet, bitter, salty, or any other beer varieties. I don't regret having done it and still fondly remember the guys of the band. But we've all moved on.
Every now and then at the bar that we played in most often, we would do a long shift. Long enough that the bar's front door would catch reflected light from the reflections of sunrise. To us, whether or not it was intended as such, that was the REAL meaning of the song House of the Rising Sun. I worked there and I can affirm it WAS the ruin of many a poor boy. And some poor girls, too!
