How important is the "buzz"?

Since the beginnings of beer the "buzz" has always been one of the major reasons one consumes it. Way back it was for nutrition, but the buzz kept people coming back to it. Before the craft beer explosion (and still for a majority of beer drinkers) did/do people drink BMC for the taste? No it was for the buzz. With good beer we have the best of both worlds. A drink we can unwind with and get a "buzz", yet has good flavor. Why would you waste money on a great beer if no buzz was involved? I'd rather buy an amazing steak if I was going 100% for flavor.

 

The buzz is important. If it weren't part of the equation I would drink something else. Most people who dismiss it as having any importance are kidding themselves, or trying to justify away a fear they have about their beer consumption.

 

That first beer was 30 years ago, what does that have to do why I am drinking a beer today?
Sure I have enjoyed the buzz over the years and still do once in a while.
But when I have 1 beer a night or even share that beer with my wife, how is the buzz the prime motivator?

 

You were with her when she had her first alcoholic beverage?

And few are saying it is the prime motivator, and no one is saying it is the only motivator. There are folks, though who are saying it isn't any motivator, and never was, and I call bullshit.

Folks didn't instantly fall in love with the taste of alcoholic beverages when they first try them but instantly hate the buzz. They love the buzz, it is human nature to love the buzz, and the taste of that first beer/wine/other for most folks, due to no experience with alcoholic beverages, nor experience with which of them they enjoy, is usually not great. It is the buzz that gives the motivation to try alcoholic beverages again, and enough urge to try and develop a love for them, and find the ones they love the best.

There is no stigma about this, it isn't wrong or bad. It is human nature, and in fact it is animal nature, since so many animals go after fermented fruit as delicacy because of the buzz, just like we do. Of course we like the taste, duh, but we are attracted back to it due to the buzz.

 

Buzz and getting a bit loopy is fun. I like a good drinking session, great way to kill an afternoon or evening. If you don't like the buzz or aren't in the mood have a milkshake or a soda instead.

 

There's no horror to me about beer having alcohol in it. I've already said that beer and alcohol go hand in hand, and that I personally enjoy the effects of alcohol. But (as I also said in my last response to you), my issue is that you think you can make a blanket statement that 100% of people like the effects of alcohol, and if they say otherwise, then they're lying, and you point to nothing more solid than your tenure on this site and the responses in this thread as evidence/back-up.

If a regular member posts something like that, I would consider it short-sighted. For the founder to post it, I think is a couple of degrees worse. Out off nearly half a million members, surely it's not just possible, but likely, that a small minority don't like the effects of alcohol? Just in the same way that in any large group of people, there will be people with outlying opinions/hobbies/beliefs/values etc etc.

Blunt honesty is good, and necessary sometimes. But don't mistake blunt honesty with steamrolling a minority of people with your expert opinion.

 

I had to think about this...I like a good buzz, mostly if I'm having a few with friends. But....I do generally drink one beer per night at home (usually a standard 12oz, 5% to 7%) and rarely get a buzz. So 99% of the time I drink with no buzz. I guess don't need a buzz but do enjoy one from time to time?

 

Actually I hadn't thought about it, but I may have been with her the first time she had enough to feel tipsy. She liked the gin & tonic for its flavour, she said, but felt uncomfortable when it went to her head. I think she doesn't like the feeling that she's less in control of herself. Of course she could be lying, à la Todd's claim, but does that seem likely?

My general point is that everyone has different subjective experiences. Some are more common, but it just seems so fruitless to try to say that yours is universal.

 

So you drink craft beer and haven't been drunk in the past 20 years? Maybe by your standards but I bet by many of the legal statutes you have been.

 

It's true that my first beer didn't taste that good. But for a lot of the liquors I've had I did like the taste the first time. Amaretto just tastes good, rum just tastes good. Beer is an acquired taste and it takes some time for your taste buds to calibrate. Maybe people are willing to give it that time because of the buzz. That doesn't necessarily mean the association with the buzz is necessary to acquire the taste.

If beer didn't taste good I'd get my buzz from wine and mixed drinks.

The buzz is quite enjoyable, but the few times I've been *really* drunk I've hated it. There's a nice window between the amount of alcohol necessary to release endorphins release social inhibitions and the amount of alcohol necessary to affect your balance and motor coordination. Between 0.04 and 0.06 is the perfect BAC, IMO.

 

100% of people? No. 100% of regular consumers of alcohol? Absolutely. People who don't like things stay away from them. My wife hates being buzzed or drunk. Want to take a guess at what she never does? That statement is not at all a stretch.

 

I'll take that as a no, you weren't with her when she had her first alcoholic drink.

 

I thought it was fairly clear if you'd read the entirety of my last couple of posts, that I was talking about BA members. So you both think 100% of the half million BA members like the effects of alcohol, and that those who are saying otherwise in this thread are either lying to us or to themselves? That just sounds ridiculous to me. But as has been pointed out, everyone is entitled to their opinion.

 

Perhaps, but if I drink outside the house I limit it to two beers and only two beers, and if it's high ABV brew then only one. At home I don't know, but never to the point of being incapacitated, or stumbling aroung the house. I would suppose I'd hit .08 every now and then like some, I wouldn't classify .08 as being drunk even though it's the legal limit in NC for being legal and safe to drive a vehicle. Two very separate definitions. I also suffer from Vertigo, so drinking a little too much really messes with my inner ear problems, and almost guarantees I get sick, so I'm careful for many reasons. My last drunk was a New Years Eve Tequila blowout, I still can't look at a Tequila bottle without getting queasy, might have blown a .3 that night absolutely trashed and a two day hangover.

 

As with everyone else, the buzz got me started. The buzz continues to be good sometimes and bad others. Since I do drink decaf (because I legitimately enjoy the taste of coffee) later at night because of the negative effects of caffeine on sleep, I can say with certainty that I'd drink a 0% Two Hearted with my lunch. And as someone who is concerned about the calories, I'd be happy with those 7 empty calories per gram being gone as well.

But on a Saturday, gimme that ABV!