I don’t like the taste of liquor, or anything with a lot of alcohol in it. I prefer beer, bud light to be exact. I don’t like fruity drinks, either, as they start tasting real quick. Strange thing is, when I began drinking, I preferred sweet drinks, like fruity drinks and zima, and despised beer. I had to fight to keep from making a face when I drank beer. It was nasty, bitter, and sort of tasted like battery acid. But it was the most common beverage at parties, so I drank it. And over time, I developed a taste for it. Wierd.
That would be, “start tasting nasty real quick”
Being a BIG guy, most folks presume I drink alcohol.
I don’t.
For personal reasons that are nobody’s business.
But when pressed, I’ll pull my sleeve all the way up and flex my biceps (I’ve got BIG arms!).
“You don’t get these doing twelve-ouce-curls.”
For most people, that’s 'nuff said.
I realize this is a serious thread, but I immediately thought of the character with the “drinking problem” in the Airplane movies. (you know, smashes the glasss onto his forehead…)
Sometimes I think it’s how you were raised. My parents didn’t drink. Not won’t or can’t, just didn’t put any importance on alcohol. A six pack of beer would last my father the entire summer. If a friend brought wine to dinner, they’d bring out the glasses and serve it. But it wasn’t necessary for any reason. I got the childhood lectures on don’t drink and drive, don’t get drunk, etc, but never anything on the evils of having alcohol at all.
Now I’m probably the same way. I can drink and do, but it might be months or years between drinks. I have a couple bottles of wine that were given to me as wedding gift 7 years ago that are still in the cupboard, probably sour by now as I have no idea on the correct storage method.
Other people I hang out with put much more importance in alcohol: its not a party if you don’t drink, you can’t be with friends if you don’t drink, etc. When I’ve met their parents this was the attitude toward alcohol that they grew up with.
I’m one of the rare people in the world who has no incentive to quit drinking. Robin hasn’t had a drink in almost 11 years, so I have a designated driver. It helps me overcome my insomnia. And the best part: I’ve never had a hangover. Not once.
I think that if any of the above parameters changed I’d cut back substantially, although I must say that I’ve cut way back since Aaron was born. I think he’s had almost as much as I have. The boy really likes Harp. Can you blame him? 
As a non-drinker and a vegetarian (but I do drink coffee), the above is very true. I’m not a complete teetotaler (I enjoy good champagne and a well-made margarita, but that’s about it), though I rarely drink, maybe twice or three times a year. People think it’s downright weird, or some sort of moral judgement on everyone who does, just as they do with the vegetarian thing. Then there’s the impulse to question your reasoning, as if to break it down, to show you up, to knock you off your imagined pedestal. I usually say I just don’t like it, and leave it at that. The vegetarian argument is a lot worse…
I don’t drink because I generally don’t like the taste. Most often it takes like solvent to me, which it is, and that doesn’t appeal whatsoever. I also used to tend bar, and seeing so many sloppy, barfing drunks spending their pin money on booze had a cooling effect on my alcohol consumption. Add to that the fact that I always have to drive; once I offer my services in that capacity, usually everyone gets off my case about not drinking.
That just reminded me of something I’d forgotten. My first roommate and some girls he had just met that day were going to go out to a party that night. Seeing that I was a shy sort of guy, he invited me along and I accepted. But when I got there, I really didn’t want any of the alcohol around. It just didn’t interest me. And though plenty of tipsy college students came up to me asking why I was without a drink and clearly quite sober, I told them that I didn’t want to drink. And the overwhelming reaction, much to my surprise, was along the lines of “that’s really cool. Stick by your guns.” There were even one or two honest “I’m jealous” people. The roommate saw pretty quickly that I wasn’t interested in alcohol, and though I had no problem with him keeping beer in the dorm, I never wanted to drink of it, and he never pushed me to.
It’s not to say that I haven’t had my fair share of people trying to push me to drink. In high school, we were putting together a performance of Look Homeward, Angel. The two actors playing the young lovers, Eugene and Laura, were told to spend a Saturday night out on their own awkward date for the sake of “research.” A number of fellow actors decided to take on a crusade to have me do “research” for my character, W.O., a hollow old alcoholic. It never happened, mostly because I made it clear they’d have to kidnap me to do so.
Near as I can tell, it’s the same sort of thing as the drive some parents have to harrangue you about not having children. When something is really important to you and has overwhelmingly positive associations for you, it can seem so great that everybody ought to want to do it. Not doing something because of overriding medical or financial reasons is sad but understandable, but not wanting to do it is so foreign to your values that it seems weird, or wrong somehow. You don’t think children are tons of fun? Inconceivable! You don’t think coffee is the nectar of the gods? Inconceivable! You don’t like the way alcohol makes you feel? Inconceivable! Obviously, such people are making excuses to mask their real problems.
Clearly, the right thing to do is to help these poor souls overcome their limitations. You offer solutions to their possible problems. You offer to buy them a drink, in case money’s an issue. You offer to mix them something else that they’re more likely to enjoy. You repeat the offer in case they were just being polite, or might have changed their minds and are too shy to ask for something. You keep asking why they’re not drinking, partly because you just don’t get the concept, partly because they might divulge some problem you can help you with.
It’s worth noting that this sort of person is a distinctly different creature from the folks who abuse and deride non-drinkers, or try to slip alcohol in their drinks. The latter is a pure-D asshole, while the former is just someone who honestly thinks they’re helping in some way.
I’m also a non-drinker (and non-coffee-drinker) (and non-smoker) (and non-drug-user) (man, I’m a square), and the worst experience I’ve had was with my most recent ex-. One of many warning signs that the relationship was doomed was when she (a) repeatedly attempted to convince me to drink and smoke pot, and (b) belittled my reasons for not doing so.
I drink. I don’t smoke and have never taken illegal drugs. During last spring, summer, and autumn, I scarcely had a drop of tea or coffee and nobody really cared. But when I don’t drink alcohol - usually when I’m driving later - I get ragged a bit about it.
You call that boozing? I once killed a 1.75L bottle of Jack Daniel’s in just 18 hours.
Now get back to building up that tolerance level.
That is EXACTLY my experience. They rarely drank and never really spoke for or against it. If they received a bottle of something as a gift it would sit, partially used, in a kitchen cabinet until it was used up or thrown out. I’ve always had the same attitude about it. Like my father, I would enjoy an occasional beer (occasional meaning 2 or 3 times a year) and I might have a mixed drink on new years eve or at a wedding. In recent years I’ve had to give it up completely for health reasons and it’s not something I really miss at all. I’ve never had anyone be a real asshole about my not wanting a drink, but people do occasionally ask why. It makes me a little uncomfortable when they do this because I then feel like I have to decide between admitting to a medical problem (which is really none of their business) or having them possibly think that I’m either an alchoholic or a religious fanatic.
If I drank any less I could say “I don’t drink” but I do like a beer now and then. I have some “beer rules” that I absolutely stick to “no canned beer, no light beer and no Budweiser”, to save the arguing I tell people “no thanks I don’t drink” and if they push me I tell them drinking will make me immediately sick and I will! go out of my way to throw up on the person that made me drink, this seems to work very well. The rice in Bud makes me sick MUCH faster than the alchohol affects me. Canned beer tastes like the can (except Keystone which tastes like the can liner stuff.
As for coffee, if it tasted like it smelled I would down it by the gallon but oddly enough I am able to resist the bitter crap that most folks drink.
Now if you know me you would know that I have a hard time turing down Grolsch lager, Schneider weisse, hot chocolate or water (no “schmancy” stuff, just cold water for me), I tell people “no thanks I prefer my hydrogen and oxygen straight thank you”.
Unclviny
My mom was also the same way. Only once in my life did I ever see her have more than one drink (on that singular occasion, she had two beers). She occasionally bought a six-pack, which would last for months, and holiday gifts of wine or champagne similarly sat around mostly untouched until they were thrown out.
But alcohol was never portrayed as anything forbidden. When one of my younger sisters was about 12 she always used to ask for a sip if she saw our mother drinking, and mom always let her have one. It wasn’t a big deal. If the stuff didn’t taste like nail polish remover to me I’d probably follow Mother Dearest’s example and have a drink once in a blue moon…but judging from the stories of others in this thread, I’d probably still be considerd weird for not drinking more!