# Should flavored alcoholic beverages be banned? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 1, 2010, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-flavored-alcoholic-beverages-be-banned/537952 "2010-05-01T07:44:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2014, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-flavored-alcoholic-beverages-be-banned/537952/61 "2014-05-01T22:07:10Z")
> [@Darth\_Ayebaw](#): > > Anyone who insists it needs to taste bad to feel manly needs to let me throw some rotten fish in their next burger, that’ll show how macho you are. Given that I always use Worcestershire sauce on my burgers, that’s not much of a threat. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2014, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-flavored-alcoholic-beverages-be-banned/537952/62 "2014-05-01T23:53:48Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > Strawberry wine, orange flavored vodka, berry flavored beer. All of these sweet, candy flavored alcoholic beverages can be appealing to minors and coax them into an early habit of drinking. Even though possession and use of liquor is illegal by those under 21 in most situations in the U.S., such flavors can mask the otherwise unpleasant taste and “burn” of alcohol and be appealing to the younger crowd. > > To protect our children from a lifetime of use and addiction to the vice of liquor, should flavored alcoholic beverages be banned in the U.S.? Let’s say flavored alcoholic beverages are permitted, but the flavors have to be spinach, broccoli, etc. Worst-case scenario, at least the kids develop a taste for vegetables! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2014, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-flavored-alcoholic-beverages-be-banned/537952/63 "2014-05-01T23:55:27Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > One of the first laws the Messiah . . . :rolleyes: Oh, do drop that, please. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2014, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-flavored-alcoholic-beverages-be-banned/537952/64 "2014-05-02T02:23:52Z")
> [@The\_Urban\_Spaceman](#): > > You’d best uninvent the cocktail too. > > Addicts don’t drink because of bright colours and the emetic flavours which frequently accompany them. Clearly you haven’t had the right cocktails and mixed drinks; few of the good (i.e. old-school) ones are actually all that bright colored or “emetic flavored”. Crap like Bourbon St. “daiquiris” and hurricanes are, but nobody over the age of 24 actually drinks that junk. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2014, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-flavored-alcoholic-beverages-be-banned/537952/65 "2014-05-02T03:27:36Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > :rolleyes: Oh, do drop that, please. Hmm. No. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2014, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-flavored-alcoholic-beverages-be-banned/537952/66 "2014-05-02T11:03:04Z")
> [@bump](#): > > Crap like Bourbon St. “daiquiris” and hurricanes are, but nobody over the age of 24 actually drinks that junk. Hey. While I wouldn’t normally drink a hurricane, I’d feel odd not ordering one or two (never a third) sitting at the bar in Pat O’Brien’s. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2014, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-flavored-alcoholic-beverages-be-banned/537952/67 "2014-05-02T14:41:21Z")
> [@Darth\_Ayebaw](#): > > But no one likes it from the start, because it _doesn’t taste good_. Of course, this isn’t true at all. I liked beer from when I remember having my first sip of it, at around four years old. Dad couldn’t open his Old Style without me saddling up to his side for a sip. Sharing this story with my friends, I found it’s not unusual. Now cigarettes, I’m not sure I’ve ever met someone who really enjoyed that first one, but I could be wrong. The idea that the taste for beer has to be acquired because it’s so revolting is patently absurd. Some people just don’t have a sweet tooth and like those kinds of flavors. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2014, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-flavored-alcoholic-beverages-be-banned/537952/68 "2014-05-03T23:07:38Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Of course, this isn’t true at all. I liked beer from when I remember having my first sip of it, at around four years old. Same here. My parents weren’t big drinkers so when I was like 5 I’d get excited when we were having company because it meant Pop would be having a beer or 2 and would let me have a slug. In the 60’s they drank this open vat brewed beer called [“Weber”](http://www.taverntrove.com/beerpics/Weber-Special-Premium-Beer-Bottles-Paper-Label-Wausau-Brewing-Company_56450-1.jpg). It was made in Waukesha (later in Dubuque) and came in 16 ounce bottles. God, it was so good and bitter. I loved it! ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2014, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-flavored-alcoholic-beverages-be-banned/537952/69 "2014-05-04T04:07:33Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Hey. While I wouldn’t normally drink a hurricane, I’d feel odd not ordering one or two (never a third) sitting at the bar in Pat O’Brien’s. I didn’t mean Hurricanes in the specific sense of the Pat O’Brien’s drink or a reasonable facsimile produced by a competent bartender, but rather the horrible frozen slush version served at joints on Bourbon St. and other adolescent drinking holes. Kind of like the difference between a margarita consisting of a good silver tequila, Cointreau, lime juice and sugar vs. one made from a bottle of “mix” and Cuervo Gold. ---
**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2014, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-flavored-alcoholic-beverages-be-banned/537952/70 "2014-05-04T04:25:46Z")
> [@bump](#): > > I didn’t mean Hurricanes in the specific sense of the Pat O’Brien’s drink or a reasonable facsimile produced by a competent bartender, but rather the horrible frozen slush version served at joints on Bourbon St. and other adolescent drinking holes. > > Kind of like the difference between a margarita consisting of a good silver tequila, Cointreau, lime juice and sugar vs. one made from a bottle of “mix” and Cuervo Gold. I dunno: I’ll agree with you on the daiquri thing, but there are times when a frozen margarita (thinking of the ones at Chuy’s) goes as well or better than the “real thing.” The frozen screwdrivers at Under the Volcano (bar in Houston) are great too. Maybe it’s the miserable climate? Anyway, I also love ones like the ones you’re talking about, and am even more delighted that you specified silver tequilla. I’m one of those that hated, absolutely hated, beer at first. Thank God for Midori to get me acquainted with the joys of alcohol. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2014, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-flavored-alcoholic-beverages-be-banned/537952/71 "2014-05-07T03:28:36Z")
> [@Gray\_Ghost](#): > > I dunno: I’ll agree with you on the daiquri thing, but there are times when a frozen margarita (thinking of the ones at Chuy’s) goes as well or better than the “real thing.” The frozen screwdrivers at Under the Volcano (bar in Houston) are great too. Maybe it’s the miserable climate? Anyway, I also love ones like the ones you’re talking about, and am even more delighted that you specified silver tequilla. > > I’m one of those that hated, absolutely hated, beer at first. Thank God for Midori to get me acquainted with the joys of alcohol. Oh no… I didn’t mean that frozen drinks are inherently a problem. I meant that too many bad mixed drinks are made with some kind of manufactured mix that doesn’t even have lime juice or sugar. A good real frozen margarita is great, as are other real frozen mixed drinks Here’s a good recipe (from “Craft of the Cocktail” by Dale De Groff) ``` Frozen Margarita 2 oz tequila 1 oz triple sec 1 oz fresh lime juice 2 oz simple syrup 3/4 cup cracked ice. Combine all the ingredients in a blender. Blend and pour into a large goblet rimmed with coarse salt. ``` ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2014, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-flavored-alcoholic-beverages-be-banned/537952/72 "2014-05-08T08:08:36Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Everyone knows that sweet-flavored high-alcohol drinks aren’t marketed to underaged drinkers. They’re marketed to college-aged men who are trying to get college-aged women drunk. Everyone knows that sweet-flavored high-alcohol drinks aren’t marketed to underaged drinkers. If they were, then the underaged drinkers they are marketed to wouldn’t drink them… I was working for a Beer company, with an associated distribution company, when a competitor introduced party drinks in little cardboard boxes. The container was generically called a “tetra-pak” from the brand name of the company that made the packaging. This provoked wide spread comment, suggesting that they were aiming at children, since existing tetra-pak’d products were mostly sweet drinks for children. The result? The local market for wine-coolers collapsed, and stayed down for the best part of 10 years. The problem wasn’t the condemnation of the packaging: the problem was that the biggest market for wine-coolers was teenagers and young adults, and they absolutely stopped drinking wine-coolers when the product was associated with “marketing to children”. They weren’t children! They were sophisticated consumers! Of sophisticated alchoholic pre-mixed drinks! They did not drink anything aimed at children! (Caffinated alchoholic drinks should be banned. Other alchoholic drinks should be taxed.) ---
**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2014, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-flavored-alcoholic-beverages-be-banned/537952/73 "2014-05-08T13:57:41Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > …Caffinated alchoholic drinks should be banned… Why? And if so, only pre-packaged caffeinated alcohol, or are we going to also ticket bartenders that make ‘Red Bull and Vodkas’? Or Irish Coffees, now that I think about it. Thanks for the drink recipe, **bump**. I usually don’t make mine with simple syrup, and I’m looking forward to trying this one to see how it compares. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2014, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-flavored-alcoholic-beverages-be-banned/537952/74 "2014-05-11T14:09:20Z")
> [@Gray\_Ghost](#): > > Why? And if so, only pre-packaged caffeinated alcohol, or are we going to also ticket bartenders that make ‘Red Bull and Vodkas’? Or Irish Coffees, now that I think about it. 1. Because mixing addictive drugs makes them as addictive as the most addictive component of the mixture. 2)I’m not much of a believer in absolute bans or consistant behavior. I’m happy to have all kinds of exceptions, and only clean up the areas where there are problems. Pre-mixed drinks are a cheaper way of drinking, and I’m in favour of taxation as a method of measuring and influencing alcohol abuse. I think Red Bull is immoral, only partly because it is sold as a mixer for Vodka. But “Ecstacy” gave us a period of a few years in my city, where violence and injury and addiction was down, and that was not a ban on Red Bull or Vodka. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-flavored-alcoholic-beverages-be-banned/537952.md?page=3)