I don't eat habaneros or ghost peppers for the flavour. I eat them for the burn. I guess the flavour is ok, but it's not the main attraction. Just like people don't really consume beer for the flavour, or non-alcoholic beer would be a lot more popular than it is, since it just tastes like beer without the bitterness of alcohol.
Except no... Non alcoholic beers are not available in most varieties if you like a sour, stout out IPA, you're never going to find an NA version. I'd be happy to be wrong, because I do like the flavor, and often wish there were no alcohol.
Not to mention there are quite flavorful styles which are often down around 2% ABV which is closer to NA beer than they are to macrolagers. I'm thinking of things like berlinerweisse
> Just like people don't really consume beer for the flavour,
Oh but I assure you they do.
In fact everybody I know drinks beer exclusively for the flavour. Why else would they?
Even my 93-year-old grandmother drinks it, but she can only drink half a bottle, after that it will start to affect her. She complains bitterly how she'd like to drink more, but can't anymore.
> or non-alcoholic beer would be a lot more popular than it is, since it just tastes like beer
I have never found a tasty alcohol-free beer. I'd be happy to find some. I love the taste of beer, but after a few I need to stop before it goes to my head.
The process that removes the alcohol somehow also removes the pleasant taste (maybe because the alcohol content partly determines the taste?)
> without the bitterness of alcohol.
The bitterness comes from hops, and possibly malt.
If it were the alcohol that was bitter, wine would be quite bitter, and Vodka would be unbearable.
I don't mean this as an attack on you at all, but you seem to have little experience in the matter.
Wow, I really struck a nerve here, eh? Alright, beer is great, we must all do our part! ;-)
I've drunk plenty of beer and it all tastes bad. I'm not inexperienced. I much prefer the flavour of fruit juice. I really do think there's a huge social pressure to get to like beer. Maybe after a while our brains get to enjoy the bad flavour and associate it with pleasant past experiences. I have learned to put up with the flavour of beer and sometimes I am able to ignore the bad flavour of beer if there are other parts of the flavour that are enjoyable.
I don't think anybody likes beer the first time they try it.
I feel the same way about coffee too. It's a bitter drink and it smells bad. It cannot possibly be true that these substances would be popular if it were not for the side effects. What is a popular bitter beverage or food that has no other side effects?
> Alright, beer is great, we must all do our part! ;-)
That's the spirit ;-)
> I've drunk plenty of beer and it all tastes bad.
Fair enough, I know a few people who don't like the taste.
> I'm not inexperienced.
Respectfully, assuming all other persons' motivations to be identical to your own makes you appear inexperienced not in matters of alcohol, but rather in (I'm struggling to find a good expression here -- I hope you get my meaning) how the world works.
> I much prefer the flavour of fruit juice.
Fine by me. I like it too.
> I really do think there's a huge social pressure to get to like beer.
Perhaps. I can't comment on American culture.
Certainly among adolescents in Germany there is some peer pressure WRT alcohol, including beer of course. After a while people tend to emancipate themselves from it though. I have a few friends who dislike alcohol. Nobody cares.
> I don't think anybody likes beer the first time they try it.
I didn't like it, that's for sure.
> What is a popular bitter beverage or food that has no other side effects?
I usually try not to feel side effects from beer. I dislike being drunk. I still like drinking beer though.
Apart from that: Brussel sprouts (ok, popularity is debatable ;-) ).
Artichokes.
Endive/Chicory.
There are also other very bitter vegetables whose name I don't know that are quite popular in Asia; I'd have to ask my wife for the name. They have no effects other than taste that I'm aware of. They were definitely an acquired taste for me, but now I really like them.
Perhaps you just don't like bitter taste. Obviously there's nothing wrong with that.
That's an especially crappy comic, even for an xkcd.
We don't all agree that beer tastes bad, but a lot of Holden Caulfield-ish high school kids (the main xkcd shirt buying demographic) would agree to that to demonstrate their intellectual superiority. Like it's a open secret that people don't like beer, but it's just an excuse to get drunk, and ole Randall is holding his nose because beer is terrible but he still wants to drink.
How precious.
I have not met an non-alcoholic beer which tastes as the alcoholic ones. And there is no bitterness of alcohol, it is the hops which makes (some) beers bitter. Of course there are beers without much hops and consequently they are rather sweet in taste.
https://xkcd.com/1534/