Could be genetic. I don’t drink alcohol because it all tastes the same to me. There’s a big pronounced flavour that’s a little bit like soap, but in general absolutely vile, and then there’s other sub flavours.
All alcohol tastes like it too. Vodka, beer, cider, wine, whiskey, schnapps, mead.
Vodka and whiskey have pleasant burning sensations, but the flavour is still so vile I can’t drink much without puking.
I’ve tried ones that have had alcohol removed, but still retain a small amount of it. Tastes the same. I don’t know if it is alcohol itself I taste, or some byproduct of fermentation, but it’s revolting.
A couple of years back I was dead set on finding something I enjoyed, so I bought all sorts of things. Sweet ciders, dry wines, sweeter wines, different kinds of beer, mead, you name it.
Mead has a medicinal quality to it, in addition to the almost cooling sensation of the honey. Then there’s that flavour. I was super interested in this sweet gooseberry cider, because I love gooseberries, it tasted just like beer to me. Beer tastes like the smell that yeast makes when you proof it ahead of baking bread. It’s a nice smell, but then there’s that woeful flavour dominating on top of everything.
I even tried making a piña colada, figuring the sweet fruit and all that would make it a certain hit. It was not.
At this point I’ve sort of given up. I use wine, Marsala generally, when cooking every so often. I’d like to try my hand at vodka pasta, I’ve seen that make the rounds, and it looks nice. But I don’t think drinking alcohol is for me.
Interesting. It must be something other than the alcohol content itself that causes that if alcohol removed drinks still taste that way, yeah. Non-alcoholic beverages have about the same alcohol content as many every day food, such as grape juice or hamburger buns, after the alcohol is removed.
There’s a huge growing non-alcoholic beverage industry that includes things that were never fermented. In case you’re still looking for that adult beverage experience without the taste you don’t enjoy. Companies like Boisson sell all sorts of interesting things you could try.
I think so too. I’ve a friend who knows a decent amount about various types of alcohol, and I asked him about it. He mentioned something about this one company changing their alcohol removal process and encouraged me to give that a go. I never got around to it though.
It’s just really unfortunate because I feel like I’m missing a whole big side of the culinary world. It hits extra hard because I’m lacto-ovo vegetarian - by birth, not by choice - and so I am already missing out on a lot, having to make substitutions and such. Like further down in this thread someone shared a recipe. It looks really interesting, especially having looked up green alder pepper, but I’ll have to swap out the veal stock, and assuming it provides a “gamey” flavour, I don’t think I can recreate that exact thing. As far as I’m aware there’s no “gamey” substitute. I don’t even know what “gamey” tastes like.
Interesting.
Quick question, does the bad taste persist when cooking the wine?
The cooking should remove all the alcohol contents and you mention cooking with it on occasion, so I would guess it’s fine?
I’m about to cook for someone who may or may not have the same taste buds.
I only ever use very small amounts so I either don’t taste it, or the taste goes away. I figure it might be genetic because I’m one of those who think cilantro tastes like soap.
They’re not quite the same flavour either. I can stomach cilantro, it just tastes a bit like someone washed it with dish soap and then didn’t rinse enough.
Ooo thank you! That looks delicious! I’ve never heard of green alder pepper before. It looks really interesting so I’m going to try and get my hands on some. The tree isn’t native to my region (I’m in Sweden) but I’m sure it can be imported.
It also goes by the names alnus viridis, green alder, dune pepper (or Poivre des dunes in French).
It is milder than pepper, with a bit of a coniferous resin taste. It looks a lot like long pepper but tastes very different.
It’s technically not a pepper, but the catkins from a variety of alnus brush.
I have no clue where you would find that in Europe and the places I know around here don’t seem to ship overseas.
And probably started with an IPA.
Could be genetic. I don’t drink alcohol because it all tastes the same to me. There’s a big pronounced flavour that’s a little bit like soap, but in general absolutely vile, and then there’s other sub flavours.
All alcohol tastes like it too. Vodka, beer, cider, wine, whiskey, schnapps, mead.
Vodka and whiskey have pleasant burning sensations, but the flavour is still so vile I can’t drink much without puking.
Have you ever tried non-alcoholic beers (Athletic Brewing Company puts out some great ones)? I’m wondering if it still has that flavor for you?
I’ve tried ones that have had alcohol removed, but still retain a small amount of it. Tastes the same. I don’t know if it is alcohol itself I taste, or some byproduct of fermentation, but it’s revolting.
A couple of years back I was dead set on finding something I enjoyed, so I bought all sorts of things. Sweet ciders, dry wines, sweeter wines, different kinds of beer, mead, you name it.
Mead has a medicinal quality to it, in addition to the almost cooling sensation of the honey. Then there’s that flavour. I was super interested in this sweet gooseberry cider, because I love gooseberries, it tasted just like beer to me. Beer tastes like the smell that yeast makes when you proof it ahead of baking bread. It’s a nice smell, but then there’s that woeful flavour dominating on top of everything.
I even tried making a piña colada, figuring the sweet fruit and all that would make it a certain hit. It was not.
At this point I’ve sort of given up. I use wine, Marsala generally, when cooking every so often. I’d like to try my hand at vodka pasta, I’ve seen that make the rounds, and it looks nice. But I don’t think drinking alcohol is for me.
Interesting. It must be something other than the alcohol content itself that causes that if alcohol removed drinks still taste that way, yeah. Non-alcoholic beverages have about the same alcohol content as many every day food, such as grape juice or hamburger buns, after the alcohol is removed.
There’s a huge growing non-alcoholic beverage industry that includes things that were never fermented. In case you’re still looking for that adult beverage experience without the taste you don’t enjoy. Companies like Boisson sell all sorts of interesting things you could try.
I think so too. I’ve a friend who knows a decent amount about various types of alcohol, and I asked him about it. He mentioned something about this one company changing their alcohol removal process and encouraged me to give that a go. I never got around to it though.
It’s just really unfortunate because I feel like I’m missing a whole big side of the culinary world. It hits extra hard because I’m lacto-ovo vegetarian - by birth, not by choice - and so I am already missing out on a lot, having to make substitutions and such. Like further down in this thread someone shared a recipe. It looks really interesting, especially having looked up green alder pepper, but I’ll have to swap out the veal stock, and assuming it provides a “gamey” flavour, I don’t think I can recreate that exact thing. As far as I’m aware there’s no “gamey” substitute. I don’t even know what “gamey” tastes like.
Interesting.
Quick question, does the bad taste persist when cooking the wine?
The cooking should remove all the alcohol contents and you mention cooking with it on occasion, so I would guess it’s fine?
I’m about to cook for someone who may or may not have the same taste buds.
I only ever use very small amounts so I either don’t taste it, or the taste goes away. I figure it might be genetic because I’m one of those who think cilantro tastes like soap.
They’re not quite the same flavour either. I can stomach cilantro, it just tastes a bit like someone washed it with dish soap and then didn’t rinse enough.
Thanks,
Here’s the sauce recipe for your troubles wandering my questions:
Ooo thank you! That looks delicious! I’ve never heard of green alder pepper before. It looks really interesting so I’m going to try and get my hands on some. The tree isn’t native to my region (I’m in Sweden) but I’m sure it can be imported.
It also goes by the names alnus viridis, green alder, dune pepper (or Poivre des dunes in French).
It is milder than pepper, with a bit of a coniferous resin taste. It looks a lot like long pepper but tastes very different.
It’s technically not a pepper, but the catkins from a variety of alnus brush.
I have no clue where you would find that in Europe and the places I know around here don’t seem to ship overseas.
This suggests maybe Austria, but I have no clue if they even eat it over there.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/299405521_Alnus_viridis_in_Europe_distribution_habitat_usage_and_threats