> I love the pleasurable effects of alcohol as much as the next person, but 4 times out of 5 I'm only after the flavor
I wonder how much of your perception of the "awesome" flavor is skewed by the pleasurable effects of alcohol, though. Like, the more you drink, the happier you get, and the happier you are, the better everything tastes.
Right, so why would you want to waste good wine when everything tastes great? From experience, the more intoxicated I get, the lower my capacity for actually enjoying what I'm drinking is. The best time for tasting is your very first drink, all downhill from there.
I find almost the opposite. The first couple of glasses of beer or wine of the evening is almost always the one that tastes the best. At the end of a long evening of drinking things just taste less and more muted and I'm far more happy drinking 'less good' drinks than I would be at the beginning of the evening.
I wonder how much of your perception of the "awesome" flavor is skewed by the pleasurable effects of alcohol, though. Like, the more you drink, the happier you get, and the happier you are, the better everything tastes.