The "Picky" College Student

[Phil]

Was anyone a picky drinker in college?

Edit: By which I mean, you prefer taste over effect.

[Smithy]

Truth be told when I was at uni in NZ, undergraduates were more concerned with effect than the method of delivery. Mostly evenings at the student union bar were spent discovering if you could drink more than half your age in pints, or whether it was possible to drink every variety of spirit behind the bar.

Come post grad you'd tended to get a little more discerning.

[Mojito]

Sure, I was a picky drinker who, if not quite preferring taste over effect, at least regarded them as equally important. The problem is, my taste was crap. I used to drink Strongbow sweet! And lollywater (Bacardi Breezers weren't around, but if they had been, I'd have scoffed them).

I was democratic about beer, though. I couldn't afford to be picky about that - if it was available and cheap at Uni functions, I drank Carleton Cold and Hahn Ice or (if desperate) VB.

[Smithy]

Sure, I was a picky drinker who, if not quite preferring taste over effect, at least regarded them as equally important. The problem is, my taste was crap. I used to drink Strongbow sweet! And lollywater (Bacardi Breezers weren't around, but if they had been, I'd have scoffed them).

I was democratic about beer, though. I couldn't afford to be picky about that - if it was available and cheap at Uni functions, I drank Carleton Cold and Hahn Ice or (if desperate) VB.

A schooner of Hahn (just the standard one) was my normal beer order at the pub when I lived in Sydney Mojito :)

Haven't had a VB for a long time, and when in Melbourne last year it was plain old Carlton Draught, when I wasn't having G&Ts. Nothing fancy but it was nice and cold.

[anon`]

I don't recall my years at university being terribly picky: though we would make a run at good spirits when money was awash, effect usually counted for more than method of delivery. We used to make this truly wretched, weakly lemon-flavoured... concoction out of Crystal Springs (which is like Everclear, but stronger) that was really quite horrid. Nobody ever had decent beer, either. Always either Miller High Life or PBR, and some even sank to OE 800 or Steel Reserve. Revolting, but cheap.

Thankfully, I'm rather more discerning now.

[David Conwill]

Freshman and sophomore years - no, I wasn't picky. However, after one too many Vanilla Coke and Captains, I got picky. I've always been funny about beer. One of my friends recently pointed out to me that I mostly drink beer that doesn't advertise. Of course, in Michigan that means drinking something other than Bud Light or Corona.

-Dave

[kowalskt63]

Was anyone a picky drinker in college?

Edit: By which I mean, you prefer taste over effect.

Absolutely. I'd never do cherry Kool-Aid with my Everclear grain alcohol. Always grape, always grape...

[Phil]

Oh jeez. I have a friend who drinks that stuff straight. My experience with Everclear has been using it to get superglue off of my hands and desk...and sometimes one from the other.

[Rick Blaine]

As would everyone, I prefered to drink aqua-velva and gator-aid, but that wasn't always available, so printer's ink it was! :cheers1:
All seriousness aside, as an undergrad I went to a small Methodist (read: hard drinking) college in the mountains of N. Georgia were there was little else to do. We drank quite a bit of moonshine as the closest liquor store was 45 miles over the mountains. So defiantly; effect.

[John in Covina]

I had discerning taste buds early on (about 16 yo) with a penchant for German brews, English brews and all things imported. However, the concern of funding the revelry often made for much less expensive choices being procured on the collegiate budget.

[Vintage Betty]

I always found that my pickiness decreased with the amount of persons drinking with me. :rolleyes:

This, from the woman who kept a bottle of Russian Potato Vodka in her freezer in her dorm room and would give away free shots....:eusa_doh:

And yes, I drank it straight.

[ortega76]

I really didn't start hitting my drinking stride until I was 22, about a year after I graduated. In college, I was in my anything to get me smashed mode early on. After realizing how much I actually hated Icehouse and Everclean-and-Kool-Aid, I switched to better stuff by Junior year.

[ClaraB]

I currently am a picky college student! I've earned a reputation for carrying my own wine or flask versus drinking out of a keg of keystone at parties. I guess it never occurred to me to drink for the the effect, it has always been for taste. One of the perks is that no one asks to share, I guess that is because no one fancies whisky, gin or really dry wine. lol Although at this point in the semester I do admit that the quality of my beverages have declined as I am quickly running out of cash.

[adamjaskie]

I second ClaraB. Pretty much exactly the same situation here. My hard-liquor consumption has fallen, though, and I'm drinking more wine lately. The last party I went to I brought a bottle of Zinfandel. It was a BYOB party, which meant lots of people brought things like a 2L bottle of coke, with 1/3 of the coke replaced with spiced rum. I ended up trading glasses of wine with a few friends who also brought wine, though. One of my friends had the wonderful idea of dumping her wine into a stainless steel water bottle; she was able to keep it clipped to her belt the whole night, while I had to set my bottle down in a corner and keep going back to it.

BTW, downing an 8oz flask of 101 proof bourbon in one night is NOT a good idea.

[Tamamiko]

I was once, and still am today, a picky connoisseur of all things alcohol. I think it had something to do with not going to college full time or having booze hounds as friends.

[Highlander]

Yes, early in my college years at the Universtity of MO, there was much talk the the little numbers on Budweiser, I believe they were 66, 76, 86 and 88 were small and near the trademark on the can. Allegedly these numbers indicated where the beer came out of the keg when being "bottled". We'd always search for the higher numbers, as that was almost "Michelob"..

I believe that entire deal was an URBAN LEGEND.

That was the extent of my search for Quality of Quantity. :)

[Yeps]

I just found this old thread, and I fall generally under this category. I pretty much refuse to drink anything that comes in a can, box, or that I have to mix excessively to cover the nasty taste of (Mixing to enhance the flavor, that is different). That said, I have yet to refine my palate, and that will take a while. I don't drink much.