Why do you drink wine? If your first reflex is to answer: “Because there is alcohol in it”, sorry to weigh your morale, but I fear that you have a problem with alcohol. If you think, on the other hand: “because I like the taste”, it’s already more reassuring. In both cases, the rest might interest you.
More specifically, what do you choose when you choose to drink a Spritz rather than a cider, a whiskey rather than a rum, a pastis rather than a gin tonic, an iPa beer rather than a stout ? They do not send the same social message, do not testify to the same state of mind. And, of course, they have their own aromatic palette, their taste balance (more or less sweet, bitter, acid), their texture (in terms of viscosity, fat, drying on the cheeks but also heat as they emanate), a more or less marked presence at the palace. In fact, there is a fabulous sensory diversity in the world of alcohols, whether they come from fermentation or distillation, a terroir or a cocktail -style assembly. And this is precisely what makes it its strength, difficult to equal in the world of soft drinks.
Humans have not invented alcoholic beverages only in order to pocharder (even if, let’s be honest, it must have played largely and it is not the prerogative of human beings , since we have already observed monkeys, elephants and hedgehogs to eat with fermented fruit or dolphins drugs in the fugu). Alcohol also helps keep food, protect them from bacteria and prevent infections.
beyond sparkling water and iced tea
But, in the case that concerns us, alcohol has two other virtues: being both a vector and a creator of aromas. A vector, because ethanol fixes and transports aromatic molecules more effectively to our olfactory mucous membranes, while intensifying their perception. A creator, because the fermentation and distillation processes allow the hatching of perfumes that do not exist in the natural state in the fruit or the plant. A grape does not feel violet, cocoa, honey or quince, but wine, yes. Likewise, the aromas of smoke, caramel, vanilla, cherry, etc., which can be felt in a glass of whiskey are not originally in an ear of wheat.
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