Alcohol as a rite of passage

The speaker discusses their experiences with alcohol and how it is often seen as a rite of passage and a sign of maturity. They personally did not enjoy alcohol and discovered that they were allergic to it. They recognize that expensive alcohol can create a powerful feeling and enhance the experience, but they do not see much difference in taste between cheap and expensive wine. They reflect on their past experiences with alcohol and peer pressure, and how they eventually realized they did not need it for those reasons. They prefer cannabis and enjoy being alone or with a chosen individual while under its influence. The speaker acknowledges that not drinking alcohol has made them feel like an outsider in certain social situations, but they have come to appreciate the benefits of solitude and being true to themselves. How many times do we see the moment in drama where the alcohol is given to somebody who hasn't had it before and everyone waits for the cough, for the reaction so they can laugh, the rite of passage of finding something that is actually horrible, at least in my experience, and overcoming it to be able to have it because it is a sign of maturity, of adulthood, and also acceptance to be around those who also do that so that you fit. I never did it. I never liked it. I didn't want it. I didn't mind the effects of the alcohol when I was younger, but I soon discovered that essentially I'm allergic to it so I stopped taking it. But I always remained recognising that this barrel-flavoured ethanol was a horrible thing to take but yet somehow could become not only able to be taken but liked actually because of the effect that it provides. Yes, it's very... and so you get people who will pay a fortune for a bottle of barrel-flavoured alcohol because the mystique that goes along with it, its age, its origins, there's only so many, create a powerful feeling that enhances the experience. If you pay, I don't know, a thousand pounds for a bottle of whisky, you're going to love every time you sip it. You're going to feel something, you might share it, and you'll want the reaction from those who try it to match yours at least, you know, in part. I can't say I've had the opportunity to try what has cost someone a fortune to compare it with what I may have already had, wine being the most common example of people doing that. I've had a fortune on wine, I've tasted wine that has been cheap and I've liked it and I've tasted wine that has cost money and I haven't. So yes, if someone said this glass of wine I'd like you to try cost me £500, that bottle, here see if you can tell the difference. To me it just still tastes like a version of fermented grape juice and they're all different. But as a someone who doesn't really, who doesn't, I haven't had alcohol for a long time, who doesn't drink alcohol, I seem to understand a bit more about why people do. I mean, yes, the effects can be wonderful at a dinner party, at a party, you know, unless you go too far, whatever too far is, and I always did that a lot when I was younger, really interesting, really interesting, like the experience, oh God I'm sick, puking and spinning and hangover and when you're young you get over it and then you do it again. Especially if you drink water and things like that, you know, but I never really liked it, I just, peer pressure and grown-upness, I was able to go into a pub, order a pint when I was 15 and I had to be 18 to do it back in the day, didn't show ID, if they thought you're old enough it didn't really matter. I used to go down for lunch sometimes when I was still at school, still in, yeah, go down for lunch, not on my own, a friend might come, have a pint, come back and then sort of experience the afternoon's lessons slightly inebriated. But it was no different from what some of the teachers were doing, so, you know, I did it because it was taboo, because while I may have had some taste of alcohol growing up, I didn't have the choice to have what I wanted, you know, you're not old enough, you're not old enough and so that feeling, that idea of you're not old enough makes having it more, there's more to it, that taboo factor is a powerful addition. So for a while of course it affected me, I enjoyed it, I wanted it, I wanted anything, I would have tried whatever was available and tried quite a lot of what was available, well I think I tried all that was available, but I didn't get to try everything that was possibly available somewhere else until I realised that actually I don't need to do this for those reasons. When I discovered cannabis I suppose, I realised that I don't want to mix alcohol and cannabis, many did, I don't want to take anything, it's very specific for me, it's having a very particular effect, I really just want to focus on that, I want to do it alone for the most part or just with a chosen individual. I like being out, doing certain things, especially with other people, but also spending as I've come to most of my time alone and internal actually, inside, while under its influence so that I can explore things in a way that allows me to record them spontaneously. So yeah, it's just triggered, it was triggered by watching yet another example of some people drinking, some guys drinking what had been purported to be very exclusive, it's very special and so they can't turn around and go, oh this tastes like shit, what's the difference? They have to appreciate it because they're part of a group, they're friends or maybe that resistance to it would just not endear them, that in order to remain involved there has to be a certain understanding that we agree on certain things. Yes, you can be different and still be friends, but there's certain types of people, certain types of fundamental things for certain kinds of people that do need to be in place, one of which would be, I mean I stopped spending time with people a long time ago because of not drinking, but I've also experienced because I don't drink tea or coffee and never have, that I actually am not part of that group where, put the kettle on, oh I'm dying for a cuppa, I don't ever have that feeling and people do and they always want a cup of tea, the workmen, would you like a cup of tea? Oh yes please, yeah two sugars. I can't do any of that so I've always been outside as a result of that, even though it's only a very sort of subtle minor thing, but with the alcohol as well, and people, the people who drink don't like people to be around who aren't drinking especially and sometimes they don't trust them, you know, to be accepted you've got to do what they're doing, because I no longer have to be accepted, I don't do what other people are doing for that reason, and that also makes me feel, that puts me outside, so I know this and I've come to accept it and actually really appreciate it, but the benefit that I get from my own company, that solitude, what I can do with it, benefits me and I'm happy at this, I'm happy to do it because I can see that. So, thoughts?