As I matured, however, so did my relationship with alcohol. While it seems obvious in some ways, I eventually realized that different forms of drink have different tastes (and not simply the taste of the things you throw in to mask the alcohol), and that some of these drinks actually had some real appeal. While I still have friends who view the taste of beer, wine or spirits as secondary, at best, to the potency of the drink (whether they view this as a positive or a negative depends on the person), over time I came to value the flavor and character of a drink much more than the inherent buzz.
