[Coda]

Actually I don't drink all that much. I don't drink to get drunk -- I have been drunk exactly once and that was because I TRIED because I wanted to know what it was like. (Answer: I am an incredibly boring drunk.) In fact, I have an extremely high tolerance: other than that one time, I've never even been so much as buzzed. That time I DID get drunk was actually the SECOND time I'd tried out of curiosity -- the first time saw me having alcohol equivalent to seven beers and *pfft* NOTHIN'.

I also very much do not like most beer. Can't stand the smell of it, and the taste ranges from "augh why did I take a sip of that" to "this doesn't really interest me" and very rarely up to "this isn't bad but I probably wouldn't order one for myself."

So given that I don't like beer and I essentially can't get drunk, that means that when I do drink it's because I actually like what I'm drinking. I'm very discriminating. I also had a friend that was a professional bartender in Chicago. The end result is that I know a lot about the good stuff because there's no reason for me to drink anything else.