Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2022 February 28

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February 28

Reuters Fact Check

Does anyone know how to get in touch with Reuters Fact Check? They write on Twitter: Please get in touch, our DMs are open. Not sure what they mean by “DM”; presumably direct message, but I don't see any link for that on their website. ◅ Sebastian 08:26, 28 February 2022 (UTC)

They say to email them at reutersfactcheck@thomsonreuters.com. Clarityfiend (talk) 09:05, 28 February 2022 (UTC)

Thanks, Clarityfiend! How did you find that URL? ◅ Sebastian 11:19, 28 February 2022 (UTC)

Searched for "Reuters fact check contact". Clarityfiend (talk) 11:32, 28 February 2022 (UTC)

A-ok. It didn't occur to me that I'd find it that way when I don't see it on their pertinent page. (Now I wonder how the crawler found it, but if I really wanted to know, I'd ask at Wikipedia:Reference desk/Computing, not here.) ◅ Sebastian 13:03, 28 February 2022 (UTC)

@SebastianHelm: You can send them a DM via Twitter. See [1] for instructions. Their website has their Twitter link. RudolfRed (talk) 02:08, 1 March 2022 (UTC)

Teetotaller

I don't drink any alcoholic drinks. I saw most girls in my high school consuming alcohol. I thought as a boy I must do something. I tried beer and it tasted sour.

I tried Rum with two-three sips I got headache. I am careful not to get drunk. Only Vodka had some good feeling. Whiskey tasted like some cough medicine. The Wine tasted like bad grape juice.

All were good costly brands. Apart from Rum, I managed all for 500 ml. I haven't tasted Brandy, Gin, Alcopop, Breezer yet

In Hollywood movies, the heroes consume alcohol with style as if it tastes great.

The way people drink is as if they are great in taste.

As a beginner what should I do? — Preceding unsigned comment added by PrinceofBaghdad9809 (talk • contribs) 10:22, 28 February 2022 (UTC)

There are many people who don't drink alcohol because they don't like it. If you're one of them, what's wrong with that? Heroes are heroes because of the heroic deeds they do, not because they like certain kinds of beverages. ◅ Sebastian 11:24, 28 February 2022 (UTC)

Chacun à son goût. To me, the one whisky I tried was a good imitation of either medicine or cough syrup, and beer tastes like rubber bands. Tequila was okay, and Grand Marnier wasn't bad (though rather strong). Clarityfiend (talk) 11:38, 28 February 2022 (UTC)

"This above all, to thine own self be true." If you don't like the taste of alcohol, consider it a blessing. --←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 12:30, 28 February 2022 (UTC)

As noted above, there's no real reason to consume alcohol. It is, after all, not terribly healthy for you, for a variety of reasons. See Alcohol and health. And I say this as a regular drinker myself. Feel free to experiment, but do so understanding that it really isn't good for you. My wife doesn't drink at all either, it's quite fine. No one really says anything to her negatively about it. --Jayron32 12:49, 28 February 2022 (UTC)

Wheat beers are very low in bitterness, sometimes being made without hops. (They are sour, but bitterness is more potentially unpleasant - hence bitterants.) Wine from the ancient muscat (grape) (ignoring the horribly sweet desert wines) has the admirable quality, rare among wines, of tasting like grape juice - not bad grape juice, though I suppose it technically is. Personally I appear to have stopped drinking, but this is an accident. I suppose it will reduce my chances of getting cancer or falling off a quay.  Card Zero  (talk) 13:09, 28 February 2022 (UTC)

The OP had mentioned sourness as a flavor of the beer. There are several reasons this might be; if it were a beer that contained (unintentionally or intentionally) Brettanomyces, which can add both sourness and "funk" to a beer, which depending on the style, may be unwanted. There are also many kinds of overtly sour beers, traditionally from the Low Countries, but also including Berliner Weisse, a german Wheat beer, which can be puckeringly sour. Many wheat beers may also be flavored (either before bottling or as a serving method) with citrus, which can also impart some sourness. Hops are traditionally described as bitter rather than sour, and aren't really "tart" in any way; they are often astringent or "piney" or "floral" or "grassy" depending on the variety of hops. I agree that many wheat beers (especially American mass-market wheat beers, such as Blue Moon, are generally rather soft on the pallet. Other varieties such as American or Mexican lagers can be bready and very low in hoppiness, though I would avoid those based on Vienna lager styles (like Sam Adams) as they are rather strongly hopped for a lager. If the OP likes coffee or chocolate flavors, perhaps a stout or a Porter may be more their speed. They are bitter as well, but their bitterness is of a different variety, usually coming from the roasted malts rather than from hops. --Jayron32 13:30, 28 February 2022 (UTC)

Yes, by "they are sour" I meant the wheat beers, not the hops, which are of course bitter. There's a lot of variety in the wheat beers, and they aren't all sour: some of them are like banana bread.  Card Zero  (talk) 13:40, 28 February 2022 (UTC)

Indeed. Some good hefeweisen have a characteristic banana-clove flavor from the types of yeast used to brew them. Very pleasant and not at all bitter or sour. If bananas are your thing, Wells makes a "banana bread beer" which is quite tasty. --Jayron32 13:43, 28 February 2022 (UTC)

Softness on the pallet may or may not be convenient for shipping, I guess? —Tamfang (talk) 02:42, 2 March 2022 (UTC)

Let me say something somewhat silly: drinking alcohol, be it in quantities large or small, will not turn you into a hero, Hollywood or otherwise. Of course, the alcohol companies sometimes pay Hollywood firms to show actors supposedly consuming their products. See Product placement. But as to real-life heroism, I don't see any connection to alcohol consumption. Eliyohub (talk) 13:51, 28 February 2022 (UTC)

Yes, when I read that line in the post, my first thought was of the long-standing trope of the "good guy" (or, at least the "cool guy") smoking a cigarette with dramatic swirls of smoke around him. Much less common these days in cinema. Matt Deres (talk) 21:20, 1 March 2022 (UTC)

I remember my first alcoholic drink, a glass of beer bought for me by my father exactly on my 18th birthday. The alcohol tasted fiery, it burned my throat. But once I got past that, the beer itself tasted good. The fiery taste was only because I was not used to alcohol. If you do not like the taste of alcohol but still want to try alcoholic drinks I recommend my favourite cocktail, the mojito. A mojito consists of white rum, lime juice and mint leaves. If done properly, you won't even notice the alcohol in the drink, but it will still get you drunk (only a little bit, if you only drink one). JIP | Talk 03:02, 1 March 2022 (UTC)

@JIP: I've got a userbox for you! User:FormalDude/Userboxes/Mojito. ––FormalDude talk 04:28, 1 March 2022 (UTC)

Wearing my hat as a lifelong recreational drinker, and a long-term CAMRA member, let me mention a few things.

One: people differ, and their perceptions of the tastes of things differ; this is at least partly due to genetics. I personally dislike celery, despise aniseed and have to spit out any accidentally ingested licorice before it makes me sick: others love these same tastes. There are no rules that say you, PrinceofBaghdad9809, have to like or pretend to like the same things that (some) others do.

Two: a single person's sense of taste can change quite markedly over the course of their life, particularly between childhood and adulthood, but also later in life (and usually becomes less acute as one ages). As a child I disliked Brussels sprouts and beer (my Dad gave me a taste of his beer when I was 7, knowing I would hate it); now I like both.

Three: as others have indicated above, there is a huge range of tastes of alcoholic drinks if you want to enjoy the taste of something that makes you drunk. If you do want to, keep looking. I didn't discover beers I actively liked until my late twenties; until then I tolerated the taste (of inferior beers) in order to enjoy getting drunk in the appropriate social settings.

Four: no mature adults think it's obligatory to drink alcohol, or to get drunk, or to like getting drunk. If anybody says otherwise, they're immature fools, whatever their age. There is also a huge range of non-alcoholic drinks, some of which any responsible pub, bar etc. will stock and happily serve you: some intentionally resemble alcoholic drinks in appearance and, to an extent, taste should you wish to appear to be drinking alcohol. Also, the status (or claimed status), of a non-drinking 'Designated driver' is widely accepted.

Five: some people have a high likelihood of developing Alcoholism – an addiction to alcohol. Again, this is in part genetic; some develop it very easily, some after prolonged and high consumption (this happened to a friend of mine who was a bar manager), and many (including, I'm fairly sure, myself, having been a drinker for 50 years) who never will. Be aware of this potential danger; you could be one of the more succeptible ones.

I hope some of this helps, but in the end, we all have to learn to deal with our own social situations, which can't be diagnosed by strangers on the internet. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 90.209.121.1 (talk) 03:52, 1 March 2022 (UTC)

Hats off to you, 90.309, for that thorough response. --184.144.97.125 (talk) 23:03, 1 March 2022 (UTC)