There is more to drinking than getting drunk.

Drinking to excess takes a toll on your mind, body, and social standing. On the other hand, drinking to enjoy can improve your taste, meal and friendships.

To begin with, consider the flavor of your beverage. How many different flavors can you sense? This doesn’t have to be a highfalutin chemical dissection of the mouth-feel and the carbonation density. You know when something tastes good and you can try to describe that goodness to someone else.

When you are really drunk, you can’t register many of the flavors in your drink. Many brewers, winemakers, and distillers spend their lifetimes trying to express an idea using flavor and color, so you might as well appreciate their dedication.

One of the best ways to appreciate a beverage is combining it with some good grub. Many bars and gas stations will try to seduce you into buying heavily-salted junk food that just makes you thirstier for more alcohol. Instead, find a restaurant or develop a recipe for home cooking that you can savor with every swallow. The food will often be healthier and the combination of flavors will create sensations of taste unique to your perceptions.

There are several great recipes that can help transfer the intense flavors found in alcoholic beverages, infusing them into your food. A few of the possibilities include Irish stews with a dark beer broth, desserts engulfed in burning rum, and steaks sautéed in onions and red wine. The cooking process often reduces the alcoholic content, leaving you with a new way to enjoy a familiar flavor.

Taste varies from person to person, which is why inviting a friend to enjoy a meal and a drink with you can expand your perspective and pleasure. You might disagree on what tastes good, but you’ll probably find that a good drink tastes great when you have a friend to drink it with.

An alcoholic drink doesn’t have to be just a convenient way to impair your balance and empty your stomach. Instead, it can be something to be appreciated and relished.

Drinking has its benefits; we just don’t always enjoy them in our binge-oriented culture.

-Maxwell Reister is a junior communication major from Leavenworth. She can be contacted at 335-2290 or by [email protected]. The opinions expressed in this Column are not necessarily those of the staff of The Daily Evergreen or those of Student Publications.