Re: Harry Potter and Adults

In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
Pat Bowne <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

>The wine is pretty much beside the point; it's the pretense of abstruse
>knowledge and connoisseurship that's fun.  Booze is just the vehicle society
>most conveniently provides for it. I've often wished that people would put
>the same effort into creating varieties of non-alcoholic drinks.

Tea and coffee offer some of the same pleasures without the alcohol.
At my local teashop you can try about thirty different kinds of tea,
many interesting, some downright odd (the "ten years fermentation" kind
with the "earthy" taste does indeed taste...earthy, much like leaves
from the forest floor).

We are also getting some microbrewery root beers locally.  One very nice
one with overtones of honey and vanilla; one shocking one with
overpowering flavors of licorice and ginger.

And Irina introduced me to the pleasures of elderflower syrup, for which
I finally found a Stateside supplier.

But yes, it's frustrating to see all that expertese lavished on stuff
I don't drink.

Mary Kuhner [EMAIL PROTECTED]