Sometimes there are social situations that involve drinking. My problem with this is that I don’t like most of the alcoholic drinks I’ve tried. I did like a fermented cider and a margarita but not any of the beers I tried or the wine I tried. I think I might like whiskey once I can get past how strong it is. I think vodka is disgusting.
I was hoping to get some suggestions from folks with a bit more experience of drinks I might enjoy.
What flavor profiles do you prefer? Sweet? Sour? Rich/creamy? Are you looking for something that doesn’t taste particularly alcoholic? (your reference to cider and margaritas suggest that you may be leaning in that direction)
Another important question…what is it that you HAVEN’T liked about the beers/wines/vodkas you’ve tried? And when you say you might like whiskey, are you speaking of Irish whiskey, Scotch or Bourbon? They’re quite different from one another. What kinds of wine have you tried? What kinds of beers?
It’s hard to recommend something like this without knowing what flavors you like.
Redwolf the designated drinker
I’d say take advantage of your good luck in not liking alcohol, and stay off it. Problem solved.
I advise sherry.
Not so you can drink it. So you don’t need to. Sherry is sipped, in small quantities from a small glass. No-one questions the drinking habits of someone with a full or half-full sherry-glass in their hand. If you are worried about finishing it, just take a taste. That’ll stop you.
So carry a hip-flask with some sherry in it, and a sherry glass - one of those small yokes. At the end of the evening, just pour the sherry back in the hip-flask. Unless it’s had something unpleasant, like cigar-ash, dropped in it. You never know. Someone might want to drink some of it one day.
If you actually WANT to drink, it sounds like you probably want some tart fuel, as they call it around here. That would be one of those ready-mixed concoctions like Bicardi Breezer, or Two Dogs. They don’t taste of alcohol, so the uninformed palate accepts them readily. To put it another way, kids like to get smashed on them, or get their girls smashed on them.
To be brutally honest, I would say persevere, and persevere with beer. It took me a while to get used to Guinness, but I felt it was my obligation as an Irishman. Nowadays I avoid it, as I’ve found its diuretic properties have unbecoming effects, but I’m perfectly happy with lighter ales. The ability to consume ale is a social advantage. Cider is perfectly reasonable. It’s not just the fact that the big breweries are pushing it, but I’ve bumped into a few people who prefer it. Some of them prefer it because they have a gluten intolerance.
Be aware that cider often has twice the alcohol content of beer.
No need for alcohol, if you don’t like the taste.
Just ask your server for a glass of club soda with a slice of lime.
Virgin margaritas work too.
Sobriety sucks, but some don’t have a choice.
Even in the days when I drank alcohol, I always enjoyed a surprise trip to this most unusual bar because they had the ability to serve one of my favorite drinks, Cherry Pop with Crushed Ice.
I couldn’t tell from your original post if it was the taste or the alcohol. Whatever it is, bars and parties have some interesting mixers like pineapple, orange, and tomato juice. I also couldn’t tell how old you are. Whatever your age, don’t feel pressured to drink alcohol just because everyone else is. If you are ready to give alcohol a go and just don’t have a lot of experience, seek out one of your adventureous fun friends, they will surely take you under their wing and give you a world tour of alcohol. Make sure they make at least one stop at the Island of Girlie Drinks. It sounds likes you need more than an in depth doctoral study in the fine differences among whiskeys and bourbons.
I like water, straight up, still, filtered, and cold. I only drink the whisky, beer and red wines for medicinal purposes, never for social purposes. Sure I’ll drink in a social setting but again I’m only doing it for my health. My wife likes Pomegranate martinis, I’ve been told I make the best, I wouldn’t know plus I’m suspicious as she also likes Talisker. She loves cider but it is difficult to find good ciders in the States. If you are interested in whisky try to find a tasting that you can attend that lets you sample a broad range. I prefer drinking my whisky during small quiet intimate gatherings with friends and/or family. In the summer I’ll drink gin and tonics and the occasional Pimms and lemonade, but only for medicinal purposes. Oh! Hot chocolate and peppermint Schnapps while XC skiing.
Try a Daiquari.
Daiquiris are of course a girlie drink in the same class as the grog used by the Royal Navy.
My experience has been that people who really don’t like alcohol tend to prefer what we call “candy drinks” around here: Pina Coladas, Margaritas, Daquiris, White Russians and so forth. If you like fruit juice, you might also like a Greyhound (vodka and grapefruit juice) or Salty Dog (same as a Greyhound, but with salt around the rim).
That said, I agree with the others…if you don’t like alcoholic drinks, why drink them? In this day and age, it’s perfectly socially acceptable to say “I don’t drink” and to order something non-alcoholic. If you want to “look” like you’re drinking booze, you can always order something like a “Virgin Mary” (tomato juice on ice with a dash of Tabasco) or a “Nada Colada” (pineapple juice and coconut cream blended with ice)…or even that old standby ginger ale.
Redwolf
Drinking these days has become a pain in the butt. Counting drinks so that you don’t have to worry about getting pulled over for not using a turn signal, wondering how stiff the bar is making the drink, the cost of the good stuff at a bar that can fetch $200+ profit per bottle. Chance of sulfide headaches from wine, silly glassware for every other drink, odor that some find disagreeable, drug cross reaction if you are on medication, etc. I don’t like thinking about what I drink so now when I go out I usually have coffee, tea, and anything fresh squeezed.
Any dietary difference can seem strange to others at first. First time we ordered a pizza without meat at my parents house they were curious why we didn’t have any. We are not vegetarians, but to them the thought of a meal that didn’t involve meat just seemed strange. Now it is old hat.
Never heard of the Greyhound - will have to tell the daughters, they’ll try anything greyhound-related (including adopting them). Why’s it called that? Makes you run very fast for a short time and then sleep for 23 hours?
Anyway, to the OP: you lucky person! I like almost every kind of alcohol (except the “tart fuel” mentioned above) and sometimes have a hard time behaving myself at parties or in the pub. Go with cranberry juice. It has a gorgeous colour and feels like a real drink. No need to spoil it by adding %.
Racked my brain for some of the sweeter drinks I’ve had.
Jim Beam and sweet tea go well together (serve in 1 pt mason jars) and so does a splash of cherry juice, ice and soju.
It’s mostly the taste that I don’t particularly like. I never drank before I reached legal age but now that I’m there I feel obligated to when my friends go to bars or places that specialize in beers or other drinks. I don’t really have any interest in getting drunk or buzzed, despite a number of people telling me it feels good.
I feel the same way about this. I’ve heard that to get real Guinness you have to get it in Ireland, so if I ever get to visit I want to be able to drink and enjoy Guinness. Unfortunately my experiences so far suggest that might be unrealistic.
Thanks for all the suggestions so far. I’ll probably be slowly going through them to see if I find anything else I like.
There’s a great tea from Long Island, I always have a mug or two before a long car trip.
Iced?
I think the Salty Dog came first. A Salty Dog without salt isn’t very…well…salty, so folks started playing around with the name: “Well, lemme see…dog names. Well, it’s got vodka and grapefruit juice…hey…grapefruit…gray…I got it! Greyhound!” 
It’s also sometimes called “vodka-grape,” but I’m always worried that, if I ask for something like that, I’m going to get grape juice instead of grapefruit.
Kokopelli, someone else mentioned this earlier, but if you’re experimenting, be very careful with cider! It doesn’t taste alcoholic at all, and on a hot day is very refreshing. So refreshing that you may forget that it packs as much punch as a good cabernet, toss back six or seven, and thus discover that that lovely buzz has tuned into wretched vomiting, followed by that other great drinking tradition: the hangover (yes, as a matter of fact, I do speak from experience on this one!).
Speaking of wine, most neophytes prefer the fruitier reds, such as Shiraz, and the sweeter whites, such as Sauvignon Blanc. If you live where you can go wine tasting, that can be a good way to discover what you do and don’t like. Tell the server that you don’t normally like wine (and be sure to let him/her know what wines you’ve tried)…a good tasting bar server can steer you in the direction of something you may enjoy.
If you’re trying whiskey, you may want to start with Irish rather than with Scotch or Bourbon. Scotch has that peaty taste, and bourbon can taste downright burnt…something that people new to drinking whiskey (and some of us who aren’t so new to it!) find off-putting. Irish whiskey tends to be very smooth and slightly sweet, which makes it an easier introduction to the world of whiskeys.
Redwolf
Being from Long Island, I’d never ever heard of Long Island Iced Tea until moving to California. But I hear it goes well with Corned Beef and Cabbage.
Either will kill you just fine on its own. But, if you want to be certain, yeah. 