"Why do people drink alcohol for the taste?"

Why do people drink alcohol [hard liquor] for the taste? 

The short answer is, they don’t.  They have to push through their initial distaste.  People differ on how long it takes till their reactions change, but change they will.  In the beginning, I think taste is the very last reason.  But taste buds change, your brain changes.  We become connoiseurs, with all of its rituals and cost--after all, "taste" is not only in the taste buds.  It's also in the brain, and so is addiction. (See the addiction factor below).  If we didn’t get a reward, a "buzz" in the case of alcohol, I don’t think wild horses could get us to drink the stuff. 

(That was the short answer.  Read on for the rest.)

It’s a little like coffee and cigarettes in that regard.  At first, cigarettes taste terrible and make you sick.  But a certain number of people will go on to smoke the second one, and the third, and then the rest is history.  Why?  Scientists say nicotine is very, very quickly addicting--perhaps as soon as the first cigarette. There was a famous ad campaign in the 1950s: "Tastes good, like a cigarette should."  And addiction happens below consciousness.  At first, you think something just "tastes good" (when it definitely didn’t the first time).  And then if you try to quit, it just feels like you "want" something, like it would "taste good" to have it.  You "enjoy" it.  But if you don’t have any, that particular "want" turns into "I WANT", and then "I WANT"!  And then into irritability and mental confusion.  It’s hard to do your work when you feel like that.  It’s hard to watch TV.  And, finally, it’s hard to do anything except think about cigarettes.  And you still don’t feel "addicted."  Addiction doesn’t have a "feeling."  Your body is simply unhappy (to say the least).  And coffee--I don’t know of anyone who liked their first cup of coffee, especially if it was black.  But there’s that second effect with both cigarettes and coffee that’s hard to put your finger on but which is powerful enough below a conscious level to get people to use them again and again.  In the case of cigarettes, it’s in spite of smoke in their faces, bad breath, high cost, the opinions of others, the danger of fire, and the many, many terrible health risks.  Coffee doesn’t have many health risks, and it’s a good thing, because people really want to drink it--in spite of the bitter taste.  It has that subtle, powerful effect that is somewhat below consciousness--but your body knows, and it wants that effect again.  Each of these things has its good effect, too.  Alcohol can help people relax, feel more sociable.  It can give you kind of a good feeling when you’re down.  They say wine helps prevent heart attacks.  Coffee and cigarettes are stimulants.  Your brain works faster with caffeine and nicotine.  People use them to stay awake on long drives.  With cigarettes, people have more control over their emotions.  People who smoke can do boring jobs faster and more accurately, like watching a radar screen on a ship for underwater hazards or, in wartime, watching for submarines.  The price for a bit of performance improvement, or staying awake, or not yelling at your mother-in-law is your freedom and your health.  But people don’t know that when they take their first sip or the first drag on a cigarette.