The juice thing is one of the few things in this story I can’t suspend my belief on (and yes, I’m aware of what I’m saying). Just… I have NEVER heard of that happening. Kids sneaking it on purpose, yes (I did when I was 11 at a wedding). But these two randos just not doing anything? Noooope.
I believe it. They were presented with something totally outside their experience in a damned-if-you-do-damned-if-you-don’t context. She refused their orders not to touch the stuff. What, exactly, where they supposed to do next? Physically restrain her?
An actively defiant child is something most non-caregivers don’t have to deal with very often. Teachers, parents, babysitters, they probably have good coping mechanisms — including the guts to restrain first, worry about the reactions of others later. Those two were in over their heads, panicked, and did the classic dithering reaction of absolutely nothing.
I was drinking cranberry juice at a bar when I was younger. I put my drink down on a table and walked away for a bit. Some idiot put their mixed drink down next to my juice.
Yes, I guessed wrong. I can say from experience that this would NEVER happen. She would have gagged the moment she felt the alcohol. No amount of defiant determination would take that away.
I´m not so sure Amanda was drinking it for the taste. More like she was drinking it because those (to her) stupid jerk grown-ups were telling her not to.
My dad used to give me sips of his wine when I was as young as 5. I loved the flavour (though hated sherry, which with the sweetness you’d think I would have liked more, and beer was even worse), and I’d always try to suck up as big of a sip as I could before he pulled it away, then swish it around in my mouth for as long as I could before swallowing. I’d do the same thing taking communion at church. I didn’t even know what ‘drunk’ was, and certainly wasn’t trying to get there, I just loved the taste.
Alcohol, like all food and beverages, is subjective.
Agreed. It still bothers me. Unless alcohol somehow tastes significantly different in this universe compared to ours it just makes no sense Amanda would accidentally get drunk on wine.
Chianti? Bitter as hell, ain’t no kid gonna drink several glasses of that.
Cabernet Sauvignon? To me, fairly sweet, but to someone that does not drink wine, still fairly bitter. Again, I don’t believe a kid will down swveral glasses.
I had a sweet riesling once that literally tasted like white grape juice. It was hilarious and terrible, at least by my taste. Nothing wrong with being an adult who likes grape juice if that’s your thing, but if I wanted grape juice, I wouldn’t have bought wine! (I bought the sweet riesling to try next to a dry one; I hadn’t realized that “sweet” meant “sweet even compared to regular riesling” or I’d have gotten regular, instead. Usually I much prefer dry whites.) Lambrusco, moscato…same thing. They really don’t taste like wine at all..I know they *are,* of course, but they’re just too dang sweet for me!
Have you ever had moscato wine. Its really sweet and not dry and really does taste like grape juice only better. Plus i know you can get it wine box cheep cause they carry it in Aldis groceries and it was only $2. So i can totally believe it.
I bought a bottle of Ice Wine, can’t remember the name but I bought it just to say I drank anything called Ice Wine. It was pretty good but I didn’t taste any alcohol. It tasted just like white grape juice with apricots.
no surprise, ICE wine means the grapes were left on the plant until first freeze, meaning they´re not only overripe but also shriveled in, almost raisin-like….its meant as dessert wine. and its so bloody expensive both cause its a huge risk to leave the grapes that long, if you don´t get an early freezy but rather a wet fall the stuff simply rotts on the stalks and because the almost-raisins don´t yield much juice.
Icewine is delicious stuff, but pricey, for the reasons Peya Luna mentions. I managed to find it at Aldi for $11—I think—for a half-size bottle (375 mL).
But yes, moscato is similarly sweet, as is kosher wine (most notably Manischewitz)… which actually seems to be *sweeter* than grape juice.
Ah, but you forget how stubborn Amanda is.
She said she wanted some juice, which they denied her; so of COURSE she would have it anyway, no matter the taste.
You’ve never gotten a surprise alcoholic beverage as a child, have you? I can say from experience that she would have immediately gagged and forgot about proving the adults wrong the second that stuff hit her tongue.
It just can’t happen. Alcohol is really awful when you’re aren’t expecting it, much less a child too.
I can believe in two bartenders at the vernissage allowing a kid to drink the liquor – this summer there was a “Broadway Summer Camp” at my church which was supposed to be practicing dance moves in the gymnasium but which somehow ended up in the sanctuary, under the supervision of one approximately twenty-year-old summer counselor/acting instructor who didn’t see anything wrong with the kids amusing themselves by playing simultaneous games of pitch and catch over the altar while they waited for the music teacher to return…
Yes but even at an event like that the bartenders would have to have a liquor license – and would be responsible (in addition to the facility) for paying a *huge* fine and losing their license for allowing a minor to have alcohol, to say nothing of that much. So no way. Irresponsible, yes – but to have that much $$ and no more job, probably not.
No, the “bartenders” would not need a liquor license. I used to work through a temp agency as a cater/waiter. Waitressing and bartending at catered events. If the alcohol being served is not being charged for, free drinks being a common perk of going to a gallery opening, not only do you not need a liquor license, you don’t even need actual bartenders. Many events like this just take two of their employees or even two volunteers to man the refreshments table. Bartending in this situation generally devolves to asking “red or white sir?”. Now, would the owner of the gallery be in trouble if minors were intentionally being served there? Yes, of course, so would the people doing the pouring. In a case like this though? Highly doubtful any charges would be leveled against anyone other than the parent who could be dealing with a claim of neglect from social services.
Hmm… I think maybe the guys didn’t want any more trouble with that girl. You know, two male strangers (one that looks “suspicious”) touching a little girl who is out for trouble? Yeah, I can see some misunderstandings which would cause them even more trouble…
When I was 9, I got drunk from eating a piece of homemade rum cake. When I was 10 and my brother was 8, we had spiked punch at an African Violet Society meeting. I didn’t like the taste, but he did. IIRC he had 3 or 4 little paper cups of it. He also loved spicy stuff. WheN he was 2 or 3, our mom tried to stop him sucking his thumb by putting Tobasco sauce on it. He stuck his thumb in his mouth, looking contemplative, then snatched the bottle out of her hand and sprinkled more on his thumb!
way to ruin your image as a responsible mom, andi!
also, am i the only one who thinks its hilarious that of course amanda wants meatballs the moment slkie gets something special/extra? even with a bunch of chocolate cookies straight from the oven in front of her she´s still jealous of everything fish-face gets…..lets see her try this atitude when it comes to raw fish 😉
then again, amanda is that stubborn, she´d probably eat raw eels eyes just so selkie won´t get them.
Partially defensible but she wasn’t watching Amanda at an event where alcohol was being served. Also Amanda acted like a brat and ignored what the adults in charge told her. And is new at this but she needs to be teaching Amanda to behave. But I’ll give Andi a partial pass simply because the whole scenario wherein Amanda got drunk is completely unbelievable anyway.
I was briefly surprised that Mari hadn’t heard the story, but then remembered her opinion of Andi. NOT the kind of story that Todd would be eager to break out when Mari’s so…FIRM…in her dislike of Andi.
Have you ever drunk grape juice that had been left out all night? It tastes vaguely like wine. Amanda’s from an orphanage. How often do you think that’s happened to her?
I am ridiculously sensitive to the taste of alcohol. There are lots of flavors of wine that don’t taste very much like alcohol. We don’t know what kind of wine was served at the gallery. All we know about it is that it was served in a box. So, alcohol taste might not have been there, and rotten grape juice is something she’s probably had so many times she thinks that’s normal. Where exactly is the surprise taste that would have her spitting it out?
Wine is NOT vodka. Wine is NOT whiskey. Wine is NOT rum. Wine does NOT have that much alcohol content. For someone whose taste is not very sensitive to alcohol (which I know plenty of people who never taste the alcohol in a type of wine wine where I’m tasting it after half a glass), the alcohol taste would not become strong until AFTER she’s tipsy enough to not care about it.
Just because you’ve never tried a type of wine other than those that would be very obviously alcoholic and rotten grapes at the very first taste doesn’t mean types of wine that don’t do that don’t exist.
This is also true. Box wine can contain less than 2% alcohol. However, considering the venue is an art gallery with very expensive pieces, it would surprise me that they wouldn’t want something stronger than that.
This is and art gallery that is highlighting newer artists who have not yet made it big. The free alcohol at an event like this is more likely to be the cheap stuff. They aren’t going to break out the good stuff at a free bar unless we’re talking serious money and that’s more likely to be an invite only event.
It’s also a daytime casual public showing. Three buck Chuck tastes good and is cheap. I’m sure the nigttime formal showing probably has expensive champagne.
Once, when I was about Amanda’s age, I walked into the living room to find my mom reading a book with a glass of what I thought was Coca-Cola sitting on the endtable next to her. Mom didn’t allow us to drink a lot of soda, so it was always a treat. I grabbed the glass and took a big swallow. It tasted a little strange but not that bad. I was about to drink more when mom looked up, snatched the glass, and said, “Honey, that’s coke with rum. It’s only for adults.”
I didn’t throw up or anything but I got a little dizzy and mom had me lie down in bed.
Ergo, I’m more than willing to believe that Amanda could accidentally drink enough wine to get a wee bit drunk. (“Hey, this juice kind of tastes funny!”) I’ve been to a bunch of those types of events and sometimes the “wine” is cheap sangria or sweet red wine, which definitely tastes like fruit juice that has just gone a little “off.”
I honestly don’t think Mari is going to be that upset once she knows the entire story, especially given that she probably has a lot of similar stories about Todd! I think every parent has a couple of these “oops!” kind of stories. 😉
Is it even possible to get drunk from rum cake? My dog ate an entire rum cake once and she didn’t get drunk (no, we didn’t feed it to her. She got to it when we weren’t home.) I thought most of the alcohol was cooked out of it.
Yeah, most of it is cooked out. But for some people that is not enough so they soak it in rum before serving to make sure everyone is blitzed after one slice.
Uh oh…I don’t think Mari’s gonna take more stress. :/
The juice thing is one of the few things in this story I can’t suspend my belief on (and yes, I’m aware of what I’m saying). Just… I have NEVER heard of that happening. Kids sneaking it on purpose, yes (I did when I was 11 at a wedding). But these two randos just not doing anything? Noooope.
I believe it. They were presented with something totally outside their experience in a damned-if-you-do-damned-if-you-don’t context. She refused their orders not to touch the stuff. What, exactly, where they supposed to do next? Physically restrain her?
An actively defiant child is something most non-caregivers don’t have to deal with very often. Teachers, parents, babysitters, they probably have good coping mechanisms — including the guts to restrain first, worry about the reactions of others later. Those two were in over their heads, panicked, and did the classic dithering reaction of absolutely nothing.
I was drinking cranberry juice at a bar when I was younger. I put my drink down on a table and walked away for a bit. Some idiot put their mixed drink down next to my juice.
Yes, I guessed wrong. I can say from experience that this would NEVER happen. She would have gagged the moment she felt the alcohol. No amount of defiant determination would take that away.
Wine just tastes so bad in general that i dont think someone with a kid’s tastes could really stomach it if they werent expecting it.
I´m not so sure Amanda was drinking it for the taste. More like she was drinking it because those (to her) stupid jerk grown-ups were telling her not to.
My dad used to give me sips of his wine when I was as young as 5. I loved the flavour (though hated sherry, which with the sweetness you’d think I would have liked more, and beer was even worse), and I’d always try to suck up as big of a sip as I could before he pulled it away, then swish it around in my mouth for as long as I could before swallowing. I’d do the same thing taking communion at church. I didn’t even know what ‘drunk’ was, and certainly wasn’t trying to get there, I just loved the taste.
Alcohol, like all food and beverages, is subjective.
Agreed. It still bothers me. Unless alcohol somehow tastes significantly different in this universe compared to ours it just makes no sense Amanda would accidentally get drunk on wine.
There’s wine, and then there’s wine.
Chianti? Bitter as hell, ain’t no kid gonna drink several glasses of that.
Cabernet Sauvignon? To me, fairly sweet, but to someone that does not drink wine, still fairly bitter. Again, I don’t believe a kid will down swveral glasses.
Boone’s Farm Wild Mountain? Grape soda pop.
I had a sweet riesling once that literally tasted like white grape juice. It was hilarious and terrible, at least by my taste. Nothing wrong with being an adult who likes grape juice if that’s your thing, but if I wanted grape juice, I wouldn’t have bought wine! (I bought the sweet riesling to try next to a dry one; I hadn’t realized that “sweet” meant “sweet even compared to regular riesling” or I’d have gotten regular, instead. Usually I much prefer dry whites.) Lambrusco, moscato…same thing. They really don’t taste like wine at all..I know they *are,* of course, but they’re just too dang sweet for me!
And seconded–Boone’s Farm is, indeed, grape soda.
Have you ever had moscato wine. Its really sweet and not dry and really does taste like grape juice only better. Plus i know you can get it wine box cheep cause they carry it in Aldis groceries and it was only $2. So i can totally believe it.
I bought a bottle of Ice Wine, can’t remember the name but I bought it just to say I drank anything called Ice Wine. It was pretty good but I didn’t taste any alcohol. It tasted just like white grape juice with apricots.
I should mention, that bottle was 80 bucks, so definently not “box wine cheap.”
no surprise, ICE wine means the grapes were left on the plant until first freeze, meaning they´re not only overripe but also shriveled in, almost raisin-like….its meant as dessert wine. and its so bloody expensive both cause its a huge risk to leave the grapes that long, if you don´t get an early freezy but rather a wet fall the stuff simply rotts on the stalks and because the almost-raisins don´t yield much juice.
Icewine is delicious stuff, but pricey, for the reasons Peya Luna mentions. I managed to find it at Aldi for $11—I think—for a half-size bottle (375 mL).
But yes, moscato is similarly sweet, as is kosher wine (most notably Manischewitz)… which actually seems to be *sweeter* than grape juice.
I’ve read that, wine industry rule of thumb, making one bottle of wine requires the grapes from one mature grapevine.
For a bottle of icewine, it takes ten vines.
Ah, but you forget how stubborn Amanda is.
She said she wanted some juice, which they denied her; so of COURSE she would have it anyway, no matter the taste.
You’ve never gotten a surprise alcoholic beverage as a child, have you? I can say from experience that she would have immediately gagged and forgot about proving the adults wrong the second that stuff hit her tongue.
It just can’t happen. Alcohol is really awful when you’re aren’t expecting it, much less a child too.
And yet you couldn’t leave my cousin’s four year old alone with a beer because he would down it if you weren’t paying attention.
I can believe in two bartenders at the vernissage allowing a kid to drink the liquor – this summer there was a “Broadway Summer Camp” at my church which was supposed to be practicing dance moves in the gymnasium but which somehow ended up in the sanctuary, under the supervision of one approximately twenty-year-old summer counselor/acting instructor who didn’t see anything wrong with the kids amusing themselves by playing simultaneous games of pitch and catch over the altar while they waited for the music teacher to return…
“I can believe in two bartenders at the vernissage allowing a kid”
Some people just don’t know how to deal with children. This is the one part I can see happening.
Yes but even at an event like that the bartenders would have to have a liquor license – and would be responsible (in addition to the facility) for paying a *huge* fine and losing their license for allowing a minor to have alcohol, to say nothing of that much. So no way. Irresponsible, yes – but to have that much $$ and no more job, probably not.
No, the “bartenders” would not need a liquor license. I used to work through a temp agency as a cater/waiter. Waitressing and bartending at catered events. If the alcohol being served is not being charged for, free drinks being a common perk of going to a gallery opening, not only do you not need a liquor license, you don’t even need actual bartenders. Many events like this just take two of their employees or even two volunteers to man the refreshments table. Bartending in this situation generally devolves to asking “red or white sir?”. Now, would the owner of the gallery be in trouble if minors were intentionally being served there? Yes, of course, so would the people doing the pouring. In a case like this though? Highly doubtful any charges would be leveled against anyone other than the parent who could be dealing with a claim of neglect from social services.
Hmm… I think maybe the guys didn’t want any more trouble with that girl. You know, two male strangers (one that looks “suspicious”) touching a little girl who is out for trouble? Yeah, I can see some misunderstandings which would cause them even more trouble…
When I was 9, I got drunk from eating a piece of homemade rum cake. When I was 10 and my brother was 8, we had spiked punch at an African Violet Society meeting. I didn’t like the taste, but he did. IIRC he had 3 or 4 little paper cups of it. He also loved spicy stuff. WheN he was 2 or 3, our mom tried to stop him sucking his thumb by putting Tobasco sauce on it. He stuck his thumb in his mouth, looking contemplative, then snatched the bottle out of her hand and sprinkled more on his thumb!
Mari: Drunk again?!?!
Me: ………oh fudge ripple.
way to ruin your image as a responsible mom, andi!
also, am i the only one who thinks its hilarious that of course amanda wants meatballs the moment slkie gets something special/extra? even with a bunch of chocolate cookies straight from the oven in front of her she´s still jealous of everything fish-face gets…..lets see her try this atitude when it comes to raw fish 😉
then again, amanda is that stubborn, she´d probably eat raw eels eyes just so selkie won´t get them.
Well to be honest, I love cookies, but I’d want the meatballs more. I prefer savory snacks over sweet.
Likewise in general, but if good chocolate is involved, it’s a toss-up 🙂
If good chocolate is involved, especially swiss or belgian chocolate, I’m taking it and the meatball. Why choose? 😀
agreed. all that sweet stuff needs some contrast, it usually brings out the flavour even better – see: salted caramel.
Yup, great point
At least the drunk thing is legitimately not Andi’s fault.
And Todd was there, too. So yeah, I don’t see this blowing up into anything much.
Partially defensible but she wasn’t watching Amanda at an event where alcohol was being served. Also Amanda acted like a brat and ignored what the adults in charge told her. And is new at this but she needs to be teaching Amanda to behave. But I’ll give Andi a partial pass simply because the whole scenario wherein Amanda got drunk is completely unbelievable anyway.
Well, this can only get better.
I was briefly surprised that Mari hadn’t heard the story, but then remembered her opinion of Andi. NOT the kind of story that Todd would be eager to break out when Mari’s so…FIRM…in her dislike of Andi.
Thank you Dave for continuing the “Doctor’s orders” to drink tea. Little things that carry through like that are what makes comics so great.
Hey guys,
Have you ever drunk grape juice that had been left out all night? It tastes vaguely like wine. Amanda’s from an orphanage. How often do you think that’s happened to her?
I am ridiculously sensitive to the taste of alcohol. There are lots of flavors of wine that don’t taste very much like alcohol. We don’t know what kind of wine was served at the gallery. All we know about it is that it was served in a box. So, alcohol taste might not have been there, and rotten grape juice is something she’s probably had so many times she thinks that’s normal. Where exactly is the surprise taste that would have her spitting it out?
Wine is NOT vodka. Wine is NOT whiskey. Wine is NOT rum. Wine does NOT have that much alcohol content. For someone whose taste is not very sensitive to alcohol (which I know plenty of people who never taste the alcohol in a type of wine wine where I’m tasting it after half a glass), the alcohol taste would not become strong until AFTER she’s tipsy enough to not care about it.
Just because you’ve never tried a type of wine other than those that would be very obviously alcoholic and rotten grapes at the very first taste doesn’t mean types of wine that don’t do that don’t exist.
This is also true. Box wine can contain less than 2% alcohol. However, considering the venue is an art gallery with very expensive pieces, it would surprise me that they wouldn’t want something stronger than that.
This is and art gallery that is highlighting newer artists who have not yet made it big. The free alcohol at an event like this is more likely to be the cheap stuff. They aren’t going to break out the good stuff at a free bar unless we’re talking serious money and that’s more likely to be an invite only event.
I thought the statue was in the tens of thousands? That’s pretty pricey to me.
It’s also a daytime casual public showing. Three buck Chuck tastes good and is cheap. I’m sure the nigttime formal showing probably has expensive champagne.
Andi may be making a living at her art but she’s not yet in the big league.
Once, when I was about Amanda’s age, I walked into the living room to find my mom reading a book with a glass of what I thought was Coca-Cola sitting on the endtable next to her. Mom didn’t allow us to drink a lot of soda, so it was always a treat. I grabbed the glass and took a big swallow. It tasted a little strange but not that bad. I was about to drink more when mom looked up, snatched the glass, and said, “Honey, that’s coke with rum. It’s only for adults.”
I didn’t throw up or anything but I got a little dizzy and mom had me lie down in bed.
Ergo, I’m more than willing to believe that Amanda could accidentally drink enough wine to get a wee bit drunk. (“Hey, this juice kind of tastes funny!”) I’ve been to a bunch of those types of events and sometimes the “wine” is cheap sangria or sweet red wine, which definitely tastes like fruit juice that has just gone a little “off.”
I honestly don’t think Mari is going to be that upset once she knows the entire story, especially given that she probably has a lot of similar stories about Todd! I think every parent has a couple of these “oops!” kind of stories. 😉
Is it even possible to get drunk from rum cake? My dog ate an entire rum cake once and she didn’t get drunk (no, we didn’t feed it to her. She got to it when we weren’t home.) I thought most of the alcohol was cooked out of it.
Yeah, most of it is cooked out. But for some people that is not enough so they soak it in rum before serving to make sure everyone is blitzed after one slice.
I LOVE those people 😀