Question: Flu and Palate

I am fighting some dreadful bug. Flu? Who knows-painful, dry, nonproductive cough, exhaustion, piercing headache.

Anyway...I was stubborn and still went to dinner with wine. I know a Kermit Lynch label Beaujolais is not supposed to taste like medicinal cough syrup-and even the Chablis tasted harsh and blaring.

Any thoughts/history on virus and palate? Or...is this a silly topic that is too obvious for comment?

I generally do not drink when I feel like that. For me, it's just a waste of money. All I can taste is the alcohol. I might as well go to the medicine cabinet and take a swig of rubbing alcohol, I'd never be able to tell the difference (except in the latter case, my wife would be taking me into the emergency room).

Norm

I generally do not drink when I feel like that. For me, it's just a waste of money. All I can taste is the alcohol. I might as well go to the medicine cabinet and take a swig of rubbing alcohol, I'd never be able to tell the difference (except in the latter case, my wife would be taking me into the emergency room).

Norm

That would have to be a pretty big swig, Norm!

Likely you'd just intensify the symptoms you already had. And get a very fruity breath from the acetones you'd be giving off. But it would take more than a swig of isopropyl to put you in the emergency room.

You're thinking of wood alcohol. Or really bad moonshine.

Hoke (who is preempting the inevitable arrival of our resident chem geek, Mr. Lipton)

painful, dry, nonproductive cough, exhaustion, piercing headache.

All of these can influence your mood and your perception of wine, but for me the big issue is always whether or not my nose is stuffed. If I can't smell properly then I can't taste properly and I don't open wine. End of story.

If I'm that ill, I stay home so I don't pass my misery to everyone else.

If I'm that ill, I stay home so I don't pass my misery to everyone else.

True...but I needed to get away from the apartment (Max-RIP) and after five days, I am no longer contagious, so...

I would almost rather break a leg than catch a cold, or worse, the flu. Do you have a fever? If not, it's just a bad cold.

I used to lecture WLDGers on how never to catch a cold. Simply, never, under any circumstances, touch your nose or eyes without first washing your hands - and that includes blowing your nose on paper. Viruses sail right through tissue or napkins. This is very hard to train yourself to do, but when you get the hang of it, you will never get another cold, unless someone coughs or sneezes into your face. I think you can eat cold viruses with impunity.

After the horse is out of the barn, you are cooked. I admit I screwed up this year after four successful years. I had forgotten that I had just gone to the store and touched my nose without first washing my hands. I said, crap, I deserve one, and two days later I got one. I just drank plonk that somehow got into my cellar and waited out the ten days. Everything will taste like crap or not at all.

Agree with the others. If I am stuffed up, have a sore throat, or just feel crummy, I pass on the wine. Just doesn't come across right. Covert gives good advice about handwashing - not a 100% guarantee against getting infected but a major risk reducer.

Likely you'd just intensify the symptoms you already had. And get a very fruity breath from the acetones you'd be giving off. But it would take more than a swig of isopropyl to put you in the emergency room.

You're thinking of wood alcohol. Or really bad moonshine.

Hoke (who is preempting the inevitable arrival of our resident chem geek, Mr. Lipton)

From the redoubtable Merck Index: "100 ml can be fatal." So, yes, it'd take a very big slug. And, yes, methanol (wood alcohol) is far more toxic, putting me in mind of the old ditty:

We never stagger
We never fall
We sober up on
Wood alcohol
While our loyal friends go marching
Back to the bars for more

(sung to the tune of the Notre Dame Fight Song)

Mark Lipton

Rubbing alcohol (isopropanol) causes severe digestive upset. You'd probably end up barfing it all back up again.

Regarding flu and palate, one severe bout of flu completely knocked out my sense of smell. But it was New Year's Eve, so I bought take-out dinner (I was to ill to cook) at the best local Chinese restaurant and opened a bottle of Champagne anyway. The Champagne had no aroma at all and merely tasted very sour. The wonderful stir-fry tasted like salty cardboard. It was very depressing.

-Paul W.

[David M. Bueker]

The last time I had cold & flu (and double ear infection at hte same time) was on a business trip to...wait for it...France! 4 days in France when I could smell or taste exactly nothing.

I said, crap, I deserve one, and two days later I got one.

See, sometimes guilt is not a bad thing: keeps us on the straight and narrow.


I am progressing through a bad illness at the moment but this wasn't the typical flu where smells/tastes are whacked, just the constant dry cough and phlegm, so I can actually still taste wine. As I say, my food would miss it.

Likely you'd just intensify the symptoms you already had. And get a very fruity breath from the acetones you'd be giving off. But it would take more than a swig of isopropyl to put you in the emergency room.

You're thinking of wood alcohol. Or really bad moonshine.

Hoke (who is preempting the inevitable arrival of our resident chem geek, Mr. Lipton)

From the redoubtable Merck Index: "100 ml can be fatal." So, yes, it'd take a very big slug. And, yes, methanol (wood alcohol) is far more toxic, putting me in mind of the old ditty:

We never stagger
We never fall
We sober up on
Wood alcohol
While our loyal friends go marching
Back to the bars for more

(sung to the tune of the Notre Dame Fight Song)

Mark Lipton

To the tune of??? Heck, I always thought that was the Notre Dame Fight Song.