For the last 6 months I worked part time as a volunteer in a social organisation trying to help drug addicts and alcoholics.

As far as alcoholics are concerned I was astonished. I can only offer my private statistic. About 1/3rd don't like the taste of alcohol.

To them, alcohol is an escape from a world that in wich they can not find their place and can not deliver what a highly competitive economy asks of them. So, even after a big hangover, they percieve the world as unfriendly and harsh as before, something they can't really cope with. So, back to the bottle, escaping a world they can not mentally relate to.

Mostly, alcoholism is classified as a "chemical dependency". I believe it's high time we classify a good part of alcohol dependency as a mental dependency. Long overdue.

My father was an alcoholic, so you are right. There is more to it than just the taste.