I’ll immediately taste the bitter alcohol flavor

I think this might be genetic.

I have one of those "bitter super-taster" genes which means that I taste bitterness in things ~80% of people don't, and things that people do generally think of as bitter might be overwhelmingly so for me, and for me some artificial sweeteners definitely do taste bitter. Not all of them though, so eg. stevia is fine. There's probably a ton of different mutations that can cause you to taste things differently

You are not alone. I've never tried but I bet I could taste just a few granules of fake sugar in a glass of water. I notice it in anything it's in, regardless of the amount.

It’s genetic. I feel the same way, aspartame tastes like filmy chemically shit to me. I also can’t stand cilantro, how bout you?

Maybe there’s correlation

Generally agreed, but there's a select few products that manage to use those sweeteners without hitting you with that chemistry-experiment-gone-wrong taste.

I think most products that use artificials just do a 1-for-1 of sugar either in amount or whatever metric for 'sweetness' they use, and ignore the other flavors.

My hypothesis is that manufacturers that use them either haven't figured out or don't care to use them correctly; people buy the hell out of it cuz low calorie, so I guess there's not as much incentive to perfect the flavor? ...and that the few exceptions - the ones that actually taste good - are just happy accidents lol.

All the fake sugars taste off and I can never put my finger on it . It always starts as "this is really sweet” then "what's that god awful aftertaste?" So much so that I prefer seltzers and the like and are not sweetened by anything . Not alone in this but we are very much a minority

I started noticing after I stopped drinking alcohol. Especially with sweeteners that are literally an alcohol, like maltitol. It tastes like they put rubbing alcohol in it.

I've always felt these regulations was a bit toothless when companies could get away with "Chocolatey Chips" instead of "Chocolate Chips", and the average consumer would be none the wiser to the word dance that's going on here. But I am glad they exist at all.

Re: American Cheese, Nile Red actually made some: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aGNAxN5Z-o

Don't forget, cheese product, any time they add a word like product, it means that it's not what you think it is.

Frozen dairy dessert!

Check out the new wyngz in the frozen food section!

I find them bitter and way too sweet. I don't like stevia but it's the one not sugar sweetener I can at least tolerate.

My husband finds artificial sweeteners bitter as well, including stevia. I don’t. I wouldn’t doubt if there’s something genetic at play.

I was just speculating about this in another comment. I've got one of those "bitter super-taster" genes and I definitely have the same hunch

weirdly i have never found artificial sweeteners to be bitter despite being extremely over the top sensitive to bitterness, my only issue is that companies tend to use significantly too much or not balance it out with other tastes.

But generally at this point most stuff with artificial sweetener in it is perfectly fine, after getting used to it i now find soda with actual sugar in it to taste a bit strange.

One of us!

I'm also at the point where I have to look at the ingredients before I buy sweets, otherwise it's a pipeline from the grocery store to the food bank.

The old sweetener was Ace-K, acesulfame potassium, I'm pretty sure.

I don't mind the taste of Aspartame, but I've noticed I get bad headaches when having too much foods with Aspartame, so I tend to avoid it. The occasional pop is okay, but much more is too much.

Hopefully Monk Fruit stays trendy, it's my favourite tasting of the sugar substitutes. Splenda is okay too. Not great, not terrible,

That's why I only eat food that's not made out of chemicals. Conceptual food that is. I just ate the idea of a hamburger

Yeah stevia is bitter, or rather especially the aftertaste. I feel it only makes sense if what you are sweetening is bitter, like coffee/tea.

Straight erythritol isnt bitter, but it's not as sweet as sugar and has quite a cooling effect. But I actually use straight erythritol as a near-zero calorie sprinkle on toast and oatmeal.