Synthehol is, after all, a portmanteau of artificial and alcohol. The identify implies that it’s an alcohol-like beverage that possesses none of its intoxicating results. In the event you’re within the temper for a gin & tonic after a tough shift on the bridge, you may go to the cookhouse, or maybe Ten Ahead, and chug one down and never really feel tipsy or expertise any liver injury. In my headcanon, the pretend booze would possibly replicate the warming feeling of alcohol as effectively.
Notably, synthehol wasn’t in vogue till the times of “The Subsequent Technology,” when it was first talked about in dialogue. Because of the character of “Star Trek” canon, one can posit that synthehol existed within the authentic sequence however was not talked about. This tracks when one takes into consideration an article in Star Trek: Communicator Journal whereby Trek creator Gene Roddenberry said that synthehol was invented by the Ferengi, a species not encountered in earnest till the twenty fourth century.
The flavour of synthehol is, evidently, very completely different from the real article. Picard (Patrick Stewart) was accused by his brother Robert (Jeremy Kemp) within the episode “Household” (Octover 1, 1990) of shedding his style for good wine after consuming an excessive amount of of the synthesized selection. Within the episode “Relics” (October 12, 1992), Scotty was retrieved from a transporter buffer after being trapped inside it for 75 years. Scotty, used to having actual alcohol in his quarters, is fed some synthesized scotch, which he instantly rejects. Actual drinkers, it appears, know the distinction. By “Star Trek: Picard,” the title character was again to creating actual wine in his household winery.
Sure, one can purchase bottles of Château Picard in actual life.
Synthehol, it appears, allowed for a brand new layer of booze snobbery within the twenty fourth century.