Usually social stigma and context. Fireball has less proof that regular whiskey and it's flavored so generally it's preferred by younger/less experienced drinkers, because of that it's just associated as a college shot that people should "grow out of". To your 2nd point I think stigma answers as well, a long island iced tea has a ton of liquor in it but is still a lot of times seen as a drink only garbage people drink. At the end of the day, just drink what you like.

>gendered?

That always reminds me of the old Kids in the Hall skit, Girl Drink Drunk

So usually I would agree with you but fireball is really disgusting so for the most part the only people who drink it are people who just haven't experienced enough different types of drinks.

I've literally never met someone who drank it that didn't also see it as a punishment for themselves/friends making them drink more of it via drinking games etc. That dumb "drinking to actually try to hurt yourself and others" mindset is one you rarely see live past those younger years of drinking.

Some of it definitely comes from baseless macho shit of "My drink stronger/Taste more different"

Fireball and other "cheap" liquor and drinks tend to be "tied to an age" due to price vs experience from the drink. Fireball is low quality whisky, and extremely cheap by comparison to other whiskeys, so it's associated with broke college kids who just want to be drunk, not enjoy their drink. Similar to how people will go "A fuckin 4Loko? Are you a junior in college?". They're ultra cheap, taste like battery acid, and are really just there to be very high ABV.

TL;DR cheap "shitty" (Be it actually shitty or pecieved to be on average) alcohol is what underage and desperate people buy to get shredded, people don't like that association sometimes

liquor that's really cheap, has a reputation for tasting terrible = young

fruity = not serious = girly!

the gender one is a combination of two things. one some hang ups about how certain kinds of mixed drinks aren't "serious". this is a palette thing, where the more the alcohol flavour isn't overpowered or disguised, somehow the more serious it is. these people feel self important for their palette essentially. the other part is that these drinks tend to be quite pretty. they tend to be colorful and have cute decorations like little umbrellas and we all know men are stripped of their manhood if they come in contact with a decorative umbrella

the gender one is fucking goofy. the idea that women don't know fine liquor is silly, the idea that drinks with flavour added are more serious is silly, the uses that colourful umbrellas are girl is silly. the funniest part is the number of men who spend time drinking alcohol they don't like the flavour of just to be "serious". lmao bro that's sad

the age idea is partially about their palette, but also mostly about the notion that young people tend to drink for the sake of drinking because it's just become available to them. they tend to not have a lot of experience with liquors, they tend to be drinking in high quantities (if they're partying), and they tend to have little money. so they tend to go for the cheapest stuff and either not care about how awful it tastes OR they become accustomed to the taste and like it.

there's some truth to the age one because if you have an option other than everclear or fireball, you'll usually take it

fireball is one of the most contentious ones because everyone either hates the taste and thinks it's the worst thing they've ever encountered on earth or they love it. Ive heard multiple car mechanics swear fireball tastes exactly like coolant

oh and it has an exceptionally strong smell so everyone KNOWS if you're drinking fireball. i one walked into dive bar that had fireball on tap and damn that place had a..... unique smell

Fireball and Rumpleminze, if I smell rumple now I'll get nauseous