How to taste beyond the alcohol? And how do you drink from a rocks glass?

I’m talking about things like Black Russians, rusty nails, etc. where the drinks are usually 3 parts liquor and 1 part liqueur. Straight alcohol. Do you just sip it? I feel like my brain is trained from shots to just shoot it back.

I’ve only recently started drinking. I had gone through a bartending school for home mixing. Hoping I could be more alcohol friendly for guests. And I’m getting into mixing my own concoctions which are a ton of fun. I don’t really like the taste of alcohol. I enjoyed stuff that was mixer heavy, and I’m impartial to neat liquor shots. Just feels like quickly swallowing alcohol, not much taste there.

But when it comes to drinks like a rusty nail, my brain is getting mixed signals. I’ve been drinking it like I’m taking shots of little sips rolling it back on my tongue. It’s too strong on the liquor for me, but letting it go back on my tongue lets me get some of that liqueur in there. It tastes alright, but the taste is like dipping your tongue in a bottle cap of juice. It’s just a little bit. Or do you guys grow a tolerance to swish this shit around in your mouth?

Even straight whiskey shots, I have to taste it via the aftertaste, just tastes like straight alcohol to me when it’s going down.

I see people talking about this alcohol is sweeter, this one have notes of xyz. I can only really taste liqueurs, all the base liquors taste mostly the same aside from aftertaste. And I’m confused if I’m even drinking correctly.