I disagree with Hungary is in a Wine-Beer belt. Although Beer is in par with wine, the spirits (pálinka) is very significant. In the region I born, in every household that had some fruits had the argument whether jam or spirits should be made from the fruit. :)
It used to be the same in Romania (we did tuica and palinca, same as pálinka), but lately people drink mostly beer in the summer and wine or spirits in the winter, it is a highly seasonal pattern.
Same in Bulgaria, beer is very popular in warm seasons and it has a seasonal pattern.
I think such broad generalizations over vast geographical regions are often a bit tainted.
Interesting that alcohol consumption is down ten litres from 2014 to 2016, but that might be because the economy isnt doing too well ; starting with the war in Ukraine.
Hungarians invented the wine/soda combination known as
fröccs and if you feel qualified to name all the various
wine-to-water ratios, then you probably got your degree
in alcohol at a Hungarian pub.
Are any of the fröccs any good? Do you just add soda to the wine or is there a seltzer style dispenser as shown in the illustration?
I don't know if it's because of the wine belt or the warmer climate, but there is definitely a difference in drinking styles between Northern and Southern Europe.
While living in the Northern countries, I've seen an emphasis on the alcohol content and getting as drunk as you can, just for the goal of getting drunk. In Southern countries instead, there is more of an appreciation of what are you actually drinking, its taste and history. People still get very drink, but it's a more mellow experience, as they enjoy this dionysian rite.
Most people in Romania have a beer in the summer as a cold drink, not with the purpose of getting drunk, and wine or spirits in the winter as a social occasion for bonding, also not for getting wasted. There is no social habit here of getting wasted in the weekends and having a bad hangover on Monday morning, but most of my colleagues in Newcastle (UK) do that. Huge difference.
Yes, generally speaking, the northern countries have had very strict restrictions on alcohol, which somehow developed an unhealthy attitude in that, once your job is over on friday, get as drunk as fast as possible, preferably until sunday.
But it's changing - now there's an appreciation of the taste of good wines, craft beers and liquors during the week, although still going hardcore during the weekend.
I don't know if it's for the better, but it's changing.
One, perhaps entirely pseudo scientific, theory is that the mediterranean peoples have been exposed to alcohol for several thousand years, and have had developed a genetic tolerance that the northern Europeans do not yet have.
Compare to the Chinese, who have had alcohol for up to 8000 years, and have developed the anti alcohol "asian flush" gene.
Yes but also, northern countries don't grow wine, and if they do it's very small quantities and generally not a great wine.
It's a rarity to find English, Polish or Danish wine, they exist but are overpriced for what you're getting.
Both beer and spirits are made from grains, which are much easier to grow there as well as easy to import. Thus vodka, whisky, beer.
Although many would disagree, there's way less to appreciate in beer and vodka than it is in wine. Beer doesn't even have distinct recognised regions and for vodka you can't even tell whether it's made from grain, rye or potatoes, unless it's a really bad poorly filtered one.
On the contrary the appreciation culture for whisky is alive and well. In central Europe, lots of home-made spirits from local fruits are made and people like to taste and compare also.
This makes the common mistake of taking country as the unit of analysis. Like just about everywhere on Earth, European countries are too regional to generalize. In Southern Austria, it's beer and schnapps, with a healthy dose of either white or red wine depending on what's best grown locally.
A bit weird, the article refers to "traditional beverages of countries rather than what is most commonly drunk by the populace today", but then uses images compiled from modern consumption data. "consumption (in litres of pure alcohol) in 2010".
Traditional consumption largely follows from soil, and weather, affecting what grows. A less generalized article would be cool, showing cider regions in Germany, France and England as well as wine regions in Germany.
I don't think the generalization to whole countries suits the purported goal of traditional beverages well, nor does the classification of cider as a wine analogue.
Austria's vineyards are concentrated in the eastern portion of the country, right? (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austrian_wine#Wine_regions) That's wine production; is wine consumption also predominantly in the east, or do Austrians drink wine no matter where in the country they live?
I wouldn't be surprised if this was the source for the "historic" map, which to my eyes is entirely fictional and full of prejudice. In Lithuania, we historically have a culture of fruit (and berry) wines, but have been lumped into the "vodka belt".
We don’t have any traditions associated with beer though in Sweden (where I grew up) but we have loads of traditions with schnapps. Schnapps is what we traditionally drink during Midsummer and Christmas, whether or not you drink beer or not during the rest of the holiday is a matter of taste and not tradition.
Light lager and wine is the alcohol we consume recreationally on normal days.
Literally the next image shows that Nordic is not beer-belt today (well 2010) but instead split with Finland and Denmark being beer while Sweden and Norway is wine.
I wonder if there's any research as to why that is.
They are clearly not traditional belts. To my eye they are entirely fictional. There are no sources. Lithuania wouldn't be considered a producer of vodka historically. The "large commercial production" of vodka they mention as a factor is only 100 years old in Lithuania. Historically lithuanians would produce drink fruit and berry wines - generally from their own produce.
I have a feeling that beer is overtaking every other alcoholic beverage in popularity everywhere.
I live in southeastern France. Definitely wine country, lots of reasonably priced, good quality wine is produced here. And while wine is still very popular, a lot of younger people now drink beer. For taste, we have a lot of craft beer shops popping off. And on the opposite end of the spectrum, high alcohol beer is replacing red wine as a cheap way of getting drunk. It is a trend I trend to see everywhere I go.
Interestingly, in France, it looks like rosé wine is making a comeback with women.
It's not clear what was the method to measure this. The article mentions "preferred alcohol," "drinking," "drinking pattern" and "production."
This can be misleading as many comments state below. For example, Romania is a big wine producer, it's most known for wine, but a lot of that wine goes for export.
For drinking, a one liter of vodka equals four liters of wine in terms of alcohol content. So a country that drinks 1.5x more wine in quantity over vodka isn't necessarily getting drunk on wine, because you may order a couple glasses of 2dl wine but hit 6 vodka shots of 0.5dl each so basically your main drink of the night was spirit even though quantity-wise you consumed more wine.
Often times, in central eastern Europe, you order beer which is half a liter but you get several shots with it.
For preferred alcohol, it's kind of like when you ask people if they prefer theatre to cinema, most will answer theatre even though they'll only go to cinema.
Or ask them if they prefer to read Economist or Buzzfeed. Nobody ever answers Buzzfeed, yet it is one of the most read media in the world.
So ask me if I prefer beer or wine, I'll say wine because I do. But when I go out I'll have a beer because it's cheaper allows me to sit in the pub much longer without getting drunk too fast and everyone else drinks it too.
This is hard to measure. But overall for main countries like Spain, UK, Germany, France, Italy, Russia etc. it's seems to be correct.
The correct way to measure this, in my opinion would be to measure which beverage delivers the most alcohol content for the said population for that will be its preferred alcoholic beverage.
I'm a bit sad our vodka culture in Poland is dying. A lot of people just replace it with drinking beer, usually cheap and terrible.
That doesn't necessary mean that heavy drinkers suddenly drink less alcohol (as some vodka-opponents would claim). They just drink longer/faster to ingest the same amount of pure alcohol in the night.
Even though we have a long history of moonshine, especially in the rural areas, we are most def. a beer-drinking country.
If anything, our taste of alcohol is more diverse than ever before, simply because there are more options.
When I grew up, people either drank beer or moonshine, because that's the only things we had available in my small village. Then the (state owned) alcohol store arrived, and moonshine completely disappeared.
I remember the first time I visited Russia, in the 90s, and was set back by the sheer amount of Vodka the Russians drank. Went to a party, and couldn't find a single beer. They were all drinking straight vodka. But IIRC, they've now been "westernized" on that front, and drink much more beer.
The article points out that Scotland actually falls into the spirit-drinking countries - typically whisky. Unsurprisingly this is almost entirely related to the climate of the countries and the crops that could traditionally be grown.
One of the things I have noticed among immigrants from Eastern Europe is that very few of them drink much, if at all. It seems to be some kind of class thing. So it’s not surprising that in some of the wealthier Eastern European countries spirits are losing favor to beer
As an immigrant from deep inside the Vodka belt (Russia), it's not a class thing. Over there this is just how you hang out with friends, whether you like it or not. Not drinking vodka invites ridicule and jokes about you being in poor health (the only acceptable excuse to not drink vodka). Moreover, if you're a businessman, your business will often require you to get blackout drunk with partners. Like it or not, nobody gives a shit. "We drank vodka together" carries the same weight as "we broke bread together" might elsewhere as far as closeness, trust, and friendship is concerned.
Here in the US I haven't had vodka in years. The US right now has such great beer that drinking any other alcoholic beverage should be illegal. Possibly the very best anywhere in the world. Not even Germany/Austria/England come anywhere close to what you can buy on the US West Coast.
Even in Russia though the attitudes are changing. Anecdotally, meeting with my university friends a year ago we drank only beer, and they said they mostly drink wine (beer in Russia is pretty bad still, although the situation is improving).
It's different drinks for different occasions. Young people meeting friends in pubs or discos don't drink wódka (usually) - they drink beer. And if they do drink wódka it's only a few shots beetwen beers.
Alcoholics drink hard spirits or cheap "fruit wine" if they are poor.
Everybody drink vodka (and wine, and beer, but wódka is the tradition) on big occasions like marriage or other big family meetings. But getting wasted isn't cool and very few people drink too much usually.
Really? I've never been as hung over as the day after I was drinking vodka with my polish counterpart software developers. Granted, they were still living in Poland, so not really immigrants, but they were probably amongst the 5-10% highest paid people in the country.
Everyone I know from Eastern Europe likes to drink Vodka, Cognac, Brandy (Plum), etc. They'll drink a beer if there is no food being served but I've noticed that when they picnic/bring out a bite or have feasts that a bottle of Vodka is on the table with shot glasses. If there is going to be serious drinking they bring out the Samohon or the moonshine of the Region.
Beer is more common in Spain among the youth imo (own subjective experience), what's different to Germany is that young people pass litros (1l bottles) around like joints. Lips don't don't touch the bottle when you drink..
After searching for "Alcohol Belts of North America" unsuccessfully, I'm wondering if there really isn't a trend in North America (perhaps a bit of everything, everywhere?).
[+] [-] aries1980|6 years ago|reply
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%C3%A1linka https://welovebudapest.com/en/2015/02/20/19-signs-you-learne...
[+] [-] babuskov|6 years ago|reply
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rakia
The "belts" seems like made up thing, bending the actual facts to fit someone's story.
[+] [-] AdrianB1|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] boomboomsubban|6 years ago|reply
>However, the general definition tends to include the following states as significant producers and consumers of vodka
Hungary doesn't fit that definition, and brandy favoring states would be considered part of the wine belt.
[+] [-] MichaelMoser123|6 years ago|reply
I think such broad generalizations over vast geographical regions are often a bit tainted.
Interesting that alcohol consumption is down ten litres from 2014 to 2016, but that might be because the economy isnt doing too well ; starting with the war in Ukraine.
[+] [-] wozniacki|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] aledalgrande|6 years ago|reply
While living in the Northern countries, I've seen an emphasis on the alcohol content and getting as drunk as you can, just for the goal of getting drunk. In Southern countries instead, there is more of an appreciation of what are you actually drinking, its taste and history. People still get very drink, but it's a more mellow experience, as they enjoy this dionysian rite.
Did anybody else have the same experience?
[+] [-] AdrianB1|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] exlurker|6 years ago|reply
But it's changing - now there's an appreciation of the taste of good wines, craft beers and liquors during the week, although still going hardcore during the weekend.
I don't know if it's for the better, but it's changing.
[+] [-] davidw|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] BurningFrog|6 years ago|reply
Compare to the Chinese, who have had alcohol for up to 8000 years, and have developed the anti alcohol "asian flush" gene.
[+] [-] michalu|6 years ago|reply
It's a rarity to find English, Polish or Danish wine, they exist but are overpriced for what you're getting.
Both beer and spirits are made from grains, which are much easier to grow there as well as easy to import. Thus vodka, whisky, beer.
Although many would disagree, there's way less to appreciate in beer and vodka than it is in wine. Beer doesn't even have distinct recognised regions and for vodka you can't even tell whether it's made from grain, rye or potatoes, unless it's a really bad poorly filtered one.
On the contrary the appreciation culture for whisky is alive and well. In central Europe, lots of home-made spirits from local fruits are made and people like to taste and compare also.
[+] [-] drjesusphd|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|6 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] golemiprague|6 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] alangibson|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ratmice|6 years ago|reply
Traditional consumption largely follows from soil, and weather, affecting what grows. A less generalized article would be cool, showing cider regions in Germany, France and England as well as wine regions in Germany.
I don't think the generalization to whole countries suits the purported goal of traditional beverages well, nor does the classification of cider as a wine analogue.
[+] [-] xanipher|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] EForEndeavour|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] martythemaniak|6 years ago|reply
https://atlasofprejudice.com/tearing-europe-apart-10d01e876e...
[+] [-] supermatt|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nabla9|6 years ago|reply
Nordic countries would be in the beer belt today, for example.
[+] [-] pimmen|6 years ago|reply
Light lager and wine is the alcohol we consume recreationally on normal days.
[+] [-] Gwypaas|6 years ago|reply
I wonder if there's any research as to why that is.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Alcohol_belts_of_Europe...
[+] [-] supermatt|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] GuB-42|6 years ago|reply
I live in southeastern France. Definitely wine country, lots of reasonably priced, good quality wine is produced here. And while wine is still very popular, a lot of younger people now drink beer. For taste, we have a lot of craft beer shops popping off. And on the opposite end of the spectrum, high alcohol beer is replacing red wine as a cheap way of getting drunk. It is a trend I trend to see everywhere I go.
Interestingly, in France, it looks like rosé wine is making a comeback with women.
[+] [-] michalu|6 years ago|reply
This can be misleading as many comments state below. For example, Romania is a big wine producer, it's most known for wine, but a lot of that wine goes for export.
For drinking, a one liter of vodka equals four liters of wine in terms of alcohol content. So a country that drinks 1.5x more wine in quantity over vodka isn't necessarily getting drunk on wine, because you may order a couple glasses of 2dl wine but hit 6 vodka shots of 0.5dl each so basically your main drink of the night was spirit even though quantity-wise you consumed more wine.
Often times, in central eastern Europe, you order beer which is half a liter but you get several shots with it.
For preferred alcohol, it's kind of like when you ask people if they prefer theatre to cinema, most will answer theatre even though they'll only go to cinema.
Or ask them if they prefer to read Economist or Buzzfeed. Nobody ever answers Buzzfeed, yet it is one of the most read media in the world.
So ask me if I prefer beer or wine, I'll say wine because I do. But when I go out I'll have a beer because it's cheaper allows me to sit in the pub much longer without getting drunk too fast and everyone else drinks it too.
This is hard to measure. But overall for main countries like Spain, UK, Germany, France, Italy, Russia etc. it's seems to be correct.
The correct way to measure this, in my opinion would be to measure which beverage delivers the most alcohol content for the said population for that will be its preferred alcoholic beverage.
[+] [-] odiroot|6 years ago|reply
That doesn't necessary mean that heavy drinkers suddenly drink less alcohol (as some vodka-opponents would claim). They just drink longer/faster to ingest the same amount of pure alcohol in the night.
[+] [-] flurdy|6 years ago|reply
Would a glass of wine at lunch seem odd?
Would a beer with your lunchtime burger seem out of place?
Would a glass or two of vodka between colleagues be quite normal?
In that case, I suspect some countries would be more "prude belt"...
[+] [-] TrackerFF|6 years ago|reply
Even though we have a long history of moonshine, especially in the rural areas, we are most def. a beer-drinking country.
If anything, our taste of alcohol is more diverse than ever before, simply because there are more options.
When I grew up, people either drank beer or moonshine, because that's the only things we had available in my small village. Then the (state owned) alcohol store arrived, and moonshine completely disappeared.
I remember the first time I visited Russia, in the 90s, and was set back by the sheer amount of Vodka the Russians drank. Went to a party, and couldn't find a single beer. They were all drinking straight vodka. But IIRC, they've now been "westernized" on that front, and drink much more beer.
[+] [-] bpye|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] fian|6 years ago|reply
Seems it was mostly beer and mead:
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/2e1rav/what_...
Interesting that the introduction of a single plant could have such an impact on cultural norms.
[+] [-] hackbinary|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] opportune|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] m0zg|6 years ago|reply
Here in the US I haven't had vodka in years. The US right now has such great beer that drinking any other alcoholic beverage should be illegal. Possibly the very best anywhere in the world. Not even Germany/Austria/England come anywhere close to what you can buy on the US West Coast.
Even in Russia though the attitudes are changing. Anecdotally, meeting with my university friends a year ago we drank only beer, and they said they mostly drink wine (beer in Russia is pretty bad still, although the situation is improving).
[+] [-] ajuc|6 years ago|reply
Alcoholics drink hard spirits or cheap "fruit wine" if they are poor.
Everybody drink vodka (and wine, and beer, but wódka is the tradition) on big occasions like marriage or other big family meetings. But getting wasted isn't cool and very few people drink too much usually.
[+] [-] groundlogic|6 years ago|reply
(Swede here.)
[+] [-] hourislate|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] deltron3030|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jasoneckert|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nabdab|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ajuc|6 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tus88|6 years ago|reply