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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, Poli

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.

EForEndeavour 7y ago
> 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 I know that this is an extremely subjective point of opinion, but haven't you met anyone who insists that all wine comes in two flavours, red and white? Do you really think it's fair to group beer with vodka?
- michalu 7y ago
  The map deals with beer, vodka and wine. I'm not grouping vodka and beer, I'm setting wine apart.
  - EForEndeavour 7y ago
    You explicitly group vodka and beer when you say: > there's way less to appreciate in beer and vodka than it is in wine I strongly expect that if you tested drinkers' ability to distinguish different types of beers vs. vodka vs. wine, it would become clear that the above statement is patently false.
aglionby 7y ago
> Beer doesn't even have distinct recognised regions Does this matter as much for beer as it does for wine? Given that, as far as I understand brewing, most of the flavour comes from the hops used, with some also from the type of yeast and cereal. These can all be transported to some degree before they're brewed together, so a beer's provenance doesn't matter so much as its style and particular ingredients.
- kd0amg 7y ago
  The grain can influence flavor a lot, but that's more from how the grain was processed than where it was grown. I don't think I could tell American 2-row pale malt from British 2-row pale malt or Belgian pilsner malt, but they'll both be pretty different from Vienna malt, which is kilned darker. Small additions of "specialty" malts like roasted barley or various caramelized malts can also shift flavor quite a bit.

EForEndeavour 7y ago

> 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 I know that this is an extremely subjective point of opinion, but haven't you met anyone who insists that all wine comes in two flavours, red and white? Do you really think it's fair to group beer with vodka?

michalu 7y ago
The map deals with beer, vodka and wine. I'm not grouping vodka and beer, I'm setting wine apart.
- EForEndeavour 7y ago
  You explicitly group vodka and beer when you say: > there's way less to appreciate in beer and vodka than it is in wine I strongly expect that if you tested drinkers' ability to distinguish different types of beers vs. vodka vs. wine, it would become clear that the above statement is patently false.

aglionby 7y ago

> Beer doesn't even have distinct recognised regions Does this matter as much for beer as it does for wine? Given that, as far as I understand brewing, most of the flavour comes from the hops used, with some also from the type of yeast and cereal. These can all be transported to some degree before they're brewed together, so a beer's provenance doesn't matter so much as its style and particular ingredients.

kd0amg 7y ago
The grain can influence flavor a lot, but that's more from how the grain was processed than where it was grown. I don't think I could tell American 2-row pale malt from British 2-row pale malt or Belgian pilsner malt, but they'll both be pretty different from Vienna malt, which is kilned darker. Small additions of "specialty" malts like roasted barley or various caramelized malts can also shift flavor quite a bit.