> My experience of Germany was also certainly not “wine for dinner” type of behavior Do you really suggest they drink hard liquor with dinner itself? I grew u

> My experience of Germany was also certainly not “wine for dinner” type of behavior Do you really suggest they drink hard liquor with dinner itself? I grew up in northern Italy and spent years in Vienna for study, and did also a fair amount of travel around in Europe, what you seem to suggest just does not rings true for me. For dinner and lunch it's normally one or a combination of: * water, with or without CO2 * juice from self-made or store bought syrups (think from local berries or things like elder) * soft drinks * beer * wine Beer and wine are really not common on workday-lunch (at least if you don't work construction, or have a business dinner), but fairly normal on weekends or holidays, at least in my experience. And only after dinner, and not always, a single Grappa/Schnaps/Shot is consumed, and that normally only if either people are over, or one dines at a restaurant (especially if it's a more folksy place). If I go out with my SO to dine it's almost always a combination of water and wine if it's in a restaurant, and soda or beer if it's more street-food like, but never ever did we, or any other people we saw, drank harder liquor to their meal...