I have expanded the Food & Drink Maps section.
I made a map of overall alcohol consumption per capita with the 2010 data from the WHO. At that time Slavic people drank the most.
I made a new map with data from 2016 and the trend changed somewhat. Many Slavic countries reduced their consumption, while other countries like Germany, France and Ireland increased it.
Beer is generally associated with Belgium, Germany, Austria, Czechia or even Ireland. But Spaniards are also big beer drinkers, far more so than the Belgians, Dutch or Brits!
A lot of people tend to think that South Europeans are all predominantly wine drinkers because that's where wine is produced. But production does not necessarily equal consumption, as Spain shows. In fact, Spaniards drink four or five times more beer than wine! Conversely, Scandinavian, German, Dutch, Belgian, British and Irish people all drink more wine than the Spanish or the Greeks, in spite of the fact that they do not produce much/any (except Germany). Yet, it is the Portuguese who are the biggest wine drinkers, followed by the French and Italians.
The consumption of strong alcohols follows a very different pattern. The Slavs and Balts top the list, obviously thanks to the popularity of vodka. But the Brits and Irish have their whisky and gin, while France has a plethora of native liquors (Cointreau, Grand Marnier, Triple Sec, Cognac, Chartreuse, Crème de Cassis, Calvados, Hennessy, Kir, Armagnac, Ricard, Pastis, etc.) often consumed as apéritif.
I made a map of overall alcohol consumption per capita with the 2010 data from the WHO. At that time Slavic people drank the most.
I made a new map with data from 2016 and the trend changed somewhat. Many Slavic countries reduced their consumption, while other countries like Germany, France and Ireland increased it.
Beer is generally associated with Belgium, Germany, Austria, Czechia or even Ireland. But Spaniards are also big beer drinkers, far more so than the Belgians, Dutch or Brits!
A lot of people tend to think that South Europeans are all predominantly wine drinkers because that's where wine is produced. But production does not necessarily equal consumption, as Spain shows. In fact, Spaniards drink four or five times more beer than wine! Conversely, Scandinavian, German, Dutch, Belgian, British and Irish people all drink more wine than the Spanish or the Greeks, in spite of the fact that they do not produce much/any (except Germany). Yet, it is the Portuguese who are the biggest wine drinkers, followed by the French and Italians.
The consumption of strong alcohols follows a very different pattern. The Slavs and Balts top the list, obviously thanks to the popularity of vodka. But the Brits and Irish have their whisky and gin, while France has a plethora of native liquors (Cointreau, Grand Marnier, Triple Sec, Cognac, Chartreuse, Crème de Cassis, Calvados, Hennessy, Kir, Armagnac, Ricard, Pastis, etc.) often consumed as apéritif.
But then the Czechs were the first to produce pale lager in 1842.