Why Wine is better than Beer.

If you want to avoid a fight in any pub in Australia this is a position you shouldn’t take in the front bar.  Almost all of the front bar denizens will spend very few minutes in discussing this position before they’ll resolve the issue with a quick smack to the head, yours.

Despite this I still think that wine is, on average, better than beer.  It has nothing to do with the alcohol content as most full-strength Australian beers have 4.5% alcohol by volume and most wines have around 13%.

Nor does it have anything to do with taste as many Australian Beers are served too cold to really appreciate the subtle flavour and most wine drinkers drink too fast to appreciate the subtle flavours.

No, the real reason is that after a few beers my mouth is just too cloying to taste anything much but I can drink wine all night and still enjoy the flavour.  Mind you I am usually far more lissed as a pizzard after an evening on wine than an evening on beer.

Don’t misunderstand me, I enjoy both in the right time and place.  There is nothing quite like an ice cold beer after a hot days work in the garden.  In fact I find the first one usually evaporates before I get a chance to drink it and I have to quickly open a second.  It is also almost impossible to cook a bar-b-cue without a beer, although I have found that a quality red wine can sometimes act as an acceptable substitute.

I am extremely fortunate to live within 20 minutes drive from McLaren Vale, one of South Australias premier wine growing areas.  Regular trips to the south have improved my cellar considerably.

OK, I call it a cellar but some unkind people call it the spare bedroom.  I’m sticking to cellar.

It would not be possible to store the quantity of wine that I have in the cellar if it was beer.  It just wouldn’t keep and I wouldn’t be able to enjoy it as regularly.