Wine consumption V. Beer consumption

Beer and Spirits
#1

As I was looking through my CT inventory this morning to pull a couple bottles for tonight I checked in to my reports. My consumption has dwindled over the last few years down from around 200 bottles a year to right around 100 in 2011 and 2012, I was surprised to see that this year I’ve only opened 19 bottles.

Following some of you guys on Untapped, I know that many are consuming beer daily (not just one bottle). Is it just me or are others opening a lot less wine? Some of you guys used to post wine tasting notes quite regularly (Anthony) and I haven’t seen much lately.

I had a conversation with Jorge recently where he stated that he rarely drinks wine anymore and was actually trying to sell most of his cellar. I would never go that far myself, but it sure is nice not to have to buy 100-200 bottles a year anymore.

So what say you guys:
Anthony
Bob H
Ed M.
Dustin
Jason H
Bud
and even Brian, although with your 32 hour days I know that gives you a lot of time for drinking. neener

#2

Not one of dem dudes, but I’ve definitely swung towards beer more, but mostly for financial reasons, trying to get as much variety out of my weekly beverage budget as possible. Will pop wine more for groups of folks and do beer at home with me and the wife, and she can have what she wants without having to share if our tastes differ at the time.

#3

Ha! you’re definitely one of dem dudes.

#4

Whoo Hooo! I’ve made the big time! champagne.gif
We need a beer gif that isn’t smilies passing out drunk…

#5

like this one? [drinks.gif]

#6

Um, yeah. That one. blush
In my defence, it should be on the first page…

#7

Mine is due to lifestyle change. We now have two small kids that we have to pay for school, save for college etc. Wine is really expensive and the stuff I’m buying now is def more “special occasion” bottles.

More of our close friends drink beer, and while not trying to be controversial, I actually have grown to think beer is a lot more versatile with a lot more food. I was really into beer before I got into wine (which I still love), and generally enjoy it more again.

#8

If one tends to eat spicier foods in general, I think this is very true. For me, heat usually destroys a wine.

#9

For me, there is nothing better than spicy food and an off-dry German Riesling.

#10

As for the original question: my wine consumption has dropped quite significantly the past couple of years (off a steady average of 200 bottles per year down to about 115 bottles per year), and I suppose that’s in favor of a relative increase in beer consumption (although I’m fairly confident my actual consumption of beer has remained the same or even dropped. But I attribute that more to the following factors than I do to a desired/conscious change in consumption habits:

  1. We currently live on the other side of the planet than where the vast majority of our wines reside. Fact is, when I don’t have access to all of our wines, I often find that I don’t have at my fingertips the “right” wine, so I go with beer instead.
  2. Most of our “wine friends” are on the other side of the planet, too.
  3. Pregnant wife. For obvious reasons, this results in me drinking more beer and less wine.
  4. Interaction with other beer geeks. It never really occurred to me until now, but I think the enthusiasm of the beer geeks here has rubbed-off on me, and that means I’m often more excited to try a new beer than I am a new wine.

Coming soon will be reason #5:
5. Kid. It’s a lot cheaper for me to drink beer than wine, even with the wines and beers I drink (not cheap, and very expensive, respectively). With only an extremely small handful of exceptions, you can drink the best beers in the entire world at a price that is cheaper per ounce than what most of us spend, on average, on wine.


Like Anthony, I’ve been into craft beer much longer than I’ve been into non-plonk wine. If I had to choose between beer and wine for the rest of my life, I would choose beer in a heartbeat (despite the stomach-wrenching nature of that decision).

#11

That’s the big exception, of course.

#12

I’ve been drinking more beer lately because my wife usually prefers beer to wine (good rosé is the main exception), and my friends in the neighborhood are beer drinkers exclusively. Impromptu beer tastings are common around here, whereas it’s relatively rare that I get to share wine with fellow geeks/enthusiasts.

#13

Attaboy.
[welldone.gif]

#14

Beyond spice/heat, situations like having a delicious Cab or Bordeaux lined up w/ your steak- if I have some asparagus and salad with it, the last thing I want is a heavy tannic red.

From a macro perspective, I really enjoy trading & getting to try beers from other parts of the country. With very few exceptions, most US wine is from the three west coast states in the lower 48. I love the fact that I can pack a box of west coast stuff & send it to someone to explore & vice versa. I can’t imagine getting w/someone to trade Oregon Pinot for Ohio Catawba.

#15

+1 to all of this.

#16

I would drink more beer but I get full quickly from it and I feel it slows down my running more so than wine does, in terms of consumption’s effect on training. Nothing beats how refreshing beer is, especially on a warm day though. And thanks to this forum, I’ve experienced and liked beers I had formerly poo-poohed: geueze, barley wine and stout to name a few.

#17

Joe:
I usually drink twice a week with dinner- Sat and Sun. That is 2 bottles of wine a week or 100 a year more or less. However, for a variety of reasons, it is now beer one of those two nights.

  1. I have been cellaring beer for years (probably close to a decade) and I discovered some years ago how much reward you can get with a properly cellared beer.
  2. While I don’t consider my self to be a fanboi type, it has been cool to discover new microbrews that are totally new and unknown. These have included Dogfish Head, Ommegang, Blue Mountain, and now Full Pint. It is easier to find these types with beer, and I have never really ‘discovered’ a wine (maybe sort of Skewis, but not really).
  3. During my wife’s pregnancy, it was hard to open wines while I was drinking alone. It would end up getting tossed unless I opened a half bottle. Beer was easier, and I got into that habit.
  4. This forum has been an influence as well.
  5. It is easier to run intensively and train for marathons, etc., if you are drinking beer with dinner instead of wine.
#18

Interesting post Joe, I have been thinking about this subject quite a lot lately. My drinking has swung almost all the way to beer from wine over the past year. This has somewhat corresponded to a severe cutback in wine buying, world class beer is just so much easier to buy (and drink) as some others have stated.

I have a tendency to concentrate on a hobby once I get into it, happened to a lesser extent with mixed drinks last year. Of the three I think beer is the most fun and a helluva lot easier and cheaper. I suspect my infatuation with beer will dial back at some point with wine coming back into the picture but beer is here to stay.

I have no plans on selling the wines from my cellar that I like but I still plan to unload a whole lot of stuff that does not excite me. Life is too short especially with beer in the picture to sit on so much wine that I don’t want to drink (most Cali wines minus Rhys and a couple others, Rhones, and to a lesser extent BDX, just because I have way to much friggin BDX.)

And yes I am way behind on wine tasting notes, think I probably have a couple hundred in the queue, ugh. My CT handle is Badfish btw (~900 notes I think), I was writing notes pretty regularly up until a couple years ago but just not finding the time these days to keep up.

#19

Interesting! I’m the exact opposite. Two beers and I’m useless the next day. Bloated, gassy lol - two glasses of wine, no problemo.

#20

What’s funny is that my wine consumption this year has gone up a lot, but beer has gone down. 2012 and 2011 my wine consumption did go down because of beer. It’s all ebbs and flows with me though. Like Brian, I was into craft beer before being into good wine, but my age also played into that as well.