Comments on: Drinking wine from the bottle?

By: BeerMatt

BeerMatt — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 09:05:11 +0000

So you always buy wine by the carton? They charge more for a 6-pack for exactly the same reason that they charge 25% less when they don’t take wine out of the box (ie when you buy a carton). The only difference is that most people are conditioned to buying wine by the bottle and think they are getting a better deal on the carton. With beer they’re conditioned to buy cartons and so only see the price hike for a sixer. Exactly the same thing, it’s just how you look at it. $18 – $20 for a sixer of Mountain Goat, Bridge Road, Red Hill or any number of other great beers is a steal.

By: David

David — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 08:46:02 +0000

True enough, but the penny pincher in me has always struggled with the idea of not buying a carton of something – still don’t see why they charge a mark up on a 6-pack for taking it out of the box…

By: BeerMatt

BeerMatt — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 05:56:32 +0000

You certainly are discovering some good beers with Red Hill and Rogers but even a “good value wine” (which I would think is in the $12 – $20 a bottle range) is far more expensive by volume than a 6-pack of great craft beer. The only differenece is people are still stuck in the “gotta drink a 6-pack” mindset that makes it seem expensive. If you have two glasses of average wine it costs about the same as two bottles of an ecellent and very flavoursome craft beer.

By: David

David — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 02:52:45 +0000

I still enjoy wine far too much to fully replace it with beer, though I am enjoying some Rogers beer at the moment, courtesy of a recommendation in James Halliday’s top 100 that appeared in The Oz recently. The main reasons for this are that it’s easier to find good value wine, and too much beer leaves me hungover and bloated (the wine just leaves a hangover).

By: BeerMatt

BeerMatt — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 05:22:52 +0000

Good call! Red Hill are a great brewery and there are so many great microbreweries brewing in Australia you may never need to drink wine again!

By: David

David — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 05:07:05 +0000

Lol, thankfully I don’t drink those beers too often – I try to avoid them on most occasions. I guess if I’m after refreshment, then a beer of the cold/tasteless/fizzy variety is fine, but I do generally only drink when I’m eating, so something a bit more interesting is usually called for. We went to the Red Hill Brewery in the Mornington Peninsula whilst there (the blog post is yet to come), and they had some very tasty drops. Hope I can get some up here.

By: BeerMatt

BeerMatt — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 03:47:53 +0000

Thanks David. From your blog I see that you’re big into wine, which is great. But if all of the beers you are drinking are “cold, fizzy, fairly tasteless” and give you “nightmares for weeks”, we really need to chat. I’ll introduce you to some beers that are definitely “a drink to accompany a meal or a more sedate setting”!

By: David

David — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 03:34:38 +0000

Neglecting the glass bottle issue, there are other, more practical, reasons why beer isn’t drunk at these sort of events. Firstly, beer is often used as a refreshing drink, whereas wine is generally is not a refreshment but rather a drink to accompany a meal or a more sedate setting. There are some exceptions to this (Moscato, sparkling reds), but frankly I wouldn’t be fronting up to the Big Day Out in 35 degree heat asking for a big hearty shiraz – I want a beer because it is cold, fizzy, fairly tasteless, and very refreshing. Secondly, wine is stronger than beer or mixed spirits, so the consumption of that whilst standing or partying at some other event (like a concert or similar) is harder than that of beer. It is quite easy to finish a bottle or can of beer quickly, but with wine it’s bit harder, especially if you’re buying by the bottle (this is where the innovation is needed I guess – perhaps more half- or quarter-sized bottles will help with this). I assume concerts like the Big Day Out because I guess the more sedate concert settings are already wine occasions.
And thirdly, as alluded to above, a cheap beer can be fairly refreshing due to its lack of taste and the fact you have to drink it ice cold or have nightmares for weeks. Wine on the other hand tends to be very, very ordinary when cheap, especially at functions where the cheapest plonk is bought for mass consumption. I think beer and spirits have an advantage that the cheaper end of the spectrum is still consumable, where wine isn’t so much.