Beer vs. Wine: When To Choose Which One To Drink

Beer Is For Partying While Wine Is For Reflecting

Beer and wine, two great things in life to be sure.

But beer verses wine?

I love them both, but sometimes I feel like having a beer and at other times I prefer to be drinking wine.

So what determines which will be quenching my thirst’s desire?

Well, it’s really a mood thing. When I’m in the wild whoop-it-up frame of mind give me a beer. When I want to chill and reflect on life, I’ll have wine.

Beer is, to me, for mass social interaction. Wine is for soaking in what’s around you – your location, friends, a job well done – and for appreciating being on this planet.

Beers are for hoisting in groups. Pub crawls.

Wine is for a quite “cheers,” a gentle clink of glasses. Dinner parties.

Beers are for great for guzzling (well, not always of course, but it’s easier to quickly down beers than any other alcoholic beverage) while wines are for savoring. This, tho, has somewhat changed with the growth of specialty beers; many craft beer lovers approach those brews as selectively as do aficionados for wines and sip them to extract the full enjoyment of the experience.

With beers, you can try varieties and not have have much of a palette adjustment period. You can easily transition from a lager to a pale ale to even a stout, and back to lager again. With wines, you can maybe go from a pinot nior to a cabernet, but you certainly can’t throw in a chardonnay. You start with a white or red, you finish with a white or red.

Usually – say 90% of the time – I’ll drink beer in a bar. In a decent to good restaurant, I may choose wine. When I’m home, just by myself or with a friend or two, I’ll likely have wine.

Part of it, too, is where I’m located at the moment.

If I’m by a warm beach, then I’ll have a beer.

If I’m in say, Monterey or Carmel, I’ll likely have wine, like this great Monterey Pinot Noir, for example.

That’s becuase there’s so much of it around me in those places and walking past wine tasting rooms can quickly put me in the mood for vino. Plus, places like Monterey and Carmel are mostly quiet, subdued areas, which makes them ideal for reflecting on the good things about life, which wine enhances.

Busy, warm beaches are all about beer. You don’t want to be having a glass of wine when they are pumping that loud techno music on Mykonos, right? But once you get to Santorini, looking at the sunset from the caldera, then a glass of wine is quite fitting for the location and the occasion.

That’s how I determine whether I’m drinking beer or wine.

What about you?

Cheers!

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