Talk:Alcohol preferences in Europe

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Swedish vodka?
While Absolut is a modern Swedish vodka, I believe the spirit traditionally drunk in all of Scandinavia was akvavit (aka snaps) rather than vodka. The difference is not huge, but I think the article should mention it all the same.--Nø (talk) 16:32, 26 June 2019 (UTC)

Country borders misleading
It is misleading to define the "belts" by country. Southwest Germany, and parts of Austria and Switzerland, are traditionally wine-drinking. Parts of northern France are traditionally beer-drinking. Those regions should probably be cross-hatched.

Also, what is the source for Serbia being classified as wine-drinking? I suspect that rakia (vodka) is the "traditional" drink... but I'm not certain. --Macrakis (talk) 19:58, 7 November 2019 (UTC)
 * Are you asking about the text of the article or the map illustrating it? — Kpalion(talk) 08:21, 8 November 2019 (UTC)
 * Both. If you look at the FAO figures for consumption of Beer/Spirits/Wine/Other (by kcal/person/day) for 1961 (which is as far back as it goes, and is probably a reasonable place to start for "traditional" consumption patterns, before beer took over everywhere), you'll see that Yugoslavia and Bulgaria were both predominantly spirits consumers (B/S/W, ignoring 'other' = 12/ 46 /41% and 17/ 49 /33%), as also shown in the map in Grigg. Looking at the 2013 figures, Bosnia still is predominantly spirits (32/ 65 /2%), while Montenegro is predominantly wine (19/32/ 46%). Serbia, Croatia, and North Macedonia now drink more beer than others, but still 37/34/29, 66/17/17, and 72/21/8.
 * Bulgaria and Bosnia are clearly, then, in the "spirits" category.
 * Montenegro is clearly in the "wine" category.
 * Beyond this, we get into WP:SYNTH. Serbia is less clear, but seems to fall in the "traditionally spirits" category (as shown by Grigg), while Croatia and Slovenia fall into the "beer" category. North Macedonia is very beer-heavy nowadays. But it's small and hard to see on the maps :-). --Macrakis (talk) 20:43, 9 December 2019 (UTC)


 * Anyone know why Belarus is in grey in the first map? They're surrounded by vodka-drinking countries (and clearly part of the former Russian empire), so I would guess they would be one too. Robofish (talk) 23:25, 1 June 2020 (UTC)
 * Wikipedia doesn't rely on guesswork. It relies on verifiable sources. — Kpalion(talk) 15:41, 3 June 2020 (UTC)

Reliable source for article title?
Where does the title of this article come from? "Alcohol belt" is rare in both Google Books and in Google Scholar. There is an article on Big Think entitled "Distilled Geography: Europe's Alcohol Belts", but that doesn't seem to qualify as an RS and anyway it's just one article. The SAGE Encyclopedia of Alcohol has one mention of the term. The article cited in the lead never uses the word "belt", but talks about the geographic patterns of consumption world-wide (not just in Europe). So where did this term "alcohol belt" come from? --Macrakis (talk) 19:50, 9 December 2019 (UTC)
 * That's a good question. It seems that most of the article is based on someone's original research. I've found some reliable sources, mostly medical, that are somewhat related to this topic, but they would warrant an article about something like "Alcohol consumption patterns in Europe". Less catchy, but more in line with the sources. The two maps are based on these sources (see captions for citations). So far I haven't yet got around to rewriting the actual article, but it needs to be done eventually. — Kpalion(talk) 15:45, 3 June 2020 (UTC)

Poland
Article says that Poland is vodka country but source (is unofficial city web page even credible here btw?) states that beer has become more popular nowadays. Should it be updated or new source is needed? Domaszk (talk) 06:53, 5 April 2021 (UTC)

''Speaking about the 'preference' for vodka in Poland proves the ignorance of the history of this country and the reasons for this 'preference'. Besides, I don't know anyone who wants to meet over vodka instead of beer.''

United Kingdom
The bottom map for showing different countries preferences in wrong for the UK, it should show it similarly to how Russia is presented as the majority of the UK does not consume Wine, while the largest group, at 36% of consumption off of the UN source while Beer consumption is almost equally the same at 35% of the country. Tweedle (talk) 13:45, 19 August 2022 (UTC)

Slovakia
Slovaks nie consume more beer than spirits! We drink still beer with spirits but beer is prevailing! 195.91.12.162 (talk) 12:28, 13 November 2023 (UTC)