Poles always had reputation of being excessive drinkers. I
agree that there was a lot of over drinking especially among people with
insufficient financial means and education. One could often see in the morning “yesterday’s
men” struggling from one lamp post to the next. Perhaps the last night they
were drowning their sorrows or celebrating some occasion. I sometimes think
that they drunk that much to forget the reality too difficult to cope with when
sober? Difficult to say. Maybe the climate? Maybe the Slavic soul?
I just finished the fifth part of Knausgard’s My Struggle.
This is a material for another post perhaps, but for now I just wanted to write
about Scandinavian drinking or rather over drinking. Young Karl Ove, the author,
in his twenties, is almost permanently drunk and so are his friends and
colleagues. In drunken fits, they behave in a way that so called civilised
society would definitely disapprove of. They are all educated and sensitive
people without any real financial problems. Their protective government takes
care of that. And they drink, it seems, more than proverbial Pole. Existential
angst? Climate? Youth? I am defending the reputation of Poles a bit and perhaps
quite unnecessarily, especially that this is not what I want to write about
this time. Anyhow, for the last few
years I have not seen in Poland a man with a visible hangover. Maybe the drinking
problem is solved or maybe drinking moved into homes and now in invisible.
Being curious (maybe not exactly insatiably, but curious nevertheless)
I started to wonder what Poles drink those days.
I observed that they drink more wine and with a better understanding
of the pleasure wine may bring. I still have some problems with being served
white wine that is too warm for me or any wine that is not really dry. I may be
served semi-dry wine because I am a woman and “ladies prefer more delicate
taste”? Still, the wine culture is
already here and there are many real wine connoisseurs around.
There are specialised shops selling alcohol, but any small supermarket
or even a little corner shop typically is licenced and has a comprehensive selection
of wine, bear, vodka, whisky etc.
Loyalty cards are quite popular here so I have my Polish
selection of such cards. There is a wine shop card among them. I noticed that
sales people in Poland are typically more knowledgeable in relation to what
they sell than their Aussie counterparts, so I started to ask for advice and opinion
quite often. Doing some alcohol shopping in my friendly wine shop, I engaged
into a little discussion with the salesman. He told me some interesting stories
about wine making in certain regions and at some stage I have asked him the
question “what people drink in Poland those days and what is really in fashion”.
The answer came immediately and without hesitation: PROSECCO and PRIMITIVO. Both
Italian wines, hmm… This is in Poland loving France and French since forever…
This explained why Aperol Spritz is on the menu of two little
restaurants around the corner. I must say that I live in a quiet neighbourhood
not known for restaurants. The first day in Gdansk going to the local restaurant
of a suggestive and worrying name Italian
Job I noticed to my surprise Aperol Spritz on the menu. Since one of my
Sydney friends, Karon, tells me and all her Facebook friends, that the day when
she has an Aperol Spritz is a good day, I thought that it would be proper to
make this day good one for me as well. I ordered the drink. After some minutes,
distressed waitress comes to our table saying that they ran out of Aperol, but
tomorrow they will definitely have it. I have not tested it yet, but I might,
even if I doubt the preparation of the
drink will meet my standards. Or rather Karon’s standards that I share.
I also found out from my young Polish friends that whisky
should not be any Johnny Walker or even Jack Daniels thing. It should be a single malt whisky with some serious years
of maturing! Obviously, this is not a
drink to get drunk on as a Pole, unless money is not an object. But even than
one perhaps is not anybody who’s anybody. Times have changed…
So Prosecco, Primitivo and single malt whisky! This is what
Poles drink today.
