DRINKS AND DRINKING IN MANY LANDS

Northern Advocate, 9 July 1938, Page 12

DRINKS AND DRINKING IN MANY LANDS

OVERSEAS visitors to New Zealand have commented upon the early closing of hotel bars, and drawn comparison with the licensing laws of their own countries. These comments give especial interest to an article contributed to the “Adelaide Advertiser” by Charles Cooper, who, while declaring that he is not an alcoholic pilgrim, nevertheless remembers the drinks of many lands. Purely as a matter of interest I would record that the cheapest place I have ever found for Scotch whisky was Manchukuo. The price was 4/6 a bottle. The Japanese were offering a very clever imitation of the best brands at 2/6, but while the bottles might mislead the inexperienced, the contents could mislead nobody. The liquid was potent, raw, and strangely reminiscent of Cape “smoke,” the popular South African drink.

Moscow is the most expensive place I have ever found for whisky. I never got further than being able to look at the bottle in the cocktail bar at the Hotel Metropole. I badly wanted a drink. I had been jammed for hours in the crowd in the Red Square watching millions of Russians march past Stalin in the procession of November 7, the anniversary of the Revolution. Directly I could, I made a beeline for the hotel and the bar. I was frozen stiff. A spot of whisky was just what I needed. The bar looked magnificent, with its rows of bottles and mirrored shelves. But one could only lock, for the price was prohibitive. I had to drink vodka, which warmed me, but it is an acquired taste. Incidentally, beer, the cheapest drink in Russia, costs between three and four shillings a bottle. Even a bottle of sodawater cost me 4/- on the train. In Warsaw I visited an old inn, where they offered on their wine list 300-year-old Tokay, at a price of £ls a bottle. I was shown a bottle, but after a struggle I decided on a cheaper variety—at 2/-.

France is a paradise for the alcoholic pilgrim. The exchange is favourable and I have recently had quite good champagnes at only 2/- a bottle. In Italy the local wine is a cheap but interesting toss-up. It costs only 3d or 4d a litre, and the quality varies tremendously, although sometimes it is equal to the best. In Germany, to return to whisky, the best Scotch brands cost 26 marks a bottle, but the Germans offer quite an interesting home-made whisky at half the price.

In Northern Rhodesia a luke-warm bottle of South African beer cost me 1/6, but it was worth it. At Tete, in Portuguese East Africa, on the Zam-

besi River, I paid 4/- for a bottle of ice-cold German beer, but again it was worth it, for I had travelled 150 very hot and thirsty miles to get it. Incidentally, I paid 4/- for a bottle of German beer in an Adelaide betel. * * « * Once at Monterey, in Mexico, I parked my car. When I came back I found a “sticker” on my windscreen saying, “Come to Maldonaldo’s and have free drinks.” This seemed to come within the bounds of social investigation, so I went to Maldonaldo's. Mr Maldonaldo was as good as his word. He turned out to be a very clevf'"' mixer of drinks, with an extensive knowledge of the pleasing but potent Mexican productions. He gave me as many free drinks as I could take, and his virtue was x-ewarded, for I left his establishment with a stock of goods I would never have dreamt of purchasing ordinarily. Incidentally, the brewery at Monterey also offers free beer to all visitors who may care to go there. * * $ » It proved difficult and complicated to study social conditions in Canada. They have drink laws which are even crazier, if possible, than our own rules and regulations. In Quebec, you may drink wine or

beer at meals, but not spirits. Spirits may be bought at a Government liquor store, but only one bottle at a time. There is. however, nothing to prevent your doing a “liquor store crawl” all the way along the street, or even just walking round a revolving door and coming back to make a fresh purchase. The object of. the law would appear to bo to enforce a breath of fresh air in between the efforts of buying bottles of liquor. Ontario is “dry,” but further west I was able to buy spirits by the case, had I so desired, on presentation of a magistrate’s permit, which is obtained without formality on the payment of a small charge. In Vancouver I found I could legally get drunk in my bedroom, but'it was forbidden to drink even beer with meals. In Turkey I drank arack, which I found disappointing. It tastes like nasty cough mixture and is so very, very strong that you cannot take a good-size swill without going under the table. It was almost as strong as the “alkie” of prohibition days in the United States, which cost a dollar a flask at the local drug store. The genuine stuff was pure alcohol, and a very, very little went a very, very long way.