I like wine. Good red wines in particular. I developed the taste at an early age, encouraged by my parents and many of my friends are also wine drinkers. It is a matter for respect among my peers to know a good wine and over time I have refined my taste so that I can appreciate different varieties and speak intelligently about them. It is not just for show, I take genuine pleasure in discerning the various flavours that make a fine wine. I’m not one for drinking heavily, drunkeness only hampers discernment, and anyway good wine is too expensive to waste getting plastered.
You, on the other hand, like a beer. And not one of your prissy “boutique” beers but a good old fashioned ale (ahem) lager, served cold in a can. Among your friends it is a matter of pride to be able to drink large quantities. Ah, the stories you can tell about nights out drinking with your mates.
Recently one or two of the pubs in your area have been transformed into up-market wine bars, and you’re rather nervous your own local will go the same way, losing its friendly charm and filling up with snobbish wine-fanciers like me. I, on the other hand, know that such places are few and far-between and resent the fact that most drinking-houses are full of coarse drunkards like you.
Can’t we all just get along?
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