Beer Vs. Wine

Jonathan sent along this humorous, but absolutely true, article about beer culture versus wine culture.  A sample:

Is it a wonder that beermaking attained its heights in precisely those countries who most prospered under the wave of industrialization and free trade that swept Europe in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries? It is it mere coincidence that the Maison Des Brasseurs (Brewers’ Guildhall) in the Grote Markt of Brussels stands a mere stone’s throw away from the Brussels Stock Exchange, each dominating the two main squares of that city? Should we be astonished that the pre-eminent beer nations of Europe (namely, Belgium, Germany, Great Britain, and the Netherlands) are also among its most prosperous, while those repositories of feudalism, winemaking, and crony capitalism (Spain, France, Italy, Portugal, and Greece) still play economic catch-up?

I like both, and note that the supposedly-inferior wine culture group finishes second, not last.