As I'm from Belgium, we have a beer culture ...!
Johan
Hello Johan,
You have to tell the whole story.
I Greece, some decades ago, in every neighborhood, there was a “taverna”, which would sell also wine to the area. The tavernas, had the big barrels / vats, a whole battery of them, in a store room, or even in the sitting area. You can still see it in old films.
The people around, would buy their wine, in bottles, almost every day from there. Not many large wineries existed then, and the sales of bottled wine were not many in volume.
Wine was also sold, in warehouses, where you could also buy coal and wood for the wood-stoves of the times.
I still remember the washing and repair of the big vats / barrels, at the end of summer, where the newly produced wine would be stored and fermented.
In those times, there was only ONE brewery in Athens. FIX.
I was spending my early youth years to Belgium.
I was a beer drinker from my early years, in my house, we were permitted to drink a small glass on Sundays, contrary to the “European” rule that you had to be 18. And even today, you can see parents, allowing their children allowing children to drink for taste.
What made me a great impression then in Belgium was that the same applied there, in terms of beer production and distribution / sales, each neighborhood had its brewery, and the beer in crates was delivered at the houses of the area weekly, on a standard basis.
The father in law, of the persons I lived with, had such a brewery. There were some larger brands, but the main / daily beer drinking was from these small breweries, which reminded exactly the Greek wine tradition.
So, yes, You know what you are talking about.
