What specific types of alcohol are difficult to find in Europe? Especially in the north, like the Netherlands, Belgium, or Denmark
What kind of alcohol would be especially exciting as a gift for Europeans?
I was thinking maybe peanut butter whiskey, IPAs (but maybe less palatable to Europeans), or Chareau (an aloe liqueur)? Is California wine viewed as not up to par in Europe? Does Europe have a wide selection of tequila?
Any suggestions would be much appreciated!
15 comments
Certain kinds of bourbon, such as Maker’s are hard – or impossible – to find in Germany.
I don’t know what is difficult to find since, well, it’s what is not here. However, if you want to bring something special as a gift for example, some local specialities is always nice. If peanut butter whiskey is something typical from where you are from, I bet it will be appreciated to get as a gift.
I’ve never heard of Chareau, so that sounds good.
And I’m assuming you have many varieties of bourbon that we can’t find here. The same probably goes for tequila – but is there really American tequila? We tend to think of it as Mexican, in which case it’s not the best gift for this situation.
There’s nothing wrong with Californian wine, but we have a lot of good European wine already. I’d rather go for something more uniquely American like bourbon whisky. Although I’d keep away from anything gimmicky like peanut butter flavoured.
It also depends on where you’re from – of course if you’re from Napa then take Californian wine.
IPAs are everywhere in Europe.
Californian wine is seen as either cheap shit or good quality but too expensive, depending on the bottle. Since shipping, tariffs, etc add up a lot the good wines from the US cost more here than they’re worth.
Honestly I’d go with the Chareau, I’ve never heard of it but it sounds cool and it’s not something that really exists here AFAIK
Mead! US makers Heidrun and Brothers Drake are both great, for example. It is uncommon here in most of the EU, the styles in the US are quite different, and honey is revered in most European countries.
IPAs are British in origin. You will find them all over Europe. Even in Italy (seems like the only beer style they can make properly).
Just to say, if you want to gift someone something alcoholic from the US, it might be better to look for something more unique than IPA. Unless it is seen as a highly rated or unique, I wouldn’t bother with beer.
Peanut butter whiskey does sound faitly unique and so does Chareau.
IPAs are pretty difficult to avoid to be honest. I never heard about peanut butter whiskey before, sounds a bit odd but might be appreciated as a novelty.
Good tequila/mezcal is difficult to find though. You only get the bad/mediocre stuff here.
Bourbon and rye, especially from smaller distilleries would be a pretty nice gift. Even the ones we can find are pricier here, so still a good gift.
Same thing for specialty tequilas. Proper top shelf stuff here is pricey, and we don’t have a super wide choice. Something very regional could be cool.
Wine is a dodgy choice. American vinification gives way different flavour profiles to our regional ones, so it becomes a very personal preference that can go quite wrong.
We have a great craft beer scene, so if you’d like to offer a beer it might be much more interesting to chose something from a brewery local to you or connected to you in some other way, just for that sweet personal touch.
Funky exotic liqueurs are always a fun gift, but depends on the recipient, of course. Some people are into liqueurs, some not at all.
As somebody mentioned before, it’s not easy to list stuff that’s not available here 😉 But you’ve reminded me of tequila which I haven’t tasted for years. I had a quick look at what’s available in normal shops in Poland and there are some brands, not too many though, and they’re all pretty expensive. Just out of curiosity, is tequila considered a more deluxe, more expensive alcohol? I’ve always thought it’s your typical drinking-shots-when-out with friends type of drink, not something particularly extravagant.
California wine is seen as worse than European wine. Unless you’re closely connected to a specific vineyard I wouldn’t go with wine.
IPAs and American microbrews are a good idea. Because microbrews are usually regional it won’t be available here. While you can get IPAs in Europe they often aren’t as good as their American counterparts, or are the big brands that are typically imported from the US, and aren’t nearly as good as the smaller breweries. Beer from a regional microbrewery is a good choice. Try to go with something that’s moderately hoppy, it appeals to a broader pallet.
Most drinks you can find everywhere in the US you can find in Europe. Go with something you can’t find a few states away. There are a few exceptions to that, like Bell’s brewery or Great Lakes brewery, both are excellent, widely available in the US (at least in the northeast), and impossible to get in Europe. I have no idea if those are available on the west coast though.
IPAs and APAs are everywhere but it would still be appreciated by a beer lover.
California wines aren’t really known here. Nothing really beats Hungarian, Italian, French and Portuguese wines really but specialty foreign wines would be New Zeeland wines, South African, Peruvian and Chilean. But if you know your wines and know the taste of your target audience then I’m sure you can get something mindblowing from California.
We have a few brands of tequila but I personally have not met anyone who really loves tequila or finds it interesting. Whiskey is a better bet in my opinion, I’d love to try a peanutbutter whiskey but I can see it going either way. I’d either find it remarkably good or absolutely undrinkable.
What I’d personally like to get my hands on from California is a good sarsaparilla. You can find the occasional root beer here and I hear they taste the same but I’d love to try some authentic sarsaparilla.
Many European are quite narrow minded and nationalists when it comes to wine. Even though Paul Bocuse himself reminded his colleagues early on that there is excellent cooking elsewhere and excellent wines as well.
Those who know about non-European wines are well aware of the quality of Californian wineries. Also the bottle prices are really going up here for well known wines, such as Morlet family products, Screaming Eagle, Dana estate or Harlan estate.
If your hosts are into wine, bring something like that (or others like Russian River or Rutherford Hill) and a book telling about Californian wines.
But your other suggestions (excl tequila) are all interesting!
During my stay in the US I really liked seltzers, although it seems they are no longer available here because apparently it was not a big success.
Mezcal and good tequilas are difficult to find in Europe. Mezcal especially, from my experience.
Mezcal/tequila is horrible in Europe and good ones are crazy expensive so Id go for that. Thatd be a nice gift 🙂 edit: peanut butter whisky sounds very nice too or anything of that kind. Liquor specific to the US/Americas is hard to find here and quite expensive