Alcohol

My latest goal is to become an expert in making wine sauces. Wine is ridiculously cheap in France. The closest equivalent to the Grocery Outlet in France is called Lidil. All the wine at Lidil is under 4 euros and everything I have tried is really good. So far my favorite is a half dry Riesling that costs 1.50 euro.

Alcohol at the grocery store is a lot cheaper in France than it is in the United States. Yet the alcohol in a bar is a lot more expensive in France than it is in the United States. A friend told me that the price of drinks in a bar includes the cost of a heavy tax. At a dance club in Metz, a beer costs about 5 euro and the cocktails start at 6. At a grocery store you can get 12 cheap but tasty beers for just under 5 euro. I was also shocked to discover that one can buy an entire bottle of hard alcohol at a club. A bottle of hard-a in a club runs between 50 and 80 euro. You can buy the same bottle at a grocery store for less than 20 euro and there is plenty of hard alcohol under 10 euro.

At a smaller bar where people sit and chat the drinks are about half as much as they are in a club. Nevertheless drinking in a small quite bar is still way more expensive than buying at the grocery store. At a small bar one can simply ask for a beer, and not specify what kind. If you ask for a beer you will get the local brew on tap. It is the cheapest beer at the bar and I’ve liked every one I’ve tried.