Winebibber

I grew up in an conservative evangelical Baptist home. We didn't drink alcohol. Ever. People I knew referred to alcoholic drinks as 'the devil's buttermilk' or, more graphically, 'the devil's vomit'.

The fact that Jesus drank wine, to the point of being accused of being a 'winebibber' - great word that - and a 'friend of publicans' (Luke 7.34), was only a minor stumbling block.

It was variously argued that the wine Jesus drank was non-alcoholic, grapejuice, watered to the point where there was almost no alcohol or that he alone had special authority to drink wine.

It was all fairly unconvincing and somewhere along the way though I stayed Baptist, even conservative - I prefer to say orthodox - I started to try the odd drop myself.

Now, as well as our home made raki and my collection of malt whisky, beer or wine is the normal accompaniment to dinner. It used to be beer almost exclusively - I am from a land of grain rather than grape - but the selection in Albania is not great and there is only so much Heineken you can drink. There are some local beers but they tend to be of the fizzy lager kind.

Now, I drink wine more often. Albania makes some good red wine, less good white. Ordinary reds can be fine - but then again they can be awful. You notice this difference in the quality of everyday wines when you open up a bottle of Chilean or Australian or French wine.

Red is more popular than white - restaurants in Tirana sometimes seem at a loss as to how to serve white wine. It is rarely sufficiently chilled and, without naming names, the worst wine I have ever had was a house white at a local restaurant that tasted like fizzy vinegar.

The good news is that our beer options are slowly improving. It is possible to buy some decent bottled beers if you look around - Pilsner Urquell, Newcastle Brown, even Leffe.

There are a couple of places that do Newcastle Brown on tap, and these have now been joined by a fine little bar in Rr. Brigada called Flares where I took the picture below.

Newcastle tastes a little sweeter than I remember - closer to Bass - and, of course, it is not a patch on Marston's Pale Ale - probably the best Ale in the world, as the Danes might say. Still, it is nice to have more options.

If anyone out there can recommend any good Albanian wines let me know. I'll be more than happy to try them out.

Gezuar.