Morning Drinking for Egalitarians

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Many cultures have dabbled with booze for breakfast, but only one has the finesse to pull it off without class discrimination. 

Before we get into the drinking side of things, let’s take a quick look at equality. Many WEIRD countries (Western, educated, rich and democratic) value equality, but not when it comes to drinking at breakfast. Or when segregating people by plane cabin, train cabin, neighbourhood, clothing, university — okay, fine, they’re not equal at all, but they appear to be in comparison, especially in the office, home setting, or when some Silicon Valley CEO gives a pep talk in a t-shirt.

Based on Hofstede’s power distance index, countries such as Japan, Korea, and Kenya accept and expect power to be distributed unequally, whereas in countries like Australia, Ireland, and Norway, an entry-level employee can talk to the boss who pulled up to work on a bicycle. Many of these countries that score low in power distance also place the most value on gender equality (great, in my opinion) but also have more kids screaming at their parents and teachers (not so great in my experience). It’s also important to note that power distance has nothing to do with how consensual or top down a country is. As I mentioned in my The Quick Culture Guide for Global Business, Japan is one of the most hierarchical countries but also one of the most consensual. 

To make things even more confusing, power distance and hierarchies have little to do with whether or not wealth is spread out equally. If we look at the Gini coefficient, which measures the gap between the incomes of a country’s richest and poorest people, you won’t notice much of a correlation between egalitarian values. 

Here are five of the ten countries with the lowest Gini coefficient: Belgium, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Iceland, and United Arab Emirates. As you have probably surmised, high-income and low-income countries can have similar Gini coefficients. And even though Iceland scores very low on Hofstede’s power distance index, the rest on this list score middle-high to very-high. Plus, because of limitations like reliable GDP and income data, the Gini index may overstate income inequality and be inaccurate. On top of that, much of Hofstede’s data came from analyzing 100,000 management surveys at IBM in the 1970s, and some countries have less data than others. So, even with the research and data, judging how equal or egalitarian a culture is will always be open to discussion. 

But what the hell do any of these posts have to do with morning drinking?! 

This isn’t a Twitter (X) post. I’m getting there. 

To those yanks down south and us snow Mexicans in the north, drinking a Mimosa, Bloody Mary or some breakfast cocktail is merely a hangover remedy or ‘hair of the dog’ to deceive ourselves into believing we aren’t alcoholics. The lingering cultural fear and shame from drinking during prohibition still forces us to chug back the sauce in underground establishments like sewer rats at night and to pretend we’ve sophistically moved forward from those ridiculous laws by drinking wallet-emptying cocktails in brunch spots the morning after. 

Whereas drinking $12 cocktails for brunch is trendy and accepted, drinking a cheap beer or shot in the morning means you’re a degenerate alcoholic. It’s not the amount of alcohol you drink that makes you an alcoholic, but the brands you choose. 

Ordering a Bloody Mary with two shots of Grey Goose can mean you’re a classy soccer mom who deserves a break before picking up her kids in an Audi. But if you even consider ordering Alberta Pure with Minute Maid orange juice, someone might call child services. And thanks to hipsters, you may get away with ordering a beer in the morning, but it has to be over $9 and craft. No, it doesn’t matter that the double IPA has twice the alcohol. If you chose Wild Cat, you’re the one with the problem. 

And it’s not just North American culture that only lets the rich get away with morning drinking. The Mimosa was invented in Paris, as was the Bloody Mary, at Harry’s New York Bar (or so goes the rumour). The French have been segregating classes with alcohol long before Americans, but since they’ve had more training, they don’t tend to get as wasted. 

Some studies blame a cold climate for excessive drinking. Since alcohol is a vasodilator, it makes you feel warmer. In the study by Dr. Ramon Batallar, they found a clear negative correlation between climate factors (average temperature and sunlight hours) and alcohol consumption. They measured the total alcohol intake per capita, the percentage of the population that drinks alcohol, and the incidence of binge drinking while controlling for factors such as health and religion.

I once had a theory that Catholics knew how to drink better than protestants based on the irrefutable evidence that Belgians have better beer than the Dutch. Aside from that fact, based on sound empirical studies, my theory is complete shit. Turns out, all sorts of Christians love to drink and create premium alcohol, as proven by Scottish Presbyterians and their scotch. Still, the blood of christ has created a drinking culture that is second to none, especially in warmer climates. 

And that brings me to the one country with the finesse to pull off morning drinking without class discrimination.

Drum roll. 

Spain.

Ellos no tienen ni puta idea lo que es un cocktail. In Spain, cocktails don’t exist unless you're in some tourist trap. Whether poor or rich, you drink beer, wine, hard liquor or a carajillo (see the video below) with your tostada de tomate or pincho de tortilla. And nobody is going to judge you by what brand of beer or wine you choose. Well, unless it’s Cruzcampo. Even then, you can get away with it in Sevilla. 

Whether you drive a brand-new Ferrari or a rusty Citroen, chances are, you’ll have the same drink and, most times, go to the same bar for Almuerzo, which is like brunch but for the working class.

Of course, Spain has upper-class, middle-class, and lower-class neighbourhoods. There is class segregation, and when you look at who ends up in the nice neighbourhoods and who ends up in the shitty ones, systemic racism is still very much a problem here as it is everywhere else. People pay attention to what clothes you wear, what car you drive, and what school your kid goes to. That’s all true. But in the 3 years, I’ve lived here, I’ve only once been asked what my salary is, people rarely ask what my job is, what the real estate market is doing, what to invest in, and most importantly, I’m never comparing my success to others. 

In the neighbourhood I live in, El Grao en Castellon de la Plana, you’ll see €1000 to €100 000 cars parked outside, but most of us live in similar-sized apartments, go to the same market, and most importantly, drink and eat at the same bar for Almuerzo. 

To see the morning drinking in action and learn how to make an authentic Spanish carajillo, watch the video below.

Questions for the comments

Where else have you drank in the morning without feeling like an alcoholic or that you’ve wasted your money? 

What countries have felt egalitarian to you?

Which other countries have a great morning drinking culture? 

Tell me anything else!

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