Hacker News Reader

Comment by njepa | Hacker News Reader

I think people tend to underestimate just how artificial alcohol pricing is. Without taxes it would cost like soda (at least in theory).

View on HN

In Chile, ersatz wine costs $2 a bottle, at the vineyard. That's what Concha y Toro (for one) pays vintners who sell excess supply that is undifferentiated in the wine market. Perhaps without taxes it would be cheaper, but it's somewhat more expensive to make than soda.

Wine, and especially local wine, would be a relatively expensive way to make alcohol. It would be more in the category of fresh fruit juice. Something like vodka on the other hand is mostly just industrial.

At a tax free wholesaler in Europe (such as might supply a duty free shop at the airport), 1L of the cheapest vodka costs under €2.50.

That's similar to the cheapest wine, although such shops don't really sell the cheapest wine.

In Montenegro, the cheapest factory-made wine is about €1.5 / liter: http://mojsupermarket.me/proizvod/moje-vino-crveno-1l-808940...

Some seasons of the year, home made wine can be found for even less.

Not even in theory. I live in Germany and can get 500ml of average beer for around 0,50€. That's cheaper than soda in a lot of cases (ignoring the cheapest soda). We can also drink in public legally, and it is socially acceptable.

That's not a very good comparison.

The cheapest beer and the cheapest soda should be compared, since they both save significantly on marketing and brand costs.

In that case, soda is about 25¢ (ja! Apfelschorle) and beer 50¢ (5,0 original export). Both from rewe.de.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com