Beer (and gas) shouldn't ever be used to benchmark wages and purchasing power, as those prices are highly determined by local product-specific taxes.

That being said, I believe that non-London UK living costs are not higher than USA; London is a different story.

If that were the benchmark, Copenhagen is cheap! You can get a six-pack of Tuborg or Heineken for about $7-8, including tax, and any kind of normal local pub will have half-liters at $4-5 (though prices can go up to $10+ at fancy bars). That makes the $20/hr minimum wage look quite nice relative to costs: about three six-packs per hour of work!

However, some other things are expensive, such as housing.