Drinking cultures

Hey, guys. I am not sure if it is related exactly to our topic, but I thought maybe it could be interesting. It just my first thoughts when I am thinking about drinking cultures. I am not a British and I do not have the drinking culture as a part of life but it was really interesting for me when I first time arrived in the UK.

It just a little bit of drinking culture in my countries. I have two cultures, Russian and Arabic. They are very different, and in drinking culture too.  As you know Russia is one of the countries where alcohol is a part of culture, there is a stereotype that in the Russia everyone drinks vodka. There is some truth. But in the Russia now the drinking culture is a drinking problem, as I think in many countries.

http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2016/jan/08/how-do-the-uks-new-alcohol-guidelines-compare-with-the-rest-of-the-worlds

For example, when I first time visited the UK, I was surprised. Yes, drinking culture in the Britain is a really powerful and it is a part of the life. But it is a really different from Russian culture. Pubs are everywhere in Britain, I saw the tradition to take lunch on the weekends at pubs with family, like Sunday roast, cyclists, people who go on hikes after the trip are going to pub, on Friday night in central London you can’t find seats in the pubs, everyone spend time with friends or colleges. People in any age going to pubs in Britain.

In Russia we don’t have pubs, bars are not as popular, and in restaurants the alcohol is expensive. We don’t have pubs in the culture, and most of the people drink alone or with friends at home, in Russia it is less enjoyable than in Britain, I guess. Because as I can see in Britain in pubs, people drink less hard liquors, people are coming to talk, to spend a good time, to relax and to drink a beer or cider. Yes, of course, there are the drunk people, but I don’t think as much as you can see in the Russia. In Russian most of the drinking people are men. But it is a problem in Russia because a lot of men are alcoholics. In Britain in the pubs are quite popular happy hours and drinks are cheaper than in any other places, you can eat, drink, relax and have a nice time there. 

You can read a comparative article and see the difference of numbers and percentages between Russians and British:

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/31/russian-men-losing-years-to-vodka

In Arab countries, everything is different from Russia, UK and others. Jordan is a Muslim country, where we don’t have any drinking culture at all and, of course, there are no pubs, in restaurants you can’t find any alcohol menu. But international hotels and some of the places, they serve alcohol but it is taboo, and it is condemned by the people. But by the law it is legal to drink at home, we have some alcohol markets but not in the public.

There is an article about what’s going on in the Saudi Arabia if you are drinking. 
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-34516143