The alcohol belts of Europe

Strange Maps brings us this awesome map, showing Europe divided not into East and West, but into vodka, beer, and wine:

As you can probably guess, the red, mostly Mediterranean countries are areas where wine is the preferred drink.  The countries in the golden belt consume mostly beer, while the blue nations of Scandinavia and Eastern Europe prefer vodka.  Note the effect of the Prussian and Russian Empires partitioning Poland, and of the German/French linguistic divide in Switzerland.  “Geography is destiny,” indeed.

Reminds me of the old soda vs. pop map:

via Strange Maps and Pop vs. Soda