Drinking

You know you’re in Austria and not Australia when… this label is on your beer/cider

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That’s right. This delicious alcoholic drink is fine to drink as long as you’re over 16. Because in Austria, the laws on alcohol consumption are different. From the age of 16, you are allowed to purchase and drink certain types of alcoholic beverages. Namely, beer, cider and wine. Any hard liquor or schnapps is off limits until you’re 18 though.

Yes, alcohol is a drug and consumption for teenagers should be limited. Maybe it’s an irresponsible law. Or maybe it just legalises what goes on anyway, since I think you’d be hard pressed in any country to find a teen who hasn’t drunk alcohol before they’ve hit the legal limit!

In any case, this is Austria!

Weird things Austrians… drink… Zirbenschnaps

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Schnaps is one of those things that many people associated with Austria. And Austrians love it. Whether they’re taking it for medicinal purposes, using it as a digestive at the end of the meal or just celebrating, you can expect it to have it offered to you if you’re in the country. Now keep in mind that we are talking Austrian schnaps, the alcohol content of which must be above 40%, so this is not the sweet, sticky butterscotch variety you might know of (they call that liqueur).

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What better to break lockdown boredom than an afternoon of cocktails?

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Virtual cocktails

Stuck in the middle of a long, cold winter of lockdown (one of the few full winter’s I’ve endured in Austria since arriving), one of my friends (a big thank you goes out to Larry) made a plan to get some of my other Aussie mates together for an online event to help brighten it a little. She’d told me that she was organising something but I didn’t find out it was cocktail making until a few days before.

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Celebrating Hottest 100 Day – my favourite Aussie tradition

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Australia_Day_2Australia Day has different meanings for different people. For indigenous Australians it has always been steeped in unpleasantness, but that’s not what I’m here to discuss. I’m here to tell you that Australia Day for me was never about the arrival or subsequent invasion of the British. For me, Australia Day has, at least from when I was a teenager, been about the Hottest 100.

Because I’m a simple little thing.

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Prost!

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Schanpps prostShort and bitter.

This post is dedicated to those times I thought I had everything under control, those times I thought that I understood the German conversation flowing around me perfectly.

And then BANG – I suddenly realise I’ve accidentally agreed to a second schnapps, or a third, on top of all that other alcohol.

So here comes the schnapps. And I smile, like it was my plan all along. Just like that time I ordered the wrong sav – the cab instead of the blanc.

And I drink it down, and I sigh appreciatively like a good Austrian-in-training should.

Prost!

 

Chestnuts and Hot Beverages – the perfect wintery Christmas combination

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Christmas markets Austria

As autumn winds down and the first frosts hit, it is a sure sign that winter is coming. Yet not everything about winter has to be cold and horrible. With the air cool and crisp and the first flakes of snow threatening, December is one of the most beautiful months to be in Europe – with Christmas markets aplenty!

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Stadtfest (Town Festival)

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Summer in Austria equals festival time! On any given weekend there’s usually something going on, be it a small, local event or a bigger, region-wide festival that completely takes over.

I have visited a number of town festivals over the last few years and although some of the bigger ones are a lot of fun, there’s nothing better than simply walking the 10 minutes to the Wolfsberg city centre when it’s our turn. Everyone in town turns out to crowd the streets, catch up with one another and party the night away. But no matter the size or the occasion, there’s definitely common elements to all.

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Day of the open cellar doors… Wine tasting in Podersdorf, Burgenland

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When you think Austria, you probably think immediately of beer. Which is the right connection to make, but what you might not realise is that Austria also has a flourishing wine industry. Grüner Veltliner is the dominant white grape, producing dry whites, but there are multitudes of other varieties, from red to white to sweet to dry and beyond.

podersdorf_lastyear
I spy with my little eye… plenty of wine!

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