Like wine, beer is a wonderful alcoholic beverage that can have complexity, sophistication, and be a delight to the senses. Like wine as well, the majority of beer produced is made to appeal to as wide a market of consumers as possible, and because of this most beers lack the above mentioned qualities. There are now in North America many smaller micro-breweries and larger regional breweries that make superior products, many of whom have taken brewing in new directions.
Wine is a very simple drink to make.
In winemaking most of the attention is placed on the origin and quality of the original grapes. I've argued a great deal in this column that viticulture and micro-climate are the major determinates of a wine's quality. Wine almost makes itself. Beer-making is a much more complex affair. But like wine, the quality of ingredients, and thus the expense, have a great deal to do with the finished product, as well as how the beer is made.