Craft Beer Seltzer Alcohol Barometer: Sam Adam's Boston Beer Co.Alcohol consumption
When averaged over two years, 2021-2022, 63% of U.S. adults aged 18 and older consumed alcohol. Gallup, Inc. indicates that "the drinking rate ticks up to 65% when narrowed to adults of legal drinking age" of 21. When segmented based on demographic characteristics:
Eighty percent of adults, 18 and older, living in households with annual incomes of $100,000 or more consumed alcohol in 2021/2022.
Only 49% of those living in a household with an annual income of less than $40,000 consumed the beverages.
Likewise, the higher the level of education, the greater the percentage of adults in the cohort who had consumed an alcoholic beverage, while the incidence of consumption decreased as age increased.
A nearly equal percentage of men and women consumed alcohol, 66 and 61%, respectively, when averaged over the two years.
Pertaining to race and ethnicity, 68% of non-Hispanic white adults, 59% of Hispanic adults, and 50% of non-Hispanic black adults consumed alcohol.
Another source, The 2023 Silicon Valley Bank Wine Report, states data from the Wine Market Council:
28% of consumers were "abstainer ," which "has increased 4 percentage points since the 2017 survey."
18% were "core wine drinker " who "drink wine at least once a week," which decreased from 21% in 2017.
15% were "marginal" who "prefer wine…and consume wine at least every two to three months… wine consumers who drink wine one to three times a month," which decreased from 19% in 2017.
The remaining consume "alcohol, not wine" (29%) or are "infrequent alcohol" consumers (10%).
Alcoholic beverage preferences and purchases
When asked to indicate their beverage category of choice, 30% of consumers preferred liquor, 31% wine, and 35% beer. Another source, IRI, reports that 16% of alcoholic beverage consumers drink beer exclusively, 13% drink only wine, and 11% only spirits. Consumption of more than one category is as follows:
Beer and wine, 13%,
Beer and spirits, 12%,
Wine and spirits, 9%, and
All three types, 27%.
When segmented based on consumption frequency, for consumers between ages 21 and 39 years, Wine Opinions found the following:
Half (51%) of those who drank beer consumed the beverage "weekly or more often," 24% consumed the beverage 2-3 times a month," 8% "about once a month," and the remaining 17% consumed beer "less often or never."
For wine and spirits, the percentage of consumers who drank the beverages at each reported frequency was similar: 30% of those who drank the beverages consumed them "weekly or more often," a third consumed the beverages "2-3 times a month," 16% "about once a month," and 21% of wine drinkers and 20% of those who drank spirits consumed them "less often or never."
Those who consumed beer on a weekly, or more frequent, basis were more likely to be males, weekly wine consumers were more likely to be female, and "consumption of spirits is even by gender."
