Where Booze Is Concerned, Americans Choose Beer Over Wine & Liquor

When faced with a chilled chardonnay, a dry martini or a frosty mug of ale, all Americans who drink have a choice that we are fond of making. A new report from venerable pollsters Gallup found that a majority of us drink alcohol in some form — 66% of Americans, to be exact — but there can be only one boozy winner, and it’s beer.

Gallup’s results say 39% of American drinkers like beer the best, 35% lean in the wine direction and less than a quarter are all about liquor.

And don’t feel bad if these results immediately conjure up a stereotypical scene or two — bros bonding over bouts of beer pong or women gabbing about some housewife show over glasses of wine — the majority of men prefer beer, as do the majority of drinkers under 54 and from the Midwest. Wine reigns supreme on the East Coast, among women and those over age 54.

That 66% of U.S. citizens who drink is up from 64% last year, and as the Los Angeles Times so amusingly puts it, “men tend to be the biggest floozies,” drinking about six beverages a week, compared to about two for women.

If you’re planning on making a pilgrimage to the country’s biggest drinking towns, the LAT notes a separate study that found New Orleans has 8.6 bars for every 10,000 households, followed by Milwaukee and Omaha.

Beer beats out wine as Americans’ booze of choice [Los Angeles Times]

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