Data from Roy Morgan Research shows that while a higher proportion of Australians are drinking wine over beer, when it comes to the volume being consumed, beer is by far the leader of the pack.
The research found that in any given four week period, Australians drink an average of 23 glasses of alcohol per person.
For every 100 glasses of liquor consumed, 48 are beer, 25 are still wine, 11 are spirits, six are RTDs, four are sparkling wine/Champagne, three are cider, two are liqueur and one is fortified wine.
Andrew Price, general manager – Consumer Products, Roy Morgan Research, said “By breaking down Australian alcohol consumption data into each 100 glasses drunk in an average four weeks, we get an instant understanding of the relative volume consumed of each beverage. Especially striking is the fact that although a higher proportion of Aussie adults drink wine, those who drink beer consume it in greater volumes.”
The consumption of each beverage varies considerably when comparing different age brackets. For example, beer represents 50 out of each 100 glasses consumed by 18-24 year olds, but only 42 glasses among drinkers 65 and over. These older drinkers tend to prefer wine (still, sparking and fortified), which represents 48 out of every 100 glasses. This is substantially more than any other age group, with the number of glasses of wine consumed per 100 increasing in proportion with age.
Unsurprisingly, young drinkers aged 18-24 consume more spirits (16 glasses), RTDs (also 16 glasses) and cider (three glasses) per average 100 glasses than any other age group.
“Comparing volumes consumed between drinkers from different socio-economic circumstances can also be interesting,” said Price. “Beer consumption varies dramatically between the top, high-value AB socio-economic quintile of the population (who drink 45 glasses of beer per average 100 glasses of alcohol) and the lowest, least wealthy FG quintile (57 glasses of beer consumed for every 100 glasses of alcohol).
“Not surprisingly, the quantities of different beverages consumed by Aussie women and men per 100 glasses vary significantly. While beer accounts for 60 of every 100 glasses drunk by men (compared to 19 for women), women drink greater volumes of almost all the other beverages.”
