Aug 08: It’s been over 200 years since the third President of the United States, Thomas Jefferson who was smitten by wine from the days he was the US Ambassador to France and whisky was in fashion in the US, he must have posed the same question as did the panellists at the FnB Conclave a week in Delhi earlier and reported in delWine, and if trends in the US were an indication, India will need to wait for 200 years when wine can compete, at least, with beer which is fast becoming a drink of choice in India too, avers Subhash Arora
In the previous issue of delWine, we wrote about the panel discussion at Business World’s FnB Conclave at Andaz where the panel discussed the future of whisky with many other alco-bevs like beer, wine and gin chasing the imbibers. A similar thought must have gone through the mind of one of the biggest wine aficionados of the United States, President Jefferson (1801-1809). Apparently, the pro-wine and anti whisky drinker wrote:
No nation is drunken where wine is cheap
And none sober, where the dearness of wine
Substitutes ardent spirits as the common beverage
It is in truth the true the only antidote to the bane of whisky.
Having spent a lot of time in Europe where he met several denizens and developed a taste for fine wines, President Jefferson truly believed that wine was the answer to the problem of whisky.
Obviously, he did not consider the impact beer would have on the people in the United States, 200 years hence. Whisky did come down in consumption, perhaps from 90% + to barely 20-21%, much less than 30% + of wine consumption, but it is beer that has been ruling the roost, at least since 1992 when the American, all powerful and well-known Polling company Gallup started tracking the trends in the consumption of alcohol in 3 categories- Beer, Wine and liquor.
The latest Poll from Gallup last month indicates that beer is still the supreme drink of choice for Americans at 42% while wine seems to have reduced the gap at 34% with liquor trailing at 19%. The graph does not indicate the detail of the balance 5%, in almost every year.
According to a survey by the same group Gallup in 2014, 41% of U.S. drinkers said they typically drank beer, compared with 31% who generally preferred wine and 23% who reached for liquor. This year was the biggest gap between beer and wine in six years. Beer and wine essentially tied in 2011 and 2013
Wine briefly crossed beer in 2005 when it reached its highest consumption of 39% and beer trailed at 34% with liquor maintaining its traditional average consumption of 21% , but beer has traditionally been the drink of choice for Americans since the 1992 when almost half of Americans (47%) said they typically drank beer. Almost half of women, however, chose wine while only 17% of men chose it over other alcoholic drinks (57% opted for beer).
That Gallup’s survey also found that 64% of U.S. adults say they drink alcohol, up from 60% 2013, and they consumed an average of just over 4 drinks per week.
Yet another survey by Gallup in 2012 and reported in delWine, found that the drinking habits of Americans tipped more in favour of beer this year with 39% preferring beer while 35% opted more for wines but the general pattern remained the same with 66% consuming alcohol with a national average of a healthy 4.2 drinks per week; the Poll also found that the older men and women generally preferred drinking wine.
Interestingly the current survey by Gallup indicates that more and more educated Americans and those with higher income are preferring beer, unlike the previous year. Younger Americans aged 18 to 29, who turned markedly away from beer from 2011 to 2013, have come back to the beverage in the past five years, though not to the same extent as before 2011.
Results for this Gallup poll are based on telephone interviews conducted on July 1-11, 2018, with a random sample of 1,033 adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. The Poll also indicated that 63% Americans currently imbibe alcoholic drinks, 3% less than the numbers indicated by the 2012 Poll.
Gallup Poll: More Americans prefer Beer to Wine
Subhash Arora
If you Like this article please click on the Like button