According to an official Gallup Poll, beer has regained a comfortable margin over wine as the favorite alcoholic beverage of U.S. drinkers.

It’s good to know that the stats are finally reflecting the truth. Beer rules.

In recent years, wine had narrowed the gap and in 2005 it even pulled ahead by 3%. This year, beer enjoys an 11% lead over wine.

The Consumption Habit’s poll proves that the shift back to beer has occurred mostly among Americans between the ages of 30 and 49. Younger drinkers (aged 18 to 29) are more likely to drink liquor than wine but still have a wide preference for beer. Wine is the choice beverage of drinkers 50 and older.

Other interesting findings from this year’s consumption poll include:

• 62% of American’s say they drink alcohol
• The average drinker reports having consumed 3.8 alcoholic drinks in the past week
• “Daily drinking” is more common among Americans of higher socioeconomic status. Over the past four years, an average of 42% of college graduates report having had a drink in the last 24 hours, compared with 32% of those who have not graduated from college.
• Similarly, 41% of drinkers with incomes of $75,000 or greater say they have had a drink in the past 24 hours, compared with 36% of middle-income respondents (those with household incomes between $30,000 and $74,999) and just 23% of those residing in lower-income households (with incomes of less than $30,000).

According to gallup.com, results are based on telephone interviews with 1,016 national adults, aged 18 and older, conducted July 10-13, 2008. For results based on the total sample of national adults, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is ±3 percentage points.

According to me, the poll is very much correct and beer is better. This t-shirt though, I’m not so sure.

TAGS [ BEER | WINE | LIQUOR | GALLOP POLL | ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION | CONSUMPTION POLL ]