Gallup: Suds still top tipple

Beer remains the most popular alcoholic choice in the United States, a newly released Gallup Poll reports.

Forty percent of the drinkers surveyed said they prefer beer, to 30 percent for wine. Beer was down 3 percent and wine 2 percent compared to last year’s poll, though that’s within the survey’s margin of error and may not mean much.

Liquor was up more significantly to an all-time high of 26 percent, from last year’s 20 percent.

Beer is more popular among men – 62 percent, compared to 19 percent of women – while 50 percent of women preferred wine, to 11 percent for men. Those with less education and more middle-range incomes also lean to beer.

Wine and beer were roughly even in the 2012 and 2014 surveys, at around 35 percent each, but the beer gap has widened since as the craft beer movement gained momentum.

Overall, 62 percent of poll respondents said they drink alcohol at least occasionally. That’s in line with Gallup’s historic average, with a peak of around 70 percent in the late 1970s and early 1980s.