More Americans are drinking hard liquor: Gallup poll

Cheers!

More Americans — 31% — are hitting the bottle and drinking hard liquor such as bourbon, whiskey, scotch, gin, vodka and tequila, according to a new Gallup survey released Monday.

That’s the highest figure ever recorded in Gallup’s tracking of booze preferences of US adults since asking the question in 1993, besting for the first time the 29% of Americans who drink wine.

Beer remains the most popular alcoholic beverage, with 37% of drinkers saying they drink beer most often — but liquor and wine are closing the gap.

“Although it continues to hold on to the top spot, beer is less dominant now than at points in the 1990s and early 2000s, when close to half said it was their preferred alcoholic beverage,” wrote Gallup.

In total, 62% of Americans say they drink alcohol, while 38% abstain, a rate that has held steady since 1939 in Gallup surveys.

About one in five US adults who drink alcohol — 19% — say they sometimes drink too much.

But it’s beverages containing a much higher and more potent level of alcohol than wine or beer that are on the rise.

“Liquor has mostly lagged behind beer and wine in the popularity trend. However, in the past few years, closer to 30% say liquor is their drink of choice, putting it on par with wine. The 31% of drinkers who currently say liquor is their favorite alcoholic drink is the highest on record,” Gallup reports.

Gallup does not explain or speculate why spirited or distilled beverages have become more popular in the post-COVID-19 pandemic era.

The alcoholic beverage of choice varies by gender, age, education and income level.

• Men are more than twice as likely as women to say they drink beer most often, while women are about three times as likely as men to say wine is their preferred beverage.
• Younger drinkers prefer beer and liquor, while older drinkers favor beer and wine.
• A higher percentage of Americans with college degrees drink wine than adults without a college degree.

Among those who do drink alcohol, 69% said cheers within the past week, including one-third who drank in the past 24 hours and 37% who did so two to seven days ago.

One-third of respondents said their last drink was more than a week ago.

The Gallup results are based on telephone interviews with 1,015 adults conducted July 3-27.

The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus four percentage points.