The United States surpassed France last year to become the world’s biggest consumer of wine. Experts gave Millennials a lot of the credit. But even though Millennials like wine, they are drinking more beer.
A new study by Harris Interactive found that more than a third (37 percent) of Generation Y drinks beer more than any other alcoholic beverage, compared to about one in four (24 percent) Gen Yers who said the same about wine.
Affluent Millennials learned to appreciate wine from their wine-loving Baby Boomer parents and were not afraid to try it when they came of drinking age. According to a report by the Wine Council Market, Millennials started drinking complex red wines right away, rather than starting with sweet wines, then advancing to dry whites and finally to reds as Generation X did before them.
It’s not surprising that Millennials skipped over the wine-drinking learning curve but embraced beer from the start. So much of that is social and life-stage related. In college, where one becomes of drinking age, no one throws parties with bottle after bottle of wine, they get kegs. Millennials also have such a good relationship with their Baby Boomer parents, it's natural for them to drink wine with their parents and learn about wine at home.
The preference of beer over wine continues as Americans age. According to the Harris study, beer is the top choice for Gen X and Baby Boomers. Wine doesn’t take the lead until members of the Silent Generation, those 66 and older.
With their sophisticated palate and love of beer, one-third of Gen Yers are drinking an alcoholic beverage at least once a week. Weekly drinkers are higher among Gen Y than any other age group, but daily drinkers are lowest among Gen Y and Gen X. About of quarter of Millennials of drinking age still reported they do not drink alcohol.
After beer and wine, Millennials drink vodka the most. Virtually no Millennials cited scotch, champagne or brandy as the alcoholic beverage they drink most.
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