This paper studies the possibility of substituting the consumption of one alcoholic beverage category for another by changing alcohol control measures. It examines four Finnish examples: the waiving in 1952 of the requirement to show a special identity card issued by the alcohol monopoly Alko for buying fortified wines; again binding the sales of fortified wines to Alko's identity card in 1958; a 1960s alcohol price policy favouring wines and beer over vodka; and the change in alcohol legislation in 1968, which allowed selling medium beer in grocery stores but left the off-premise sales of all stronger alcoholic beverages to Alko's liquor stores.
Data on recorded consumption of alcoholic beverages in terms of 100 per cent alcohol per capita according to beverage categories will be used together with the numbers of arrests for drunkenness according to beverage categories as well as different data sources on changes in alcohol control measures.
The four examples from Finland show that strong alcoholic beverages can be substituted for lighter drinks, but this seems to work especially when the lighter beverages can be used for the same purposes as the stronger ones. It is much more difficult to persuade consumers to substitute strong alcoholic beverages for light ones by changing relative alcohol availability or by adjusting prices, if the consumers also have to change their drinking habits by, for instance, substituting binging with vodka for drinking light wines with meals. The Finnish examples also make it clear that changing from one beverage category to another does not automatically result in changing the way to use alcoholic beverages or the drinking habits themselves.
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