Our tastes may be swinging away from beer and towards wine, but we're drinking a little less alcohol overall, according to figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
"Beer is now at its lowest point in 66 years," said Louise Gates from the Australian Bureau of Statistics; "even so, that means that there are still 4.1 litres of pure alcohol available from beer for every person in Australia aged 15 years and over." While Australians are consuming less beer per person - a downwards trend that started in the 1970's - there's been an increase in wine consumption. "In terms of pure alcohol available for consumption, beer was down 2.3 percent in 2011-12 (compared with the previous year) while wine rose 1.9 percent. Ready-to-drink beverages have also seen a drop and were down by 2.5 percent, while spirits have seen the largest fall, down by a full four percent. "But the overall picture is that consumption of alcohol in Australia has fallen for a second year in a row; 2011-12 saw us drink 1.4 million litres less than we did in 2010 -11, and 2.7 million litres less than in 2009-10." > > > > Read More