So what does this say about us?

[K'Nort]

A new Gallup poll reports that 39 percent of US drinkers say that they drink wine most often, while 36 percent said that beer is their favorite alcoholic beverage.

Wine outflanked beer as America’s favorite alcohol for the first time.

Beer led wine 47 to 27 percent in 1992, and 39 to 33 last year.

We're getting more sophisticated? Or wussier?

[west3man]

We're getting more sophisticated? Or wussier?
Has the mid-quality selection of wine increased? Have prices dropped significantly?

Better marketing by wine-makers?

[Nitmo]

I drink more wine than beer, but only 'cause my wife never buys beer


I think this may be why......

[StoneGold]

http://images.art.com/images/PRODUCTS/large/10058000/10058804.jpg

[Spackling Compound]

We're getting more sophisticated? Or wussier?

Maybe their talking about Wine-in-a-box, which means we may just be turning into a nation of overweight, single, middle aged secretaries.

[Huh?]

I'd say it is about even for me. I drink wine with dinner a lot, and I drink beer on weekends and sometimes after work.

I think the main reason wine is so popular is because pop culture on tv pushes it more than it used to. Sex in the City, Rap Videos, Paris Hilton and P Diddy all come to mind as pop culture outlets that push the "glamourous" life, which never involves beer.

[Nate C.]

I was at a party just a couple of weeks ago with a local distributor of a major California winery and we had this conversation.

The answer is pricepoint. The middle class can now afford (price has gone down and wages have gone up) to buy wine more readilly than they could in the past.

[Deathstroke]

We're getting more sophisticated? Or wussier?

Neither, it just means people are just a bunch of drunks... :evilsmile

[HomerJay]

Where I'm at it's more like 80% beer, 20% wine.

[Winslow]

Maybe their talking about Wine-in-a-box, which means we may just be turning into a nation of overweight, single, middle aged secretaries.

Yup - the boomers have started drinking wine.

[Dreadstar]

You want my take?

It's because the VAST MAJORITY of beer production in the U.S. has been geared to some stupid uniformity. All the major brandsd have moved toward tasting more and more and more like each other. Outside of microbrews there's no individuality. Yes, there are differences in taste, but those differences =have become less and less pronounced, even in the last 5-10 years. Bud tastes like Coors, tastes like Miler, tastes like . . . you get the idea.

20 years ago, you could get handed a glass of beer and without being told, TASTE what beer it was. Budweiser was different than Coors. PBR was different than Stroh's (may it rest in peace). Hi-Life was different than Hudy. Beers were distinct.

People may be moving toward wine for that difference in distinction, much the way people are moving toward microbrews.

[phoenixrising]

I think a lot of the wine drinking is related not only to a yuppie image my own generation is embracing wholeheartedly...but also wine's reported health benefits. A few of my older family members drink wine every day for that reason.

I, for one, just love a good bottle of wine every now and then. It's delicious.

[K'Nort]

I think a lot of the wine drinking is related not only to a yuppie image my own generation is embracing wholeheartedly...but also wine's reported health benefits. A few of my older family members drink wine every day for that reason.

Excellent point. I didn't think about that one.

[StoneGold]

Don't forget the popularity boost after Sideways came out.

[west3man]

Don't forget the popularity boost after Sideways came out.
I'll admit that even MY interest was piqued after seeing that one. I'm also glad I had no idea what it was about. It needed every drop of enjoyment potential.

[howyadoin]

It says we need to drink more hard liquor.

[Grant]

I could never get into wine. If it doesn't smell or taste like paint thinner it's just not worth drinking.

[Adam Crocker]

We're getting more sophisticated? Or wussier?

It means you are becoming more like the FRENCH!

[howyadoin]

It means you are becoming more like the FRENCH!Sacre bleu!

[Gordon Smith]

I could never get into wine. If it doesn't smell or taste like paint thinner it's just not worth drinking.

I don't mind a sip or two of a good light wine now and again, but it's beer that disgusts me. I can't fathom how anyone can drink it without gagging.

[Karl J. Barnes]

We're getting more sophisticated? Or wussier?

That your wife/girlfriend controls the purse string, maybe?

[Karl J. Barnes]

I don't mind a sip or two of a good light wine now and again, but it's beer that disgusts me. I can't fathom how anyone can drink it without gagging.

That's part of its appeal, Gordon. It's all a game of how sick you can get. Beer the Game is about swilling enough to get goofy and fall down in the front lawn, but that is only for the beginners. The more advanced participants graduate up projectile vomitting and getting home without killing anyone(This last part are for experts only).

On a seerious note, there are some truely great tasting beers and hardly any of them are American made(though some micro-brews are very good). And with anything, it is an acquired taste.

My choice of drink(when I drank) was beer, but that was because it was cheap. If I could, I'd always drink Crown Royal on the rocks or with some coke or Jose Cuervo tequila shooters with beer chasers.

[SteelTownr]

I haven't noticed Wine storming ahead and I have been a bartender for 17 years.

Mark B.

[Karl J. Barnes]

I haven't noticed Wine storming ahead and I have been a bartender for 17 years.

Mark B.

Well, I guess that if it is a sit down bar with snacks,instead meals, then I could see beer/hard liquer being served more. But maybe in a resturant or at home , maybe wine is consumed more.

What type of bar do you work at? Or have tended bar at alot of different ones? When I tended bar at a Country Club, I sold lots of beer, but during meal times, wine did go up as did the harder stuff.

[SteelTownr]

Well, I guess that if it is a sit down bar with snacks,instead meals, then I could see beer/hard liquer being served more. But maybe in a resturant or at home , maybe wine is consumed more.

What type of bar do you work at? Or have tended bar at alot of different ones? When I tended bar at a Country Club, I sold lots of beer, but during meal times, wine did go up as did the harder stuff.

At the moment, a bar/restaurant in a golf resort.

I guess that I poured a few wines for the restaurant tonight, but that is usually the case and always has been.

I have always sold wine, I just haven't noticed it overtaking beer or liquor in any major way.

Mark B.

[StarsAndGarters]

Up until recently my parents had become the wine-in-a-box people. Now, because my grandfather is giving them some of his wine, they have more tasteful wines.

[K'Nort]

It means you are becoming more like the FRENCH!

I really wanted to work that into the original post, but then which do I credit on the beer side -- the Germans or the British?

And Trader Joe's is now selling $18 boxes of wine that is apparently just as good as the bottles and lasts longer. Strange new world.

[Grant]

I don't mind a sip or two of a good light wine now and again, but it's beer that disgusts me. I can't fathom how anyone can drink it without gagging.

I like the taste of beer. It's so foamy. Man this thread makes me thirsty. I'm hitting the bar this weekend.

[Gordon Smith]

I like the taste of beer. It's so foamy. Man this thread makes me thirsty. I'm hitting the bar this weekend.

Well, I certainly don't mind if other people drink beer. Go knock yourself out and have some fun!

[Manchine]

Whats funny is I cant drink. So I dont drink.

[Sheldon]

Don't forget the popularity boost after Sideways came out.
I was just going to post that. It is amazing what a movie can do.

[Paradox]

Dreadstar notes a certain conformity:

It's because the VAST MAJORITY of beer production in the U.S. has been geared to some stupid uniformity. All the major brandsd have moved toward tasting more and more and more like each other. Outside of microbrews there's no individuality. Yes, there are differences in taste, but those differences =have become less and less pronounced, even in the last 5-10 years. Bud tastes like Coors, tastes like Miler, tastes like . . .

I believe the phrase you're grasping for here is "goat urine". :D

[howyadoin]

That your wife/girlfriend controls the purse string, maybe?Psst. She's not a guy.

[K'Nort]

Psst. She's not a guy.

But it has been argued in the industry that that is an overall reason for the switch. The fact that women do all the shopping.