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Poll: Liquor pulls into second-place tie as most popular drink in U.S.

By Nicholas Sakelaris
For the first time in Gallup's history, liquor has virtually tied wine as the second most preferred alcoholic drink in the United States. File Photo by Stephen Shaver/UPI
For the first time in Gallup's history, liquor has virtually tied wine as the second most preferred alcoholic drink in the United States. File Photo by Stephen Shaver/UPI | License Photo

Aug. 9 (UPI) -- When it comes to Americans' preferred alcoholic beverage, it appears wine is losing popularity, a new survey showed Friday.

Spirits have essentially tied wine for second place, Gallup said in the poll, which asked Americans last month to name their favorite alcoholic drink. Perhaps not surprisingly, beer kept its long-held ranking as the top choice -- but liquor closed in on wine for the No. 2 spot. Thirty percent named wine, and 29 percent liquor. Nearly 40 percent tabbed beer.

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Gallup said Friday's survey was the first time it's seen liquor catch up to wine. Just 19 percent chose liquor in last year's poll.

The figures also showed 45 percent of women prefer wine -- compared to 15 percent for men, who overwhelmingly named beer (55 percent) as their drink of choice. The popularity of craft beer in recent years has only added to beer's grip on American refrigerators.

"While beer is not as dominant as it was a quarter-century ago, it remains the most popular of the three types of alcohol, with men primarily responsible for keeping it in the top spot," Gallup said.

Experts say spirits might be gaining drinkers because of the popularity of low-carb diets. Higher-income Americans have a tendency to drink wine, while lower-income demographics prefer beer, the study noted.

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Gallup polled more than 1,500 Americans last month for the survey, which carries a margin of error of 3 points.

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