• August 2, 2011

Wine ties beer as the top alcoholic beverage choice among U.S. drinkers for only the second time in two decades, according to a recently released Gallup poll.

Of the 1,016 U.S. adults surveyed, 666 drink alcohol. Of those, 35% say they drink wine the most often, 36% favor beer and 23% prefer liquor. The survey, conducted July 7-10, has a margin of error of 4 percentage points to 5 percentage points.

Beer dropped from 41% last year. This year's drop in beer preference was noted among all age groups but mostly among young adults -- dropping to 39% from 51% in 2010. Middle-age adults' preference for beer fell from 44 to 41%, while older adults' preference for beer fell from 29 to 27%.

Younger adults' decreased preference for beer is accompanied by slight increases in their preferences for liquor and wine, while 2% of young adults this year volunteered that they most often drink cordials, up from less than 1% last year.

Meanwhile, 48% of male drinkers say they most often drink beer and 26% say liquor, while 51% of female drinkers prefer wine.--Tanya Irwin