When it comes to consuming alcohol with meals throughout the week, almost 3 in 10 adults claim they would have some form of alcohol with their meals at home, this peaks amongst Dublin residents where just over a third (34%) claim to consume alcohol with their meals at some stage throughout a typical week.
Recent research on behalf of Retail Intelligence by Empathy Research, amongst a nationally representative sample of 1,000 adults aged 18+, sought to identify which types of alcohol is being consumed with meals and how behaviour and tastes may have changed over time.
When it comes to the type of alcohol being consumed on these meal occasions, wine is the most popular by some distance. Amongst those who have alcohol along with their Saturday evening meal, two thirds (67%) will have wine with their meal, with red wine (38%) and white wine (37%) evenly split in terms of the consumption.
There are just over a quarter who claim they will consume beer with their Saturday evening meal. Red wine is more likely to be consumed by those aged 55+ while beer is significantly more likely to be consumed by those aged 18-34 (33%) and males (39%). This pattern of consumption behaviour is consistent across other prominent meal occasions where alcohol is being consumed.
Beer With Dinner Increase
Amongst those who consume beer with their meals, there are almost 1 in 10 (9%) who claim they are consuming beer with food more frequently. This is higher amongst those aged 18-34 where 15% claim to be consuming more frequently. Within this group who have increased their consumption of beer with food, just over 4 in 10 (42%) claim they have replaced another type of alcohol with beer.
Wine is the most likely alcohol to be substituted by this group, with red wine more likely to be have been replaced than white wine. Having better beer options available to have with food nowadays and the perception that some food goes better with beer are key drivers in this switching behaviour.
For further information and more in-depth analysis on consumer’s food and alcohol pairing habits, please contact Robbie Clarke at Empathy Research.
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