Alongside a loved one, it’s likely that many of us will be entering 2024 holding something else too… and that’s the oh-so important glass of bubbly!

Over the last few decades the UK has seen and been through a lot. But as a nation - we always seem to find a reason to celebrate. And what better way to do this than to indulge in good food and your favourite drink with the people you love.

But what is the UK’s favourite alcoholic drink in 2024? How much alcohol do we consume as a nation? And how have the coronavirus pandemic, economic recessions and other circumstances impacted our drinking habits?

To find out, we conducted a survey of over 2,000 UK adults, analysed more than 300,000 online searches and delved into all of the most up to date research on all things related to alcohol consumption.

Quick Fire Facts on Alcohol Consumption

Want the juicy facts without a long read? Here are what we consider the most important statistics from our 2024 research:

• 71.2% of adults in the UK consume alcohol at least once a week
• 12.5% of adults in the UK declare themselves to be teetotal
• The UK’s favourite tipsy tipple is white wine, with 21.8% of people surveyed saying they drink it at least once a week
• This is closely followed by lager, which 21.75% of those surveyed say they drink weekly
• Red wine takes third place at 20.5% of those surveyed saying they enjoy a glass at least weekly

Alcohol Consumption Survey: What we asked 

Beer? Wine? Gin? Whiskey? Which is really the nation’s favourite? And how often do UK adults drink in 2022? 

To find out which type of alcohol is most loved amongst Brits and how much alcohol we’re consuming going into 2024, we polled 2,000 UK adults using the market research tool Censuswide. The survey was conducted in December 2022 and asked:

Which of these alcoholic drinks do you enjoy regularly (once per week or more)? 

• White wine
• Sparkling wine
• Rosé wine
• Red wine
• Gin
• Rum
• Vodka
• Whiskey
• Lager
• Bitter
• Craft Beers
• Other (please specify)
• None - I am teetotal
• Unsure
• There is no alcoholic drink I enjoy regularly

How often do UK adults consume alcohol?

To find out how many UK adults drink alcohol on a weekly basis, we subtracted the number of people who say they’re unsure of their alcohol preference, teetotal or that there’s no alcoholic drink they enjoy regularly from the number of people surveyed. This revealed that:

• 71.2% of UK adults drink alcohol at least once a week.

• Only 13.5% of UK adults who drink, drink less frequently than on a weekly basis.

• 12.5% of UK adults don’t drink any alcohol whatsoever, stating that they are teetotal.

 

 

Do men or women drink alcohol most frequently?

So it’s clear that us Brits like to enjoy our favourite drinks on a regular basis. But who drinks most often? Men or women? Our survey found:

• 75.6% of men drink alcohol at least once a week.

• Whilst just 67.6% of women say they drink this often.

• Women are more likely to be teetotal than men, as 14.4% of women say they never drink alcohol vs 10.5% of men.

 

Teetotalism Statistics: How many people in the UK are teetotal?

So now we know which gender is most likely to drink alcohol most frequently and how often they do so. But how about those who don’t drink? Which demographics in the UK are the least likely to drink alcohol? And how many UK adults are teetotal in 2024?

Our survey found:

• 8.4 million UK adults in 2024 are teetotal. That’s 1 in every 8 people.

• Women are more likely to be teetotal than men, as 14.4% of women say they never drink alcohol vs 10.5% of men.
• People living in the South West of England drink less frequently than any other UK region, as 68% say they drink weekly or more.

• When it comes to age, those aged 55 and over are most likely to be teetotal, as 14% say they don’t drink alcohol. This is followed by those aged between 45 and 54, 13% of whom say the same. 

Age	Percentage that are teetotal
18-24	11.57%
35-34	11.59%
35-44	9.69%
45-54	13.31%
55+	13.83%

Which are the booziest UK regions?

Is there a north south divide when it comes to alcohol? Who drinks the most? Is it the Scots, Irish, Welsh or English? Our survey revealed. 

• The booziest part of the United Kingdom is Wales! Where a staggering 80% of people drink alcohol at least once a week.

• This is followed by the West Midlands, East Midlands, North East, North West and Yorkshire and the Humber, where more than three quarters of people drink alcohol on a weekly basis.

• UK regions that drink alcohol least frequently on the other hand are the South West, Greater London and Scotland.

 

Rank	Region	Percentage of people who drink weekly
1.	Wales	80.2%
2.	West Midlands	78.4%
3.	East Midlands	76.7%
4.	North East	76.5%
5.	North West	76.4%
6.	Yorkshire and the Humber	76.4%
7.	Northern Ireland	75.4%
8.	East of England	75.0%
9.	South East	74.5%
10.	Scotland	69.5%
11.	Greater London	69.2%
12.	South West	67.6%

 

For the purposes of the survey, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland were categorised as regions, although they are of course countries in their own right.

What is the most popular alcoholic beverage in the UK?

Our survey found that the UK’s favourite alcoholic drink is officially…

White wine! Closely followed by lager.

• It turns out that UK adults have a real love for white wine, with more than 1 in 5 (21.8%) revealing that they enjoy it at least once a week.

• Almost as popular is lager, with 21.75% stating that this is a regular drink of choice for them (21.75%).

• Red wine comes in 3rd place, as 20.5% say they have a glass or more at least weekly (20.5%).

• Spirits are also up there amongst the nation’s most regularly consumed forms of alcohol, particularly gin, vodka and whiskey (18.5%, 14.3% and 13.4% respectively).

 

The survey also found that:

• 8% of people enjoy a glass (or two, or more!) of rosé at least once a week, a similar proportion as that of those who drink sparkling wine on a weekly basis (12.3%).

• Rum is enjoyed weekly by 12.1% of UK adults.

• And craft beers and bitter are enjoyed by 10.3% and 7.9% of UK adults on a regular basis.

Alcohol preferences amongst men vs women

In films and television, beer and whisky are often portrayed as being masculine drinks, favoured mostly by men. Whilst wine and clear spirits primarily tend to be sipped at by women in pop culture. But just how well does this represent men and womens’ actual preferences when it comes to alcohol? Our survey revealed that: 

• Hollywood may have been right! It turns out that women enjoy wine more often than men (56.6% vs 47.4%). 

• Whilst men appear to much prefer lager, beer and bitter, as a staggering three quarters (73.9%) of those that drink these types of alcohol on a weekly basis are men. Meaning that just 26.1% are women.

• Men also enjoy whiskey more frequently than women, as 73.4% of those who drink it weekly are men.

 

Does our age influence our taste in alcohol?

As we get older and wiser, does our taste in alcohol age like a fine wine? Do we become connoisseurs when it comes to our favourite tipples? Or do we perhaps become less fussy with our drinks choices as we age? To find out just that, we compared young peoples’ responses to the survey with those of older generations, which found:

• Young UK adults’ most frequently consumed alcoholic beverage is… Vodka! Our survey found that 19% of those aged 18-24 drink vodka at least once a week.

• Whilst in the 25-34 year old age category, G&Ts appear to be their preferred drink of choice, as 20.6% drink gin on at least a weekly basis.

• When we reach 35 however, our alcohol preferences appear to switch to less strong options, with lager being the most frequently consumed alcoholic drink by those aged 35 to 54.

• As we mature like fine wines, our taste buds seem to as well, with more than a quarter of those aged 55+ stating that they drink white wine once a week or more.

  

Age group	Alcohol consumed most frequently	Percentage of age group that drink it weekly or more
18-24	Vodka	19%
25-34	Gin	20.6%
35-44	Lager	29.4%
45-54	Lager	25.7%
55+	White wine	25.2

 

Favourite alcoholic beverage by UK region

Is the Scots’ favourite alcoholic drink really whiskey? And are the Cornish really that into their cider? To find out, we asked each of our survey’s 2,000 participants which part of the UK they were from. Turns out…

• Scots’ beverage of choice is actually lager, as with that of Wales, the North East, North West and Yorkshire and the Humber.

• The West Midlands on the other hand prefer red wine, as does the East of England.

• White wine however, appears to be favoured by those in Northern Ireland, the East Midlands, Greater London and the South West. And also by the South East who seem to enjoy both gin and white wine just as frequently as one another.

 

Region	Alcohol consumed most frequently	Percentage of people who drink it weekly or more
Wales	Lager	20.80%
West Midlands	Red wine	25%
East Midlands	White wine	40%
North East	Lager	37%
North West	Lager	26.40%
Yorkshire and the Humber	Lager	23%
Northern Ireland	White wine	29.80%
East of England	Red wine	22.90%
South East	Gin and white wine	Both 23.7%
Scotland	Lager	23.40%
Greater London	White wine	23.10%
South West	White wine	25.30%

 

Google the liquor shop: which drinks do we order online the most?

So now we know that the country’s favourite tipple is white wine. But is this the beverage we order the most online? Or do us Brits prefer getting the best deals on bottles of spirits online or searching high and low on Google for a limited edition pale ale or whiskey? To find out, we took a look at Google search volumes for different forms of alcohol in the past 12 months*. Our analysis found that:

• The type of alcohol people in the UK search for most online is… wine! As terms related to buying wine (red, white and rosé) online are searched more each month than any other form of alcohol, racking up an impressive 1,300 average monthly searches.

• This is closely followed by whiskey, which on average is searched 900 times each month in the UK by those looking to purchase it online.

• In third place is beer, being searched for in the UK approximately 560 times per month alongside the words ‘buy online’.

 

Rank	Alcohol	Average monthly online searches for ‘buy X online’ in 2022
1.	wine	2110
2.	whiskey	900
3.	beer	560
4.	champagne	310
5.	gin	250
6.	vodka	170
7.	rum	130
8.	tequila	110
9.	prosecco	110
10.	cider	100

 

*For our analysis of Google searches, we inputted A Couple Cooks’ list of Alcohol and Liquor Names into the online search analysis tool Keyword Finder. This allowed us to obtain average monthly search volumes for the term ‘buy X online’, with X being each type of alcohol or liquor. It’s important to note that these findings only show which types of alcohol are searched for most online, not which are most bought. We grouped searches for ‘white wine’, ‘rosé’ and ‘red wine’ into the category of ‘wine’.The analysis was conducted in December 2022.

It’s also important to note that these findings do not represent all individuals who are looking to buy alcohol online, as many people may search for a specific brand or retailer as opposed to the terms we’ve analysed.

How did the pandemic impact the UK’s alcohol consumption?

Which alcoholic drinks got us through the national lockdowns of 2020 and 2021? Did we drink wine to help pass the time? Or was it actually the aptly named Corona that helped get us through the highs and lows of the last few years? Our keyword analysis found:

• Wine was by far the most searched-for form of alcohol online during the coronavirus lockdown. It was also the most popular in the years before and after the pandemic.

• Before and during the first lockdown of 2020, beer was the second most searched-for type of alcoholic beverage.

• However, since then, whiskey has taken its place, now officially being the second most popular alcoholic drink amongst those looking to buy booze online. 

 

• All in all, our study found that from 2019 to 2020, searches conducted by those looking to buy alcohol online more than doubled, before returning to their original rate back in 2021 and 2022.

Which is the most popular type of wine to buy online? White, rosé or red?

As the above chart shows, wine is by far and away the UK’s favourite alcoholic beverage when it comes to ordering online. From crisp whites to elegant reds and harmoniously balanced rosés, wine can both bring us together and divide our opinions. That’s why, once and for all, we wanted to find out for definite which wine is most-loved across the United Kingdom. To do this, we analysed search volumes for the specific terms ‘buy white wine online’, ‘buy rose online’ and ‘buy red wine online’, and found that: 

• Red wine is the most popular when it comes to ordering alcohol online, accounting for almost 54% of searches for the three types of wine.

• This is followed closely by rosé, whose online search volumes account for just over 42%.

• Perhaps surprisingly, white wine is the least popular amongst those searching to buy wine online, accounting for just 4% of searches. One potential reason for this may be that those who are wanting to buy white wine, are simply more likely to search for the broader term ‘wine’, than specify the colour.

Most popular alcohol brands of the UK in 2022

So we’re officially a nation of wine and lager lovers! Who knew? But which brands of alcohol are most popular in the UK?

To find out just that, we inputted a list of 100 of the UK’s biggest alcohol brands into the search analysis tool Keyword Finder. We then extracted this data, which allowed us to determine which alcohol brands are the most popular in the UK amongst online searchers. Our analysis found:

• The most popular alcohol brand of 2022 is officially Brewdog, being searched online a whopping 181,000 times a month in the UK alone.

• Our analysis found that the second most popular alcohol brand in the UK is Beefeater, being searched approximately 154,000 times each month.

• In third place comes the much-loved Irish cream liqueur Baileys, which received an average of 81,000 monthly searches.

• Brands such as Jack Daniels, Disaronno, Guinness, Malibu, Pimms, Johnnie Walker and Martini also feature amongst the UK’s most popular alcohol brands, followed by the likes of Jagermeister, Veuve Clicquot and Heineken.

 

Rank	Alcohol brand	Average monthly search volume in the UK (2022)
1.	brewdog	181000
2.	beefeater	154000
3.	baileys	81000
4.	jack daniels	75100
5.	disaronno	74500
6.	guinness	67700
7.	malibu	49400
8.	pimms	52100
9.	johnnie walker	41200
10.	martini	39600
11.	jagermeister	38800
12.	veuve clicquot	35800
13.	heineken	34100
14.	glenfiddich	33400
15.	buckfast	32600
16.	bacardi	32800
17.	cobra	29900
18.	southern comfort	30600
19.	tia maria	28300
20.	courvoisier	28600
21.	grey goose	27400
22.	dragon soop	26700
23.	sourz	26700
24.	budweiser	26400
25.	glenmorangie	25200
26.	marstons	25900
27.	hobgoblin	24600
28.	sharp's	24900
29.	kopparberg	24400
30.	wkd	24700
31.	corona beer	23600
32.	dead man's fingers	23000
33.	fosters	23000
34.	thatchers	23400
35.	stella	23100
36.	birra moretti	22800
37.	beavertown	22400
38.	becks	22700
39.	sol	21500
40.	peroni	21700
41.	captain morgan	20500
42.	smirnoff	20200
43.	moet	18600
44.	john smiths	17800
45.	grants	16900
46.	san miguel	16800
47.	staropramen	16500
48.	jura	15600
49.	rekorderlig	15100
50.	gordons	14500
51.	asahi	14000
52.	magnum tonic wine	13400
53.	hen	13600
54.	19 crimes	12900
55.	old mout cider	13400
56.	haig club	12500
57.	carlsberg	12900
58.	bollinger	12400
59.	tanqueray	12100
60.	bombay	12200
61.	barefoot	11700
62.	jameson	11200
63.	carling	11300
64.	lambrini	10800
65.	casillero del diablo	10700
66.	bud light	10800
67.	dark horse	10300
68.	adnams	9900
69.	desperados	10100
70.	echo falls	9800
71.	strongbow	9900
72.	jim beam	9300
73.	freixenet	9200
74.	torres	8900
75.	amstel	8500
76.	coors	8100
77.	tennents	7700
78.	glen's	7900
79.	laurent perrier	7400
80.	kronenbourg	7300
81.	the kraken	7400
82.	red stripe	7200
83.	henry westons	6500
84.	frosty jacks	5900
85.	taittinger	5800
86.	hardys	5500
87.	leffe	5600
88.	whyte and mackay	4900
89.	magners	4200
90.	sipsmith	4200
91.	hendrick's	4100
92.	whitley neill	3400
93.	jam shed	3300
94.	oyster bay	3400
95.	most wanted	3200
96.	the glenlivet	3100
97.	villa maria	3100
98.	la vieille ferme	3000
99.	campo viejo	2900
100.	yellow tail	2800

 

We conducted this keyword research based on the Grocer's list of the biggest alcohol brands in the UK.

How much alcohol does the UK consume compared to other countries worldwide?

Ever wondered where our alcohol consumption rates stand next to the rest of Europe? Or perhaps the United States? Well, wonder no more! We’ve gathered all of the most recent data on alcohol consumption rates worldwide.

• As of 2019, the country which consumes the most alcohol per capita is the Cook Islands, followed by Latvia, the Czech Republic and Lithuania.

• Of all countries worldwide, the United Kingdom ranks in 24th position when it comes to alcohol consumption.

• The countries that consume the least alcohol are Somalia, Bangladesh and Sudan.

We hope you enjoyed this roundup of the latest Alcohol Consumption statistics, facts and figures for the UK! To find out more information, facts and updates on all things drinks related, head over to our blog. Alternatively, we have more resources if you'd like to learn more about nuances of fine wine as part of a corporate tasting and how these events work.