America has an official alcoholic beverage, it is BEER, according to a new Gallup Poll. The overall U.S. beer market is worth hundreds of billions.
Beer is Americans' adult beverage of choice this year. More than six in 10 adults say they drink it.
Americans who drink alcohol choose beer over wine and liquor as the type of alcohol they imbibe most often. This year, 41% of U.S. drinkers report they typically drink beer; 31% name wine and 23% name liquor.
Drinking is the norm for about four in 10 Americans. That includes 32% who say they had between one and seven drinks in the past week and another 9% who consumed eight or more drinks. Another 22% appear to drink less routinely, while slightly more than one-third don't drink at all.
Over 205 million barrels of beer were sold (1 barrel equals 31 gallons of beer). In the same year, there were 1,595 breweries in the U.S. fermenting everything from light lagers to chocolaty stouts. The overall U.S. beer market is worth hundreds of billions.