Who drinks the most in Great Britain?
Commercial Spirits Intelligence No.59
As people who have worked in and around the spirits industry for many years, we found that there was a lack of good, public, research on the trends in the spirits industry. Whether it’s trends in wood, or distillery capacity, or M&A activity - many of the existing research providers speak to a specific niche when we wanted a whole-market analysis. In this newsletter we leverage our experience, contacts and market intel to provide meaningful analysis that speaks to relevant issues for you. This newsletter is a collaboration between Duncan McFadzean of Noble & Co, and Martin Purvis. If you find this newsletter valuable, please consider a paid subscription.
Who drinks more in GB? Alcohol consumption patterns in modern-day Britain.
Executive Summary
The Scots have had a historic reputation for heavy drinking. In this article, we dig into data published in 2022 by Public Health Scotland on this topic to see what it shows. It backs up the fact that the Scots continue to drink more than the English/Welsh but the gap is narrowing and is falling faster than our British counterparts. The on-trade has declined significantly and most drinking now takes place at home. The mix of drinking has also evolved with the English and Welsh preferring beer, whereas the Scottish drinker like spirits more than their neighbours. Wine has grown in importance for the British drinker over the last twenty years. It would be great to see this research updated for the last few post-COVID years.