Americans consume more than the usual amount of liquor, wine, or beer around holiday time. The news is that on an annual basis, they're spending less. Still, by one measure, the biggest spenders on booze are at the other end of the age spectrum. At the same time, coffee consumption in that age group has risen.
People generally spend less on liquor as they get older.
A taste for beer appears to decline with age and education. High school graduates spend 56 percent of their alcohol dollars on brew, compared with 35 percent for those who finished graduate school. This will probably increase, given the high growth in microbreweries and sales of home-brew equipment. Homeowners and renters spend about the same amount on beer, but homeowners spend 50 percent more on wine. The overall trend seems to be that young people are drinking a lot less and old people are drinking more.