New Zealand: Beer is the most popular type of alcoholic beverage in the country

Beer, wine, and spirit-based drinks available for consumption all increased in the 2005 calendar year, Statistics New Zealand announced on February 23. Beer still remained the most popular type of alcoholic beverage in New Zealand, accounting for 68.8 % of the alcohol available for consumption. While beer with a strength of 4.35 % or less was still the most common beer available, the availability of higher strength beer has been increasing. It represented almost 30 percent of the 316 million litres of beer available in 2005.

Bottled beer made up 53.6 % of domestically produced beer in 2005, exceeding the previous highest level (50.8 %) in 1982. By contrast, bulk (tap) beer now accounts for just over a quarter of the beer produced, compared with almost half of the beer produced in 1991. Total domestic production was down slightly from the 2004 level, to 91.6 percent of all beer available for consumption. In 2005, wine provided 19.5 percent of the available alcohol, with domestic production making up three-quarters of the 89 million litres of wine available in New Zealand.

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