Wine tops Beer since Lockdown

Beer may be Ireland’s favourite alcoholic drink but the pandemic closure of pubs saw a slump in sales allowing wine to record higxhest sales.

Overall, alcohol consumption fell by 6.6pc last year.According to the annual review of Drinks Ireland, beer’s market share has fallen from 45pc in 2019 to 38pc in 2020.

The prolonged closure of the hospitality sector in 2020 meant beer sales fell by over 17pc, with the share of beer sold in these businesses down from 60pc in 2019 to less than 30pc a year later.

However wine sales boomed during lockdown with sales up by 28pc last year.

The review said wine’s market share was 32pc last year with Chilean wines the most popular.

Sales of spirits, the third most popular category of alcoholic drink, dropped by nearly 5pc, while Ireland’s fourth favourite drink, cider, saw sales hit by the closure of pubs and was down by over 11pc.

The review also shows that overall alcohol consumption dropped by 6.6pc in Ireland in 2020 and by 6pc worldwide.