KEY POINTS:
As the nation toasts midnight on New Year's Eve, experts say, we'll have clocked up an all-time alcohol consumption record.
Quality, as well as quantity, is on the rise - AC Nielsen data shows we increasingly choose premium beers and bottled wines over casks and mainstream brews.
All the signs are that we will top last year's figure of 458.8 million litres of alcohol consumption.
We are spending at least 25 per cent more on alcohol than we did nine years ago. We spent almost a billion dollars on alcohol in supermarkets this year, according to AC Nielsen data.
Mainstream beers and white cask wine were the only categories not to pull in piles more cash than last year - the spend on premium beers was up an astounding 22.2 per cent and white bottled wines up 15.1 per cent.
Red and fortified wines were close behind, ringing up an extra 13.8 and 10.6 per cent respectively.
Overall wine sales in supermarkets leapt from $500m in 2004 to $607m this year, while beer jumped from $287m to $344m in the same period.
Nicki Stewart, chief executive of the Beer Wine and Spirits Council, said across the board, alcohol consumption was either climbing or steady. "Beer - overall consumption, total, is flat. Wine has risen a little bit but not as much as it has in the past. Spirits are up - mainly due to the RTD market."
Stewart said that latest quarterly figures showed RTDs are a major growth area: "Definitely still rising but not as dramatically as they have in the past".
Stewart said: "We're not necessarily drinking more - we're certainly drinking better."
Sandra Kirby, chief executive of the Alcohol Advisory Council of New Zealand, said "it certainly looks like we're drinking a bit more every year".
She said that internationally, alcohol consumption rises one per cent for every dollar knocked off the price.
"One of the biggest concerns that we have is about the relative price of alcohol now - not just supermarkets but the big chains."
John Corbett, editor of the Grocer's Review, put the boozy trend down to intense competition and discounting, and a glut in the wine market.
But Kiwi drinkers also are learning to appreciate the finer things in life, he said.
"Beer drinkers now are developing a portfolio of beers that they like, and they use them for different occasions, like wine - they're matching beer to the occasion, or to foods."
We are also buying more $15 to $20 wines - so what of the poor old cask?
Corbett said there is still good money to be made there - last year they pulled in over $71m - so they are probably here to stay.
Liz Read, spokesperson for Lion Nathan, said three of the brewer's top brands had grown by "double-digits" as people explored premium beers.
For example, women are trying Corona as an alternative to wine on hot, summer days.
Read said the Wither Hills wines - thanks to a $5 discount - are selling out all over the country, despite accusations that the winery was making special small batches of wine to enter in competitions.
Chris Yorke, global marketing director for NZ Winegrowers, said New Zealanders are steadily moving towards wine instead of beer.
AC Nielsen data showed in the winter quarter that merlots and cabernet merlots were the strongest sellers.
"The big news is that sauvignon blanc overtook chardonnay as the most popular white," he said.
- HERALD ON SUNDAY
