Thursday 27 August 2009

Nannies in a tizz

From the BBC:

People are drinking more alcohol by "stealth" because of the stronger drinks on the market, an analysis of consumption in the UK suggests.

The amount of alcohol consumed per person has risen by 10% since 2000 - despite drink sales remaining steady. Researchers Mintel said wines and lagers were becoming stronger and people were unaware of the changes.

It comes as latest figures show a third of men and a fifth of women* drink more than the recommended daily limits. The NHS recommends a limit of three to four units of alcohol per day for men, and two to three units for women...


Yadda, yadda, blah, waffle, I'm sure you get the picture. My personal highlights from that crock of shit are these two claims:

"Consumers have limited information to help them make healthy choices about their alcohol consumption" Don Shenker, of Alcohol Concern

I was at a barbecue recently where a Japanese lass stared fascinatedly at my beer can and told me that in Japan, beer cans were not covered in little charts, tables and warnings telling you how much alcohol is in it and how much, when and where you should and shouldn't drink.

The report said the changes were likely to be down to the stronger drinks that were on sale. The alcohol content of wine is now normally around 13%, while in the past it would have been closer to 11%. Premium 5% lagers were also becoming more popular.

The clue as ever is in the name - "Premium" lager. Given that every can or bottle of drink is plastered with charts, tables and warnings (see above) anyway, I think all but the daftest punter knows that when he (or she) pays a few pence extra for "premium" lager that they're doing this (at least in part) because it is stronger. Or do Alcohol Concern genuinely believe that drinks manufacturers are doing this as part of some evil plot?

* I'm not sure where they get that from. Seven months ago they claimed "Over a third of adults in Britain drink over the recommended daily amount at least one day a week, figures show." A fifth is a lot less than a third, n'est-ce pas?

14 comments:

Pavlov's Cat said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Letters From A Tory said...

I always imagined someone drinking 'by stealth' would involved standing in a dark alley hiding a bottle of whisky underneath a long brown coat.

manwiddicombe said...

"Stealth Drinking" .. .. .. right up there with "Passive Drinking" .. .. ..

knirirr said...

Or do Alcohol Concern genuinely believe that drinks manufacturers are doing this as part of some evil plot?

It's possible, I suppose. They may well imagine that drinks manufacturers are some sort of evil top-hatted capitalists who want to enslave us all by forcing us (by stealth, presumably) to consume their incredibly addictive wares.

neil craig said...

The disparity in figures just shows that BBC News, like most newspapers, is simply a rewriting of press releases from oficially supported bodies & this would be a pres release from a different body than the one that gave the other figure.

Pogo said...

The alcohol content of wine is now normally around 13%, while in the past it would have been closer to 11%.

That's a load of bollocks for a start... I've been drinking wine for 40-or-so years and the only wine in "the past" that was 11% was "el-cheapo vino collapso" - just like today. Decent stuff has always been 12 - 13%.

Forget "premium lagers", decent ale has always been 4 - 5% as well.

dearieme said...

nah, pogo, back before the Germans cocked up their wine biz, Hock and Moselle were pretty popular and they were typically down below 10%, even below 9%.

Mm, come to think of it we could have a fondue and a wee glass or three of Riesling tonight.

Mark Wadsworth said...

I dunno why that first comment was deleted. I trust that the author won't object if I reproduce it here:

I'm not sure the folks at Mintel will be happy about Alcohol Concern jumping on their report.

I had a quick look at their website and seems they are in the business of gettng people to drink more.

www.mintel.com

Identifying potential drinkers

Exclusive research from Mintel identifies which drinks have the greatest untapped potential and how to unlock it.

Pogo said...

"Hock and Moselle"...? My dear chap, I said "Decent stuff...". :-)

Pavlov's Cat said...

No problem Mark , I wrote it , then found the actual press release on their site. Which does seem to be counter to their whole raison d'etre, which is to get folks drinking more booze. But I had to rush out and not wishing to seem a cock if I got the wrong end of the stick, deleted the post, to come back to later.

Coming back to it, this seems to be a purely Marketing report, showing where to / who to pitch various brands and strengths to maximise growth.

That has indeed been hijacked by Alco Concern

PS I may still have the wrong end of the stick.

Curmudgeon said...

Contrary to what the report says, AIUI alcohol consumption has actually been falling in the UK for the past three or four years.

And there has been a trend to make a number of popular beers and ciders weaker, not stronger, most notably Stella.

Rob said...

Pogo,

Quite right. As far as I can remember (quite a long way, despite drinking alcohol) wine has been in the 12-13% range. I cannot ever remember seeing a bottle of red which was 11%. Ever.

I don't believe a word the health establishment says about alcohol anymore. Not a word.

Anonymous said...

Interestingly, in some states of the US (Pennsylvania is an example), it's actually illegal to mark the strength on the bottle - so that people don't pick the strongest, apparently.

Different nannies, different ways of making life pointlessly difficult.

Henry North London 2.0 said...

Actually Pennsylvania is a commonwealth. It isn't a state to be a pedant about it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvania

Will explain