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South Africans are very fond of alcoholic beverages, with 50% of the country drinking alcohol at some point within any given month, and an ice-cold beer is the country’s most popular beverage of choice.
This is according to Eighty20’s latest report on consumption and spending in South Africa, which noted the country is the 5th biggest consumer of alcohol – measured in per capita consumption.
The report analysed a survey result of over 20,000 South Africans and unpacked the number of people who drink alcoholic beverages, as well as the brands they consume.
The report highlighted that males dominate in terms of consumption, with 62% drinking some form of alcohol weekly or monthly, compared to 36% of women.
The data further showed that of the 50% of South Africa’s adult population that drinks alcohol, 41% cited beer as their beverage of choice.
“Our ubiquitous love for beer is still evident, but consumption over the past ten years has changed in terms of key brands consumed,” said Andrew Fulton, Director at Eighty20.
Interestingly, Fulton added that Flying Fish, which launched a decade ago, is now the 3rd most popular beer brand, ahead of Amstel, Castle Lager and Budweiser – showing brands that hit significantly harder in terms of ad spend saw notable gains, according to the 2023 Liquor Industry Report produced by Ornico.
“It is also the most over-indexed beer for women, second only to Black Label, which enjoys a whopping 60% more consumption,” he noted.
“In 2013, the top beer was Castle Lager, followed by Castle Light, Carling Black Label, Heineken and Hansa Pilsener.
“Ten years later, 2023 sees Carling at number one, other brands (which includes a massive influx of small independent brands and craft beers) at second, Castle Light (3rd), Flying Fish (4th) and Heineken (5th) – bumping Castle Lager from the top five in its entirety,” he said.
Taking a unique twist on preferences, when looking at beer consumption during sporting events (where beer is most often the chosen beverage), the report managed to provide a list of the most popular brands depending on the sport:
- Adventure sports: Tafel, Bavaria, Soweto Gold
- Cricket: Windhoek Light, Amstel Lager Radler
- Fishing: Miller’s, Lion, Soweto Gold
- Formula One: Tafel, Miller’s, Guinness
- Rugby: Sol Cerveza, Hansa Pilsner, Windhoek Draught
- Soccer: Tafel, Windhoek Light
The graph below shows the most popular beer brands in South Africa in 2023, measured by consumption.
Types of Alcohol
The report also highlighted the top alcohol categories in South Africa, with beer obviously in the top spot.
The male/female split by category shows that 72% of beer consumers are male, 70% for brandy, and 66% for whisky.
The top three for females differ completely: champagne and flavoured alcoholic beverages (58% female consumption), bottled wine (51%) and boxed wine at 49%.
“Interestingly, in a country where 72% of beer consumers are male, three of the top five alcohol brands have at least 50% female consumption,” said Fulton.
Regarding alternative choices, two-thirds of craft beer drinkers consume traditional beer (with Flying Fish and Amstel Radler in their top five picks). In contrast, only 2% of traditional beer drinkers drink craft beers.
And while beer is the second choice of most hard-tack drinkers, wine drinkers, and particularly champagne drinkers, list beer much further down the list of their choice of alternatives.
Flavoured alcoholic beverage drinkers also prefer cider to beer, but if they drink beer, it is likely to be one of the ‘lite’ brands.
Top Alcohol brands overall
The most surprising alcohol brand at number one overall is 4th Street Wine, a variety of sweet wines from Distell. 4th Street Wine sells well to lower-income consumers in tough times, with five-litre boxes available for R140 from Pick n Pay (equivalent to R21 for a bottle).
Savanna Dry is coming in at second and leading the cider category, followed by Carling Black Label, Brutal Fruit and then Gordons Gin at number five. Gordon’s dominates the Gin category, attracting 41% of all gin consumers. Brutal Fruit also dominates its class at 61% of all drinkers in that category.
Read: Good news for braai lovers in South Africa
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