Beer continues to gain popularity in Italy and has now overtaken wine as the choice of Italians when they eat away from home, according to a new report.
The study, carried out by the Makno research group for the association of Italian brewers Assobirra, found that 19.8% of Italians drank beer with their meals away from home compared to 18.8% who chose wine.
However, during the weekend wine remained the favorite choice for 43.6% of Italians compared to 38.9% who preferred beer.
The report, based on a cross-section of 1,500 people, also found that there was a 4% increase in the number of people drinking beer from a similar study a year earlier.
Today almost seven out of ten Italians drink beer, 6.6% drink it every day, 27.5% drink it frequently and 35% drink it occasionally.
According to Assobirra, the per capita consumption of beer by Italians in 2006 averaged out at 30.3 liters for a total of almost 18 million hectoliters.
In 2005, Italians drank an average of 29.7 liters
Italy is now in ninth place for beer production in Europe, brewing in the neighborhood of 13 million hectoliters a year, up from 12.7 million hectoliters in 2005.
Of these, some 781,000 hectoliters are exported.
Exports of Italian beer rose 9.1% in 2006, over the previous year, while imports of foreign beer jumped 10.6%.
The Makno study found that more than half of the people they quizzed chose beer for its taste, fewer people were drinking it with pizza but more were consuming beer with fish, especially fried fish.
Beer drinking among women continues to be on the rise, with 54.5% swigging the brew last year compared to 53.1% a year before.
