Rum, Vodka and Whisky voted Britain’s favourite drinks

With UK temperatures soaring at the moment, we’re starting to remember that we are actually in what meteorologists at the very least call “summer.” Yes those few days in the year where the sun comes out forcing us all to complain about being too hot and whinging about another poor night’s sleep are currently here.

Brits being Brits, we’re either making the most of it and heading straight to a beer garden or hiding inside watching Wimbledon with a Pimms or maybe some strawberries and cream. You don’t get more British!

For those making the most of the warm weather, it’s a chance to get the flip flops out of the cupboard, throw on some shorts and a t-shirt or a nice summer dress, find some suncream and sit outside while it lasts.

Many will choose to go and sit in their local park, perhaps to watch a game of cricket in the village or town they live in, maybe they’ll go down to the river to stay cool or they might even go off to the seaside. Whatever your choice is, there is a very good chance that you’ll probably have at least one alcoholic drink while summer pays its brief visit.

Let’s look on the bright side

Okay, enough pessimism over the brief British summer, let’s look at it from the other perspective. We all love getting outside and sitting in a beer garden is a real British activity. Sunglasses on, glass in hand… all is well!

This got me thinking. If sitting outside a pub in the summer is very British, and many of us will at some point over this weekend, what’s Britain’s favourite alcoholic drink? Everyone has their own preference – some have several – but we all have our own “go to” drink. The online alcohol retailer 31DOVER.com commissioned a study into the British public’s favourite tipple and it actually threw up some very interesting results.

It’s often assumed that certain people drink certain things, like teenagers and their alcopops and Grandparents with their real ale, but these results proved that us Brits – while having our own favourites – don’t have a “type” at all.

Of the 395 people who took part in the study, (179 being women, 153 men and the rest failing to disclose their gender), real ale – or beer – was the most popular outright choice with 69 votes. In joint-second place was cider and Vodka with 42, just ahead of lager which picked up 41 votes.

That’s the spirit! 

When you combine the data, however, it’s the spirits which quench our thirsts with the likes of Rum, Gin, Vodka and Whisky pulling in 34% of the votes (136 in total). Beer was second on the list, closely followed by the various types of wine, which got a combined 16% (69 votes).

The remainder was split between cider, lager and then ‘other’ drinks which included Guinness, cocktails and Champagne.