Gallup on Beer Consumption Patterns

Every year, Gallup does a survey about the consumption pattern of American drinkers.  Since I've been discussing them for three years now (2009, 2010, 2011), I figure it's too late to stop.  The piece that most interests me is women.  Gallup has consistently found that they prefer wine over beer and liquor, but in 2010, it looked like there was a major shift among women toward beer--especially younger women.  But then last year the numbers looked more like 2009 numbers.  Were the findings in 2010 an outlier?  It's starting to look like it.

Women Citing Beer as Preferred Beverage

_____________________2009____2010___2011___2012
All__________________21%_____27% ___22% ___23%
Under 49 years old___25%_____35% ___28% ___27%
Over 50 years old____15%_____18% ___17% ___17%

So there you have it.  Women may be very slowly switching allegiance to beer, but it's very slowly.  Ah, well.