Liquor retailers' share has dropped to 34% and on-premises consumption is down to 28%.
Bars are holding on to their share of the beer trade better here than in Britain where supermarkets sell as much beer as hotels - and the British Beer and Pub Association is complaining that supermarket beer sales are killing off its pubs.
Surveys show that since 2002, pub consumption has fallen 39% and patronage by 19% last year. The fact that the equivalent of a pint costs as little as 30p (NZ62c) in the supermarket, compared with 3.09 ($NZ6.45) across a bar obviously does not help.
The association calculates that an average of 26 pubs close every week and that there are now only about 52,000 left - half as many as before World War 2.
• Malty trio from England
Fuller's has embarked on a heritage series, called Past Masters, based on old recipes. Its XX Strong Ale (7.5%) follows a 1890s recipe. It is rich and malty with soft bitterness.
Cameron's 6th Sense strong ale (6%) reminds me of the daily spoonful of malt extract I was given as a boy. The malt flavour is tempered by soft bitterness. The "sixth sense" comes from staff's experiences of ghostly apparitions and sounds at the old Hartlepool brewery.
Cameron's Monkey Stout is richer than its 4.4% strength promises. It is black with a rich head, smooth and exudes roasted and coffee flavours. It is so-named after a legend that when a French warship was wrecked off the English coast, the ship's monkey, decked out in military uniform, was the sole survivor. It was tried as a spy and hanged.
The English beers are distributed by Beer Force. I found mine in Henry's, Alexandra, for about $8.50 for each 500ml bottle.
• Stout one
Nelson brewer McCashin's has released a Stoke Oatmeal Stout (5.2%) a malty number with soft hop bitterness and a lovely head.
Some drinkers are put off stout because of its burnt and bitter character. This stout and Camerons (above) are smooth and malty with little of those flavours.
The malt flavours come through better if all four beers above are consumed when they are at least 10degC.
• New one for summer
Boundary Road Brewery (owned by Independent Liquor) has released Lawn Ranger (5%) which has lemon and lime flavours.
It joins a number of citrus and spice-infused summer thirst-quenchers like Monteith's Radler (lemon) and Summer Ale (ginger), Boundary Road Grizzly Beer (ginger), Harrington's Lazy Sunday (tangelos, coriander and ginger) and the American Miller's Chill (lime).
Lawn Ranger is a bit sweeter than the others on offer and therefore lacks some of that spicy or citric bite that is so thirst-quenching on a hot day.
