During a time of economic crisis Russians are drinking less vodka and hard liquor and have instead turned to beer and wine, according to the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA).
Between January and August this year, sales of vodka fell 13.4 per cent on the same period last year.
Alexandra Burdyak, a senior researcher at RANEPA, said: "Sales of vodka dropped catastrophically. The drop was 13.4 percent against the same period of last year.
"The main decline occurred last year, when sales of vodka decreased by 12.6 percent compared to 2014."
Sales of beer, on the other hand, increased by 15-20 percent by mid-summer compared with the beginning of the year, and sales of wine have remained steady for the last year.
A decrease in the consumption of strong alcoholic beverages in general has reportedly been steady since 2013.
In terms of overall alcohol sales to the whole population, Vodka fell from 53 per cent of all sales between 2007-9 to 39 percent in the last year.
During the same period, the share of beer increased from 31-32 per cent to 43 per cent of total sales.
It is thought the tastes of the Russians born in 1985 are more influenced by Western, primarily European trends - they prefer wine, beer and other light alcoholic beverages.
