Based on a 1986 national probability sample of 2401 Americans aged 21 years and over (1069 of whom were deemed 'drinkers' on the basis of having drunk at least one alcoholic beverage in the past seven days), this study analyses the relationship between respondents' perceptions of how appropriate it is to consume either beer, wine, distilled spirits, or wine coolers in each of six social contexts (namely, at a bar, at a ballgame, 'when the party's really rolling', at a celebration, as a perfect complement to a nice dinner, and after a particularly rough, i.e. difficult, day) and subsequent alcohol consumption by these same individuals. It was hypothesized that people who considered it appropriate to drink a given beverage type would drink more of that beverage than those individuals who deemed consumption of that type of alcohol to be inappropriate. Results indicated that this is valid for certain of the social occasions in terms of the use of beer, distilled spirits and wine. Wine cooler consumption, however, was found to be unrelated to people's perceptions of how appropriate it is to drink in different social situations.