Australians are drinking less alcohol, according to new research - which points to the price of alcohol and reduced trading hours as part of the reason behind the drop.
But the 10-year survey of Australian drinking habits suggests there is still room for improvement.
It is Friday lunch time drinks at one of Sydney's oldest pubs.
The Lord Nelson Brewery Hotel opened its doors in 1841, but only recently noticed a change.
Blair R Hayden is the pub's managing director - "People are a lot more discerning and a lot more careful about what they're drinking. And so they're drinking quality, rather than quantity. From a sense of origin as well, people are conscious where -- what they're drinking and where it's from."
New research has found that alcohol consumption -- per capita -- has fallen from 10.8 litres a person per year, to about 9.7 litres.
Young people are still more likely to drink at risky levels -- but they do so, in fewer numbers.
There are also more people who abstain from alcohol entirely -- about one in five.
Zane Pocock and his partner have been sober for more than a year - "It was a really easy way of cutting costs when we first came here, but then 15 months later or whatever it is, it just turned out that we didn't really miss it. So that's the primary reason [why I've been sober]."
Experts say higher taxes on alcohol appear to be having an impact, among other things.
Tim Beard is from the Australia Institute of Health and Welfare, which conducted the research - "Trading hours have been restricted in a lot of locations, more so than they have in the past. And also the density of outlets, so the availability of pubs to drink at and places where you can buy takeaway alcohol. It's basically where ever there's been density reductions, we found reductions in relative consumption of alcohol in those areas too."
He says their study also found that drinking rates were significantly lower for multicultural communities - "While 22 per cent of Australians abstained from alcohol in 2013, when you look at the non-english speaking background population, it's close to 50 per cent."
That's true for Filipino Australian, Irene Brinsmead - "We were never groomed to drink over a meal or even taste alcohol until we left our country."
But it's not all good news.
Research shows that binge drinking among 18 to 24 year olds is still too high, with 47 per cent reporting risky drinking levels.
More people are seeking treatment for alcohol abuse -- the majority are in their 40s.
Rates of alcohol treatment has also increased in remote and very remote areas.
The 10-year survey has revealed that overall Australian's are thinking twice about alcohol.
Tim Beard says it represents a major shift in Australia's drinking culture - "It certainly appears so. The abstaining period has really come up quite dramatically over that 10 year period and even shorter really. I mean, we look at 2004 to 2013 and we fuond the proportion of Australians that don't drink 10 years ago was 17 per cent. And it's now 22 per cent. When you think about that in sheer numbers -- that's a significant increase in people who just aren't touching alcohol full stop."
