The present study examined the relationship between the perception of alcohol advertising and daily drinking patterns. The drinking patterns of thirty-five young adult drinkers were monitored for one month using a diary. Diary measures included brand of beverage consumed, amount consumed, drinking situation and the subjects' mood before and after drinking. After the one month monitoring period subjects rated currently screened television advertisements for brand-leading alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages for the themes these advertisements portrayed. The relationship between drinking patterns and the perception of advertising was then explored using multivariate analysis of variance and discriminant analysis. The results identified alcohol advertisements as more strongly portraying alcohol as associated with friendship, relaxation and feelings of national identity, than the advertising of non-alcoholic beverages. There was however no relationship between perception of these themes and alcohol consumption.