Feb. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Altria Group Inc.’s timing for a sale of its beer and wine assets, now under consideration, may be less than ideal.

The same might be said about InBev NV’s expansion in the U.S. beer market, spurred by the $52 billion acquisition of Anheuser-Busch Cos. in November.

The CHART OF THE DAY shows why. Take-out sales of alcoholic beverages tumbled 9.3 percent in the fourth quarter, the steepest drop since the U.S. Commerce Department started compiling data half a century ago. They sank four times as much as overall consumer spending, depicted by a green line in the chart.

The plunge, which took place as the U.S. recession surpassed the one-year mark, shattered the previous record of 3.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 1991. That decline capped three quarters of falling sales as the U.S. came out of a recession.

Beer sales fell the most, 14 percent, in last year’s fourth quarter. They accounted for 61 percent of the $111.9 billion in alcohol sold to drink at home. Wine sales retreated 1.6 percent and sales of liquor slid 0.9 percent.

Fivethirtyeight.com, a Web site best known for its statistical analysis of last year’s U.S. presidential election, featured the alcohol-sales data last week in a posting by founder Nate Silver.

(To save a copy of the chart, click here.)

To contact the reporter on this story: David Wilson in New York at dwilson@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: February 23, 2009 10:51 EST