I am reading a study ATM which suggests it really is!
The article by Denise Baxter in "The Brewer" from February 1996 on pp. 63–66. If anyone is interested. I will sum it up for you here:
The article seems to have collected it's info from several studies done over a 70 year period in various parts of the world by various different teams of scientists and of course different groups of people. So it appears the study was done on beer in general and not one style, which is the best news of all IMHO
The non-drinker has a much higher chance of dying it would seem than even the drinker whom averages 42 drinks per week! In fact 10% more according to the pretty little graph they have given us. I am assuming this is for men only, you would probably need to cut this by two-thirds to one-half for women to see the same benefit?
The man who drinks seven drinks per week will be 20% lower risk of death, drink 14 per week and you have a 35% lower risk! Over 14 and your risk starts to go back up, where at 21 drinks per week you have a 30% lower risk and at 28 per week a 25% lower risk. For some reason 35 has not been marked but appears to cross at about 20% lower risk.
If you drink more than 42 drinks per week your risk of death is increased by an average of 10%. I myself like the rule of four standard drinks per day with an AFD once per week. That would give you between a 25 and 30% lower risk of death than the non-drinker! Tough work, but I think we can do it
My fault! I typed day where I should have typed week... 
