When in childhood concepts about alcohol and drinking begin to develop has just begun to be investigated. A study was conducted to examine cognitive, maturational, and differential exposure influences on the acquisition of concepts about alcoholic beverages in preschool children. Knowledge about alcoholic beverages and drinking was assessed in 65 female and 66 male children between the ages of 2.5 and 6 years. The children were shown 10 drawings of adults and children in various activities and were asked what the characters would like to drink from five alcoholic and five non-alcoholic beverages. The children also identified the beverages and took the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised, and parents completed a questionnaire. The results revealed developmental differences with older children being more aware of the sociocultural drinking norms that adults drink and children do not and that men drink more than women, and exhibiting greater knowledge of alcoholic beverage names. Cognitive capacity of the preschoolers was found to have some influence on their awareness of drinking norms, but no relationship to their ability to identify alcoholic beverage names. Parents' drinking patterns and habits showed a low order but significant connection to children's perceptions of and knowledge about alcohol. Finally, parental race was related to the preschoolers' perceptions of normative drinking patterns and their knowledge of alcoholic beverage norms. (Eight data tables are included.) (NB)