While a relationship between alcohol and cardiovascular risk factors is well established, data suggest that the type of alcoholic beverage could modulate this relationship. To determine whether drinking patterns modulate the relationship between alcohol and cardiovascular risk factors. We tested the relationship between preference of alcoholic beverages and atherosclerotic risk factors in a cross-sectional study of 2,126 men. A hierarchical clustering method determined six drinking patterns, 'low drinkers', 'high quality wines', 'beer and cider', 'digestives', 'local wines', and 'table wines', according to the preferential intake of alcoholic beverages. Logistic models estimated the relative risk of abnormal markers in the drinking patterns compared with low drinkers. Unadjusted estimates investigated the relationship with the cluster as a group, while adjustment on alcohol, nutritional and socio-demographic factors investigated the relationship with the preference of alcoholic beverage in itself. Abstainers had high total plasma homocysteine (tHcy), even after full adjustment (odds ratio (OR) = 1.6, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.0, 2.8). Drinkers of high quality wine had low lipoprotein( a), high tHcy and high body mass index; beer and cider drinkers had high tHcy and waist circumference. Drinkers of digestives had high triacylglycerol; after adjustment they were at risk of low apolipoprotein A-I (OR = 3.1, 95% CI: 1.2, 7.3), and high tHcy (OR = 4.9, 95% CI: 1.2, 33.3). Local wines drinkers were similar to low drinkers. Table wine drinkers had high apolipoprotein B, high triacylglycerol, and high waist-to-hip ratio. Our data suggest that preference of alcoholic beverage could indicate groups at specific risks of atherosclerotic disease.