This study aimed at describing female drinking from young adolescence to middle age in a female Swedish community cohort (N = 238). Different aspects of alcohol habits were assessed at the ages of 14, 27, and 43, and the analyses focused on stability and change over this time. The results showed that large variations in alcohol habits over the life course were normally occurring phenomena. Furthermore, advanced drinking habits were neither necessary nor sufficient for developing heavy drinking or alcohol-related symptoms in adult age. The developmental patterns found in this study resembled the developmental patterns earlier described in male cohorts.