We May Have Already Hit Peak Booze (bloomberg.com) 149
Global alcohol consumption has entered what appears to be a permanent decline, with total volume peaking at 25.4 billion liters in 2016 and falling approximately 13% since then, according to data from market research firm IWSR.
Per-capita consumption has dropped dramatically from 5 liters of pure alcohol per adult annually in 2013 to 3.9 liters in 2023. Wine production, which reached its maximum of 37.5 million metric tons in 1979, has already decreased by 27%. Beer production peaked more recently in 2016 at 190 million tons and has since declined 2.6%.
Industry experts attribute this shift to changing generational habits, with younger consumers preferring event-driven drinking rather than habitual consumption. The proliferation of non-alcoholic alternatives, increased marijuana availability, and health consciousness accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic have further driven moderation trends.
Per-capita consumption has dropped dramatically from 5 liters of pure alcohol per adult annually in 2013 to 3.9 liters in 2023. Wine production, which reached its maximum of 37.5 million metric tons in 1979, has already decreased by 27%. Beer production peaked more recently in 2016 at 190 million tons and has since declined 2.6%.
Industry experts attribute this shift to changing generational habits, with younger consumers preferring event-driven drinking rather than habitual consumption. The proliferation of non-alcoholic alternatives, increased marijuana availability, and health consciousness accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic have further driven moderation trends.
Aging population (Score:5, Insightful)
I think another factor is an aging population. I used to drink a little bit in my younger days, but now I find alcohol just makes me sleepy and melancholy... the exact opposite of fun. So I haven't had a drink for years and really don't miss it.
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For me, it drives my guts nuts, so I only have maybe a couple of drinks a year at social occasions. Other than that, I have a near full bottle of Crown Royal rye that I haven't opened in four years.
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I think another factor is an aging population. I used to drink a little bit in my younger days, but now I find alcohol just makes me sleepy and melancholy... the exact opposite of fun. So I haven't had a drink for years and really don't miss it.
I think this is definitely effecting it to a degree although my own anecdote is me drinking much less as a means of managing my overall health. I do still enjoy tying one on occasionally :) .
Interestingly enough though is that drinking is also declining amongst young people https://news.gallup.com/poll/5... [gallup.com] and this is true in many countries outside the US as well.
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When I 1st saw this chart of drinking among American adults in WaPo 10 years ago, I was really surprised at just how few people really drink and that the industry is supported by only about 30% of the drinking age population.
Also by just HOW MUCH the top 10% drink!
If they were all to abruptly quit drinking for perhaps 2-3 months the industry would collapse.
https://www.reddit.com/r/coolg... [reddit.com]
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Good info and what you said is pretty surprising to me as well. Then again my main social circle and myself were heavy drinkers for quite a few years (not so much nowadays but still occasionally) so I think my perception is a bit skewed.
Crazy about the 10 percent drinking almost 74 drinks per week. Makes me wonder what they're quantifying as a "drink".
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Possibly aging related.
Given the quality of commercial beers and the trend to overly hoppy beers I've started brewing my own. It was easier than I was led to believe (but I admit my other degree is in chemistry). Is home-brewed beer included in the data?
In any case I typically drink a beer a week, so the brewers really won't miss my business.
My other alcohol consumption is mostly my homemade blackberry wine which add to my home made grape juice to make a sort of a punch. But that is summer only, and still n
Re: Aging population (Score:2)
As an avid drinker of what some call overly hoppy beers, I didn't get what you're complaining about. Not because I expect you to like them as well, but because there has been a Renaissance in beer styles in America, which collapsed to almost exclusively pilseners during the depression because they are cheap and easy to make. Yes, many hoppy beers are on the scene now, but there's also more of every other style as well. I personally hate sour beer, and in some markets I find you have to wade through the sour
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Yes, many hoppy beers are on the scene now, but there's also more of every other style as well. I personally hate sour beer, and in some markets I find you have to wade through the sours to find the IPAs.
Your pain with sours would be my pain with IPAs. Many many markets are so dominated by not just IPAs themslves, but the perception that more IBUs makes for a better IPA has twisted so many other styles. Crack open the beer menu at a place bragging they have 32 taps and see 5 are set aside for the mass produced lagers, 14 IPAs, 4 ciders, 1 kombucha, 3 pale ales that might as well be IPAs, 1 red that forgot its malty roots, 1 imperial lager that tastes like Budweiser mixed with a medicinal vodka, a porter a
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I actually do still have fun and like going out drinking. My issues are twofold:
First, the hangovers are worse and recovery time is longer. Long-gone are the days when I could drink to excess every night of spring break, sleep it off until noon, have a cheeseburger, then go back out to the beach, start drinking again, stay drunk for another 12 hours, and at the end of the week go right back into classes with no decline in grades or perfomance. Now, I have to plan out hangover time at least into the mid-a
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Not just age alone but the need for prescription meds which comes as part of the wonderful package of senescence.
Up until just a few years ago, I could still down them *almost* as well as I could in my early 30s but since then I've been on several meds & even though I'm not forbidden to drink, I've found that I quickly feel weak & slightly nauseous after just 1 drink.
So, that's it for me, I'm out.
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I wish the human race was dying out, but you DO know that there are more people in their 20s today than there was when you were in your 20s. Right?
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Also: price.
It used to be easy to find a bottle of decent bourbon for less than $30. Then everyone decided that bourbon was the "in" thing to drink and all the prices shot up for anything that isn't rotgut, if you can even find it on a shelf. And the really good stuff has become an arbitrage play for assholes.
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Posts are always better with bigotry in the very first word, plus ignorance throughout.
And "boomers" most definitely are still working.
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Some of them are, but many are not.
Anyhow who was it who had a lunchtime point or two when I first joined the workforce as a young trail end Gen X intern? It wasn't the younger workforce members, so it was pretty much the boomers, maybe the odd member of the silent generation, but it was usually the bolshy mid career types.
Boomer is also an age range.
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Not trolling; genuinely curious: you consider the term "boomers" to be bigoted? Can you explain?
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I'm going to assume that you probably, just as me, grew up when a boomer was no more than someone born in the generation post WWII, my parents for example.
There's nothing bigoted about that, we just give funny names to different generations
The issue is that as language as evolved, as it always will, it now took a meaning more of an old person with calcified ideas (you can find that kind of person at any age group). I've seen it being used in pretty mu
Re: Aging population (Score:3)
I assume it was being used descriptively. The majority of boomers as a group have certain things in common. One of those is that, again as a group, they own more stuff than members of other generations. One reason for that is that property was much cheaper when they were earners, so they got more square footage than later generations, which means they had more room for stuff.
Pretending otherwise is denialism.
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Claiming the term "boomers" is bigoted based on that is an awfully big stretch for me. If people are talking shit about Mexicans while referring to them as such (which is the proper name for people from Mexico) does that make the term "Mexicans" bigoted? No, only the negative things they are saying would be bigoted. Likewise with "Boomers", even if it is short hand for Baby Boomer.
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There's nothing bigoted about shortening "Baby Boomers" (the literal name of that generation) to "Boomers". Just going off the age range (61-79) I can tell you quite a lot of Boomers are retired by now as well.
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Yeah, but he's not wrong. Being GenX, when I entered the workforce the boomers were still very much calling all the shots. And I caught the tail-end of the 2-martini-lunch days. I had more company-purchased martinis than I could even guess at in the first 3 or so years after graduating college. For my second job out of college, part of the job interview actually took place at a martini bar a block down from the company. Drinking was mandatory. And I was informed after the fact that my martini order wa
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"shrub's recession"
despite all the things I've read - and said - about Dubya, this is the 1st time I've encountered that phrase
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Damn lazy farmers. https://www.usda.gov/about-usd... [usda.gov]
Re: Aging population (Score:5, Insightful)
"Sitting at home collecting government checks is what sucks money out of the economy."
That's true for corporations, but not for humans. The humans spend that money on living expenses and it goes right back into the economy. Corporations spend it on buybacks and it goes into the pockets of the wealthy. They do also spend some of their money, but they currently have unprecedented cash hoards, so it's much better to give it to normal people because they will spend more of it.
Re: Aging population (Score:5, Insightful)
Yes, heaven forbid they collect the money from the government THAT THEY PAID INTO THE GOVERNMENT PENSION SYSTEM THEIR ENTIRE LIFE.
Or did you forget that people pay into Social Security through payroll deduction, and it's tracked on an individual account level?
Re: Aging population (Score:2)
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People don't "pay into social security". They are taxed to pay benefits for current recipients. They, in turn, will be paid a benefit when they retire. Its actually the only way caring for the aging CAN work. If someone is still consuming but not producing anything, someone else must be producing more than they consume.
The problem is that people aren't getting paid as much in taxable wages as they used to. So benefits paid are greater than the taxes received. And then we have the finance industry retireme
In other news (Score:5, Insightful)
In other news more countries worldwide are legalizing, or lifting prohibitions on, the much less destructive use of marijuana.
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How many people have died drinking themselves to death? Number of pot deaths is still at zero.
Re:In other news (Score:5, Informative)
"Number of pot deaths is still at zero."
False. From 2014 to 2020, 386 people in Florida died as the result of using pot.
(https://www.fau.edu/newsdesk/articles/cannabis-deaths-study.php)
This is, admittedly very low. I'd even be willing to accept it's low enough to be acceptable. You can, after all, kill yourself with damn near anything. But it's not zero.
Re:In other news (Score:5, Insightful)
258 of those were "synthetic cannabis" so it's stretching things to even call them marijuana related as well. The synthetics are some weird shit states that dont do legal weed have as some kind of loophole. I saw them when I was in New Orleans last year although didnt try them as I dont have any interest in that crap when I live in a state where legal weed is a thing.
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If we're bringing in all of the fatalities that are alcohol or cannabis adjacent, let's talk about the tendency to get violent while intoxicated on these substances.
How many bar fights and domestic violence incidents are caused by alcohol consumption? Now let's compare cannabis.
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From the study: "Cannabinoid (CB) and synthetic cannabinoid (SC) use contributes to motor vehicle accidents and can cause adverse effects including death."
"Most decedents (with CB and SC use) died from accidents (98.7%)."
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From your link
Nearly 99 percent of individuals using cannabis and synthetic cannabis died from accidents
Has anyone actually died from cannabis itself?
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Florida Man don't need no pot to unalive oneself association, sure causality? Nigga plz
one of my online gaming friends claims to be the original bail bonds agent for the Florida Man who brought a small alligator into a convenience store while trying to buy or steal beer
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Aside from being wrong about direct deaths, weed has the same influence on humans driving as alcohol. Drug related accidents have always been a major issue, and one larger than alcohol related accidents in the Netherlands for example.
Re: In other news (Score:3)
"Aside from being wrong about direct deaths, weed has the same influence on humans driving as alcohol."
It does not. It doesn't interfere with your self estimation like alcohol does, so people using cannabis usually both slow down and also use more caution, instead of speeding up and using less. That's why several studies have shown much less impact to driving ability due to cannabis use as compared to alcohol.
It's a cycle (Score:4, Funny)
Hard times produce a drunk populace. A drunk populace produces better times. Better times produce a sober populace. A sober populace produces hard times. We're in for hard times.
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Good news, isn't it? (Score:2)
According to WHO (https://www.who.int/initiatives/SAFER), alcohol kills one person every 10 seconds.
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Both heart decease and cancer have alcohol as a major contributing factor.
I blame remote work! (Score:5, Interesting)
COVID made everything more remote and impersonal. Once I got to the age where every beer shows up on the scale the next day, I stopped drinking at home and only drank at the office. Now I am full time remote, so I am barely even in the office now. In addition, Zoom and other technologies became more mainstream, so in-person visits have been reduced. Now that you can see your doctor on Zoom, have contactless grocery shopping, never go into the office, workout on your peloton at home, that just creates inertia and resistance to going out. Without peer pressure, a lot of people don't want to drink.
Pre-COVID, I'd drink more and it would be more natural to have a few beers at someone's house. Post-COVID, I typically have one and it's honestly kinda jarring. I like beer and tequila and whiskey, but I like even more not gaining weight or having heartburn...so I sip the beer slowly and just drink something else for the remainder of the visit. I'm honestly much happier drinking close to nothing every year and I suspect I am no the only one.
In addition, drinking went from something most people weren't certain if it was good or bad for them to drink in moderation to something they now clearly know that any amount of drinking is harmful and you'd be healthier not drinking at all. Now fitness is trendy. I am an engineer and I've kept fit all my life and had doughey coworkers....now half my coworkers won't shut up about their gym memberships and workout routines. They're still doughey, but it's now common knowledge that strength training slows aging and increases your healthspan and lifespan, so it's not just for people like me who are trying to get laid by their wife, but for more normal people as well. I've noticed in my neighborhood, the men got a lot more muscular, especially the younger men...and I live next to MIT....historically, nerd-central. The same sources telling them to go to the gym are the same one telling them to skip the booze.
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I never really "did shots". I also didn't usually bother with rotgut either, I bought stuff that tasted good.
Late GenX is the first group that saw a significant potential for ramifications if intoxicated on the job, where basically everywhere it became zero-tolerance. I feel I can say this because I saw those of the prior generation still in the workforce get suspended or fired for failing workplace drug tests due to alcohol.
GenX also was coming of age as the legal limit was lowered from .10 to .08, while
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"I never really "did shots". I also didn't usually bother with rotgut either, I bought stuff that tasted good"
I started out with beer and it took quite some time to get used to it but if products like Mike's Hard Lemonade had been available in my teens there's a good chance I might have become an alcoholic
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I don't see why not. It's warm and smokey. I found my first sip TOO smokey, but maybe if I'd started with something less so I would have said exactly that.
Of course, they do, as a search of Amazon would reveal.
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I was asked when buying my heavily pleated scotch, "Is this good?"
I replied, "This isn't where you start. It's where you end up."
Not really (Score:2)
Of course, they do, as a search of Amazon would reveal.
Just because it exists, doesn't mean it's popular. I can buy a lollipop with a dead scorpion in it, [amazon.com]...but I think it's safe to say, dead scorpion is not a popular flavor. You don't find whiskey flavor at your local Target or grocery store. While technically, I said "no one"...I think you knew I mean "nearly no one" it is colloquially said.
The point is most don't like booze. I honestly like whiskey, but like most...when I had my first sip as a kid, my reaction was "owww" and "why do you drink this?"
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Well, Target doesn't seem to have it. But Walmart carries Jack Daniel's BBQ sauce
The point is wrong.
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"when I had my first sip as a kid, my reaction was "owww" and "why do you drink this?"
the delivery agent matters a lot. way, way, way back i worked in a buffet restaurant that had a mildly booze enhanced dessert.
one day, a new cook who didn't read English well misread the recipe and put CONSIDERABLY more.
a waitress noticed that a string of staggering little kids were going back for 2nds, 3rds, 4ths and yanked it
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You don't find whiskey flavor at your local Target
Seems you are doubling down on your ignorance here.
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Screwed up my link tags: Bourbon pecan ice cream at Target. [target.com]
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I was a beer drinker. I enjoyed craft beers and the unique flavors and never even bothered with shots. One night I'm at a work event at a whiskey bar. I talk up the bartender and she gives me a sampling of different scotch regions. I fell in love with the smoky flavor of Islay and that was that. Now I drink whiskey either neat or in a mixed drink.
I drink less than I used to only because I'm older now and it hits harder. I think I'll probably be drinking less than one drink a week by the end of the next 5 ye
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Ah, a fellow Islay drinker! Which is your favorite? I like Laphroaig.
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Ah, a fellow Islay drinker! Which is your favorite? I like Laphroaig.
never was much of a whiskey drinker but I do recall this ad featuring Brian Cox
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
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Bunnahabhain is at the top of my list, then Ardbeg. Then I'd go for Laphroaig.
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No one buys whiskey or tequila flavored stuff.
Of course they do. Some of it is quite good. Bourbon barrel aged maple syrup is fantastic on pancakes, for example. As another example, have you ever tried bourbon caramels?
I also make my own vanilla extract (or at least I used to, prices of beans in recent years has made that less feasible... but I still have plenty left) and since a rule I was given when I was taught to cook was "don't add water to your food, always use a liquid that brings additional flavor rather than diluting it" I don't make it fro
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There are literally millions of people who enjoy whiskey with nothing in it but ice. And they're not doing shots because doing a shot of an expensive bourbon just means you're an idiot who hates money. Similarly, they're not mixing expensive bourbon because you will look like a fucking moron who hates money.
It's also news that nobody buys "whiskey flavored stuff" when there's tons of bourbon pecan pie flavored things [google.com] (including ice cream that you specifically mention), including the pie itself.
I'm not goi
I did my part. (Score:4, Funny)
I put in a solid effort. You used to get one square foot of symbolic ownership of the land at Laphroaig with every bottle of quarter cask. Conservatively speaking, I could build a summer home there. But I've retired from active duty.
Time for Gen Z to step up. At least here... drinking age is 18.
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Curious whether anybody tried to buy a few thousand bottles and try to take possession. Also curious on the math of how many square feet of land they own and how many bottles they have sold. Would there come a point where they have "sold" all of their land based on an ordinary forecast of production?
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I believe you can only claim the first square foot. After that it's a points program. Hence, "Symbolic". :) I'm recycling a joke from my drinking days.
Booze are boring (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Booze are boring (Score:4, Informative)
Let's be honest, how much fun is it to drink?
Being completely honest, I find it's a lot of fun to drink. That's why I do it.
I don't know why you have it in your head that no one enjoys it. It's perfectly fine you don't but people have been altering their brain chemistry with alcohol for thousands of years so I doubt I'm the only person whose ever enjoyed being drunk.
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I found out a long time ago that it's NOT fun to be sober around drunk people.
I gave up drinking while trying to quit smoking as i smoked heavily on my nights out.
When i finally started going back to bars & pubs, my reaction was "why am i wasting time hanging around with these drunken fools?"
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I dunno, on nights where I've been DD I've rather enjoyed watching the craziness. It probably varies by the individuals on both ends of that though.
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Being completely honest, I find it's a lot of fun to drink.
Except that it really isn't. You're just ingesting a mind-altering substance that tricks you into believing you're having fun. Kind of like Total Recall's concept of implanting the memory of an exciting vacation as a spy on Mars, but you're really just strapped to a chair with a machine hooked up to your brain.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not attempting to change your opinion on booze - I'm just pointing out that there are lot of us who don't see the idea of using a trick of biochemistry to delude ourselves in
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You're just ingesting a mind-altering substance that tricks you into believing you're having fun
While my experiences are limited at least in some areas chemical fun is very much real fun. One is experiencing fun, thus said fun is real.
Don't get me wrong, if that's the only fun someone is having in their life that's not a life well lived in my book but drinking is one of a ton of things in my life that I find fun to do from time to time.
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I drink with the goal of getting drunk only maybe 3 or 4 times a year nowadays so I don't mind paying for more expensive stuff even then.
I hear you though, when I drank more in my younger years I drank a lot of cheap crap that I wouldn't touch today.
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I literally only have alcoholic drinks when we have guests, or we're meeting with people. Maybe I'll have a glass of wine when my wife and I go out to dinner.
It makes a good bottle last quite a long time when you only dip into it when entertaining.
Event Driven (Score:2)
I think the event driven thing is a big thing.
My dad drank regularly. It was just a normal practice for my dad to drink a beer or two after work - every day. He generally wasn't getting shit-faced (that would be expensive), but just a couple of beer every day.
I don't have any issues with drinking myself, but I have no desire to do so daily. When I'm on vacation I'll drink a good bit, or when I'm at a party, but other than that I never do so. I think the last time I had a drink was probably 3 or 4 months
General impoverishment of the population (Score:2)
I think it should be attributed to general impoverishment of the population, especially in the developed countries, where people used to gather and eat/drink often. It is simply getting too expensive. People spend nearly everything they make on housing, the rest on food, utilities and family needs. Not to mention the largest spending item - the taxes. There is simply no money left for the booze.
Obligatory– (Score:2)
[I'm doing my part] gif
Alcohol intolerance (Score:5, Interesting)
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I had to search, but yes... apparently alcohol intolerance can be a consequence of COVID. It would be hugely ironic if this ended up increasing life expectancy.
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I don't buy it frankly. All the listed symptoms of post COVID alcohol intolerance are pretty much the symptoms of wait for it... alcohol consumption: flushing, nausea, dizziness, hangover.
One thing we absolutely do know about alcohol is tolerance is developed and quite rapidly. It is why so many people develop dependence.
My guess is many of the people experiencing alcohol intolerance were not very aware how much and how often they were actually drinking before. They had been watching the game on Saturday
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I don't buy it frankly. All the listed symptoms of post COVID alcohol intolerance are pretty much the symptoms of wait for it... alcohol consumption: flushing, nausea, dizziness, hangover.
Just like most other symptoms of "post COVID" are by no means specific to that particular virus, but did not receive any large scale media attention when reported after infections with OC-43, RSV, Influenza etc.
In 2021, when there was still a considerable amount of people without prior exposure to Sars-Cov-2, a study found that when testing those with self-proclaimed "long COVID" symptoms, serology tests revealed that only anosmia was statistically related to actual Sars-Cov-2 infections [jamanetwork.com]. The media attent
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No. 400 million people *have* suffered from. The actual number who didn't get over long covid is significantly lower than that. The number is currently estimated to be closer to 50-70million.
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"The actual number who didn't get over long covid is significantly lower than that. The number is currently estimated to be closer to 50-70million"
that's a LOT, much higher than I expected.
Speak for yourself! (Score:2)
Shit Drug (Score:2)
Alcohol is such a shit drug, there are so many better drugs out there.
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Yeah but they don't taste as good.
Don't forget russia (Score:5, Interesting)
russia's casualties in its continued invasion of Ukraine have also been a contributing factor in the decline of world wide alcohol consumption.
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i'd heard that alcoholism in Russia had sharply declined since Putin became leader & not because of casualties in war
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we don't need cigarettes or booze anymore (Score:2)
We have smartphones. We can doom scroll into all hours of the night, even in bed without disturbing your wife, good luck drinking like that. Plus there's online shopping, which you can do at work without being quite as obvious as someone taking a smoke break.
Inflation? Recession? (Score:2)
In 2023 inflation was at a peak and in many countries it hadn't subsided the way it did with the "soft landing" here in America. As such, it got to be a somewhat more expensive habit that had to be set aside in favor of, you know, food, travel costs (gas for those that drive), and housing, all of which also were (and still are) under heavy inflationary pressures.
Never blame on 'personal preference' what might also have a 'personal necessity' factor to it.
Production != Consumption (Score:2)
There are a wide variety of factors here. But this seems to be conflating a lot of them with a lot of different causes.
Many people like beer. In the past 10 years some truly excellent alcohol free varieties have popped up which has allowed people to consume them who would previously only gravitate to beer for taste (not to get drunk).
Many people like wine. In the past 5 years especially the wine industry has suffered heavily due to unforeseen weather events. People didn't want to drink less, the supply side
guess thats because they fixed the water in (Score:2)
age (Score:2)
My young-adult (late 20s, early 30s) relatives are obsessed with alcohol and I think are turning into alcoholics, including drinking and driving while impaired. Using alcohol, exploring new (and especally expensive) alcohol, and showing it off, seem to be their primary social activity.
As for boomers, they all drink beer the same amount as before.
Some of them have fewer mixed drinks during the week.
Unless they are at the beach, where margaritas rule.
Maybe the 20-somethngs are drinking less?
Sounds like ... (Score:2)
Global alcohol consumption has entered what appears to be a permanent decline, ...
Perhaps U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is keeping his promise to not drink anymore if confirmed. :-)
Now if he can only stop sharing (probably) classified information on Signal, with uncleared people like his wife...
Hegseth shared detailed military plans in second Signal chat that included his wife and brother [cnn.com]
Ireland hit peak booze years ago (Score:2)
2000-2010 - Celtic tiger, everybody drinking at the weekend although many of the old weekday drinkers from the 80s and 90's were dying off. Smoking ban puts a damper on things briefly in 2006, however cocaine comes in to pick up the slack
2010-2020 - Large-scale post-recession disappearance of many rural pubs, nightclubs that thrived during the Tiger shut down d
"Health consciousness"... unlikely... (Score:2)
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So yeah... still want al
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Nothing says you have to smoke it. I like a low dose edible to relax and then sleep like a baby. No hangovers or dehydration issues to deal with either.
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First, weed stinks up everything and the smell stays around. It's smoke, after all.
Second, unless you're buying something high end, it's cheaper to drink at home than smoke weed.
Third, alcohol leaves your system much faster than weed.