6 ms·

The pandemic has triggered / accelarated a lot of trends One trend I wonder about is cutting back on drinking. From a health perspective, I see more and more h

• sfpotter 3y ago
  Didn't the pandemic accelerate drinking, if anything?
  • softwaredoug 3y ago
    True, maybe at home, etc. Though I'm thinking more the kind of "going out" drinking at the new hip microbrewery. Also we have SO MANY breweries/wineries/distilleries options etc... so I think there was already a bubble.
  • californical 3y ago
    I wonder if it depends on demographic (almost certainly does). Maybe the “hip” crowd is losing interest in microbreweries and drinking culture, while the “struggling” crowd has increased drinking. And the types of alcohol which appeal to each is different. Totally hypothetical here, as I have no data behind this at all.
  • rubiquity 3y ago
    Yes it did. Many are still on pandemic era drinking habits of drinking most week nights.
  • crazygringo 3y ago
    I think stopping drinking was a response to exactly that -- it got out of control, then people quit. At least in NYC that's when we saw the first non-alcoholic "liquor" stores emerge. Because people still want a sophisticated treat to sip to mark the end of the day.
    • nilespotter 3y ago
      Got any example of this new wave of sophisticated non-alcoholic liqour?
      • crazygringo 3y ago
        You can probably see if any of the stores mentioned here have websites with product listings: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/14/nyregion/dry-stores-non-alcoholic-drinks-nyc.html https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/14/nyregion/dry-stores-non-a...
      • WarOnPrivacy 3y ago
        Around here, the rising alt is kratom. Non-alchoholic=yes. Liquorous=no. Sophisticated? I have no idea.
        • yamazakiwi 3y ago
          Kratom is believed to activate on opiod receptors.
        • gffrd 3y ago
          It's advertised in window displays at mini marts and cigarette/vape shops, so a big no to that last one.
      • gffrd 3y ago
        Try your local health & wellness shop. (you know: the place you get non-FDA supplements, expensive toothpaste, and anything Himalayan salt) Mine has had a non-alcoholic wine + spirits section growing steadily over the past 12 months from a couple random bottles, to a full floor-to-ceiling section of 40+ options.
  • bob1029 3y ago
    I believe it mostly just accelerated the thinking around drinking and why we do it. Convincing yourself you don't have an alcohol problem when you are out with friends every night is one thing. Trying to accomplish the same persuasion when you are locked in your apartment with just your cat for months on end is much more challenging. It would seem to me a person typically has 2 paths they can explore at that point: Go deeper into the rabbit hole, or GTFO.
  • edmundsauto 3y ago
    I think it did both - seems like a barbell distribution. Medium drinkers became heavy drinkers, others drank less - but there was a change in the distribution. Lots more non-alcoholic options popped up as well, both for purchase at home but also a lot more restaurants list NA options for fancy drinks while out to eat.
    • kelnos 3y ago
      > a lot more restaurants list NA options for fancy drinks while out to eat. I've noticed this as well, as a few of my friends don't drink, or drink very little. Even just ~5 years ago, I think it was pretty rare to see a dedicated non-alcoholic section on a cocktail menu, with several interesting, flavorful options. But now it's... well, not quite standard, but pretty common, at least where I live.
• codyb 3y ago
  I've certainly been moving back towards lighter beers... those IPAs are too strong. You think 5% to 6% isn't a big deal cause it seems so small, but it's a 20% increase in alcohol content. 5% - 7% is a 40% increase! If you're drinking pints, it's like adding half a shot to every beer you drink. It adds up quick.
  • cpursley 3y ago
    Yeah, same here. I really only drink beer in the summer. Enjoy a good IPA but alcohol level is too high as well as calories.
  • ChainOfFools 3y ago
    I'm a little concerned about the phenomenon I've noticed on the shelves lately which is that every brand seems to be first, putting the ABV content in larger and larger font and a more prominent position on the label with each new offering, and that they are now starting to clock in at doppel and trippel and barley wine levels of alcohol on a regular basis. The number of casual drinking beers that have hit 10% or even 11% ABV which used to be an extremely exotic and limited availability product is insane. the likes of Delirium tremens are now looking tame by comparison to some of these general market beers i.e. voodoo ranger and raging bitch.
    • gffrd 3y ago
      I once had a homeless fella ask me to buy him a beer by name: Voodoo Ranger. Which is like 9% alcohol, sold in 16oz cans. As casual drinkers drink less, maybe we're not the target market …
      • mynameishere 3y ago
        He must have had you pegged for a sucker. When bums spend their own money they are strictly economical. That means handles of vodka, fortified wine, or (maybe) something like Steel Reserve.
        • 3y ago
• asielen 3y ago
  Anecdotally in SF it seems like the only places that haven't been shutting down are bars. I lost many of my favorite restaurants and coffee shops, basically all the bars except one is still open. But almost no one orders Anchor.
  • alexanderscott 3y ago
    You mean in 2023? So many of my favorite SF dives closed during or as a result of covid: lucky 13, hemlock, whiskey thieves, bachus kirk just to name a few
• VohuMana 3y ago
  I could definitely see this, I also wonder if this is why many breweries are scrambling to make non-alcoholic beers. The non-alcoholic beers have become so good IMO, I usually find myself reaching for one of those on a hot day rather than the real deal.
  • golemotron 3y ago
    Yeah, I can't really tell the difference. I liked beer more for the taste than the buzz anyway.
  • pjot 3y ago
    I hope this trend continues, they really are getting good. From a business perspective too it makes sense. Now people can drink all day long
• nunez 3y ago
  The pandemic definitely triggered an uptick in "healthier" drinking options, specifically non-alcoholic beers (that are actually good now, hard kombucha and seltzers (that are usually just as alcoholic as beer but have fewer carbs so they are "healthy"). Athletic Brewing Company out of Stamford, CT has grown like gangbusters because of it (and because their beer is legitimately good). Even the big commercial breweries have embraced the trend (Bud Light 0.0 was the only beer you could buy at the World Cup last year, and the only NA you'll find at a lot of bigger restaurants are Heineken 0.0 or Dos Equis 0.0. They are good!). This has created a lot of problems for taproom-only breweries, as they've had to pivot towards making seltzers (very easy to do for commercial breweries, but some brewers consider it morally wrong), making beers that don't taste like beer (peanut butter chocolate milkshake pastry stouts, anyone?), and/or opening a kitchen/restaurant (completely different business, super thin margins with high operational overhead) to draw patrons in. As a result, lots of breweries have been merging or shutting down since COVID, and the new ones that have been opening are taproom/restaurants because it's simply not profitable to be a brewery with good beer anymore. (Interesting fact: There were roughly 2,000 craft breweries nationwide back in the heydays of craft beer in 2010 or so. There are now over 8,000 breweries nationwide! However, the number of craft beer drinkers in the US has been flat since then and actually started falling before COVID started.) As for me, I initially entered COVID drinking two pints of beer daily; usually heavy IPAs or stouts. Because this agitated my acid reflux to levels I've never experienced, I decided to cut back to a pint or two every other day, with NAs (or nothing) filling the gap. I've also slowed the rate at which I drink beer so that I drink less (and get less tipsy; truth be told, I love beer but HATE getting drunk). When I drink, I have a good-sized sip every ten minutes and drink water between sips. As a result, because it takes me 30-60 minutes for me to down a pint this way, I enjoy the beer more while drinking way less per session. Regardless, Anchor closing is huge and very sad. It looks like Sapporo EEE'd them, which is kind of surprising since they weren't really a threat to their core business.
  • GenerWork 3y ago
    Bud Light 0.0 was the only beer you could buy at the World Cup because Qatar has super strict alcohol laws.
• necubi 3y ago
  The trend isn't away from drinking, it's away from beer. Seltzers and other malt-based drinks have had huge growth in the past few years, mostly at the expense of beer sales, and liquor sales are up as well. Slate's been doing a great series over the past week about these trends if you're interested: https://slate.com/tag/beer-package https://slate.com/tag/beer-package.
  • munificent 3y ago
    I wonder how much of this is the beer industry eating its own seedcorn by focusing more and more on super bitter IPAs that beer snobs love at the expense of more middle of the road palatable beers. The long term consequence of that plus beer snobbery looking down on light beers is that younger drinkers with sweeter palates just don't drink beer at all because the beer that is socially acceptable is too bitter for them and the beers they'd like get mocked. So instead, they just drink White Claw.
    • renewiltord 3y ago
      You can also get the Makku Makgeolli from supermarkets now and it's quite sweet. And I also saw some other sweeter beers. I'm not a big megahops fan, so being able to have alternatives to IPAs is nice.
    • hyperbovine 3y ago
      I really despise this about the American beer industry. Your typical tap list these days is 8 IPAs, 1-2 dIPAs, 4 sours, something that contains coffee, some other weird shit (cucumber göse e.g.), and like one normal everyday lager or pilsener that isn't making some sort of personality statement and pairs well with food. Worse, this appears to be catching on among trendier bars in Europe, even in places like Munich and Vienna that have had spectacular beer for centuries and should know better.
      • NoboruWataya 3y ago
        They're there because they sell, and they sell because people like them. IMO one pilsner or lager is enough; what's the point of having a whole bar full of different beers that all pretty much taste the same? They certainly don't justify the premium pricing that these bars often charge. Germans think their own beer is the best in the world. To the rest of us, it is reliable but boring. It's not just an American thing, Scandinavia and the UK also have a much greater variety of styles and tastes. I think all that's happening in Munich and Vienna is people are getting more exposure to this variety and are realising they like it.
• fennecfoxy 3y ago
  Lmao, the microplastics and particulates from ever increasing pollution will get us before the alcohol does, imo. Plus most people I know that drink craft beers have just 1-2 at a time, it's the people that drink piss/regular beers that I see having as many as they can, pint after pint.