USA beer consumption plummets

[Hum]

Just 20 years ago, it was America's most popular alcoholic beverage by far. Since then, per capita consumption of beer down 20 percent and despite population growth, annual domestic production has fallen down, too.

Gallup's new alcoholic preferences :p survey, summed up in the image above, finds that beer's lead over wine has slipped by 20 percentage points since the early 1990s. But the demographic breakdown is even more brutal. Young drinkers and nonwhite drinkers saw the steepest falls in beer preference. In other words, the fastest-growing segments of the country are also running the fastest away from brews.

One explanation has been that American drinkers are more health-conscious today because there are so many studies and media reports of studies that make it impossible to be less health-conscious. This has hurt high-sugar and empty-calorie drinks that face relentless press criticism. "You're seeing that the consumer is taking a healthier look and having more alternatives [than soda], such as tea, and coconut water," Thomas Mullarkey, an analyst from Morningstar, has told me. "But also, Americans have aged, and soft drinks are most popular among teenagers and twentysomethings."

Think of of cheap beer sales as a health indicator for blue-collar America, especially for men (they call him Joe Sixpack for a reason). Look at the chart at the top of the story again. Beer dips after the 2000/'1 recession and then begins to recover. Then beer preference falls again after the Great Recession, where the hardest hit industries (construction and manufacturing) were blue-collar-male industries. As the Wall Street Journal reported, light beer sales fell for three years after the recession and only bounced back in 2012 due to the resurgence of craft beer.

TV used to be a little less boozy and a lot more innocent. Liquor ads didn't air on U.S. television until 1996, according to WSJ, "when a local NBC station in Texas agreed to run a commercial for Crown Royal whiskey." It's only very recently that they've started running ads on broadcast networks. Since liquor marketing came out of the cabinet, liquor sales are up.

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[CygnusOrion]

I don't often drink beer, but when I do I prefer Dos Equis.

[spenser.d]

They clearly didn't survey anyone in the general Wisconsin area :p

 

Appropriately enough I have an empty in my hand :laugh:

[compl3x]

I doubt the health conscious bit is the reason. A lot of young people have substituted beer for ###### like Redbull and vodka, hardly a healthier alternative.

 

Or maybe beer just isn't seen as trendy as some pre-mixed atrocity.

[techbeck]

US beer sucks.  Taste like crap.  Want something good, you need to buy from a local brewery, import, or from a micro brewery.  Those tend to be more expensive.  I will not drink any domestic US crap.

[srbeen]

Beer is the 'chocolate chip cookie' of alcoholic beverages. You know they are terrible for you, and all you can think about after you have one is having another.

[Hum]

alcoholic preferences :p survey

 

 

Poor choice of words. :rofl:

[Roger H. Veteran]

Not a beer drinker, i'll have wine or straight shots/drinks :)

 

My German friends will probably pump up the levels when they come over again. I swear these women can drink like a fish!

[DocM]

US beer sucks. Taste like crap. Want something good, you need to buy from a local brewery, import, or from a micro brewery. Those tend to be more expensive. I will not drink any domestic US crap.

Agreed!! Michigan, California, Mass., and a few other states have GREAT micro-breweries, FAR better than Budweiser or the other crap in the coolers. Some restaurants here have even started brewing their own and selling small batches to their customers. Of the imports I like various Mexocan, German and Japanese beers, but 95% of the time it's area micro-brews.

[Growled Member]

US beer sucks.  Taste like crap.  Want something good, you need to buy from a local brewery, import, or from a micro brewery.  Those tend to be more expensive.  I will not drink any domestic US crap.

Exactly. Give me whiskey or wine any day over that awful mess.

[Churma]

American craft brews are amazing. Stone, Russian River, High Water, Altamont Brewing, Cali Craft Brewing, the list goes on forever. The US beer which is horrible is the larger brewers like Anheuser-Busch. Total garbage.

[techbeck]

Agreed!! Michigan, California, Mass., and a few other states have GREAT micro-breweries, FAR better than Budweiser or the other crap in the coolers. Some restaurants here have even started brewing their own and selling small batches to their customers. Of the imports I like various Mexocan, German and Japanese beers, but 95% of the time it's area micro-brews.

 

I live in Northern IL and work in Southern WI.  So I am close enough.  Arizona had some really good micro brews as well.

Exactly. Give me whiskey or wine any day over that awful mess.

 

Never got to much into wine.  My sister on the other hand....

[Sandor]

2013

Still partaking in the alcohol.

 

Sigh.

[+Warwagon MVC]

Being the low carb person I am, I switched to diet coke and vodka.

[Torolol]

.. coconut water ... brewery ...

a friend of mine tries to brewing stuff using coconut water, he said he got the inspiration after seeing local liquor on some tropical countries.

[BeerFan]

US beer sucks.  Taste like crap.  Want something good, you need to buy from a local brewery, import, or from a micro brewery.  Those tend to be more expensive.  I will not drink any domestic US crap.

 

I think it's important to correct this statement.  Mass-produced, watered-down, flavorless US macrobreweries like Budweiser, Miller, Busch, Coors, etc. are absolute crap.

 

But there are tons of incredibly good, domestic, US-brewed beers from microbreweries, craft beers, and even some regionally large breweries as well.

 

It's not quite right to say that either "US beer" or "domestic US" berers are crap.  Domestic just means it's produced within the country, and there are hordes of beers brewed here that are truly excellent.

[techbeck]

But there are tons of incredibly good, domestic, US-brewed beers from microbreweries, craft beers, and even some regionally large breweries as well.

 

I believe that i what I said.  Micro brews or local brews....local meaning not nation wide.

[BeerFan]

I believe that i what I said.  Micro brews or local brews....local meaning not nation wide.

 

 

Well, you also said, "US beer sucks."  And, "I will not drink any domestic US crap."  And that unfortunately seems to be a pretty common statement.  But if you like microbrews, etc., then to say those things is contradictory.  I'm not trying to be argumentative.  Only trying to point out that "domestic" and "US beer" do not necessarily mean bad, despite what seems to be popluar to say.

[techbeck]

Well, you also said, "US beer sucks."  And, "I will not drink any domestic US crap."  And that unfortunately seems to be a pretty common statement.  But if you like microbrews, etc., then to say those things is contradictory.  I'm not trying to be argumentative.  Only trying to point out that "domestic" and "US beer" do not necessarily mean bad, despite what seems to be popluar to say.

 

I could of been more clearer.  But it appears you and others got what I meant so I got my point a crossed  :)

[theyarecomingforyou]

Well, you also said, "US beer sucks."  And, "I will not drink any domestic US crap."  And that unfortunately seems to be a pretty common statement.  But if you like microbrews, etc., then to say those things is contradictory.  I'm not trying to be argumentative.  Only trying to point out that "domestic" and "US beer" do not necessarily mean bad, despite what seems to be popluar to say.

I think it was perfectly clear what they meant.

[articuno1au]

I believe the primary reason for this is that Charisma is now a wine drinker..

[Skyfrog]

I never got the appeal anyway. I know I'm probably in the minority but beer just tastes nasty to me.

[The Evil Overlord]

^ Me neither

Prefer's Jim Beam :p

[astropheed Veteran]

Jack and Coke man here.

 

I only buy beer if everyone else is, and that hardly ever happens. Most people my age seem to be loving the Wine, can't say I blame them.

[notchinese]

US beer sucks.  Taste like crap.  Want something good, you need to buy from a local brewery, import, or from a micro brewery.  Those tend to be more expensive.  I will not drink any domestic US crap.

 

SOME US beer sucks. That is such a stupid generalization.