NFR Alcohol going out of style

Non-fishing related
Evan B

Evan B

Bobber Downey Jr.
Staff member
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I had noticed this just anecdotally the past 10yrs or so, and now it's starting to show up in a lot of reports, studies, and in the obvious closing of a lot of longstanding business in the industry.

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Gen Z is rejecting alcohol almost entirely. I have a 17yr old step son and with him and his friends, even the thought of imbibing is completely foreign. Like "why would we want to do that?" I know the reasons are many: vapes, marijuana, and just plain seeing alcohol as a thing past generations did... But it's crazy to see how massive of a difference we're seeing in their generation in particular.

Even the older generations are slowing way down. Myself included. While I'm not 100% "quitting," my intake the past 15yrs or so has slowed considerably. Beer is still one of my favorite things on the planet to drink, but I also find myself going weeks or months without any. The last time I had more than 2 within a few hours was probably 15+yrs ago also. When I'm hitting it "hard," I may have like 2 a week. Thinking now... I can't think of the last beer I even had.. maybe Thanksgiving-ish? I have a 6 pack of locally brewed pilsner in my fridge that's only half-consumed, and I think I bought it back in September. I know I'm not the only one like this.

Heck, I even set my kegerator up to serve home-carbonated sparkling mineral water :cool:
 
I’m just starting to shift this way, somewhat to my surprise. I’m most of the way through my first dry January since my teen years, and i even started two days early!

Part of it for me is having really young kids - the drag from having a few beers is really magnified when you’re awoken by screaming monsters at 6am every day. I still love booze but it’s been a really nice lifestyle change. Might have to switch to one month on, one month off. 🍻
 
I cut way back on drinking 40+ years ago in my 20’s.
Reason why? I walked into the bar i hung out in after working late, my “friends” had already been drinking. Talk about obnoxious people, oh, wait, surely I don’t act that way?
After that i cut way back, stopped hanging out, there’s better ways to enjoy life. Better people to hang out with.
I don’t even drink when camping, fishing, etc.
 
Fourbtgait said:
I cut way back on drinking 40+ years ago in my 20’s.
Reason why? I walked into the bar i hung out in after working late, my “friends” had already been drinking. Talk about obnoxious people, oh, wait, surely I don’t act that way?
After that i cut way back, stopped hanging out, there’s better ways to enjoy life. Better people to hang out with.
I don’t even drink when camping, fishing, etc.
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Yeah, I stopped DRINKING back in my mid 20s. To me, "Drinking" and "having a drink" are two different things. Any level of intoxication from "buzzed" on up is very much not my thing. I just enjoy having a tasty beverage. Some of the non-alcoholic beers coming out are decent enough, but still not quite the same. I do drink about a gallon of sparkling water a day it seems, though. Which is why I have it on tap now ;) Turns out I just enjoy a fizzy, bitter beverage.
 
I have been watching the news regarding alcohol. The number of large distillers, even ones in Kentucky, are closing plants. So many beer manufacturers, including numerous craft breweries, are going by the wayside. It is a sign of the times, for sure...
 
RCF said:
I have been watching the news regarding alcohol. The number of large distillers, even ones in Kentucky, are closing plants. So many beer manufacturers, including numerous craft breweries, are going by the wayside. It is a sign of the times, for sure...
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Wild that here in the PNW, three of the biggest names have disappeared. One, my former employer, Redhook, closed up its Woodinville operation quite some time ago. I think they still have a small pub in Seattle, but they're done as a major brewery.

Widmer (which is/was part of the Redhook family of breweries after a merger of sorts under A/B InBev in the early 2000s) also phased out its major production facility not terribly long ago.

Then just this past year, Rogue, one of the only remaining, most iconic legacy craft brew brands in the PNW closed basically overnight.

Ninkasi, Full Sail and Deschutes are some of the only major brands left.
 
One of my favorite micro-breweries is Mac 'N Jacks They were bought out a year or so ago. They just closed their retail operation in Redmond and moved the manufacturing operation to Bremerton.
 
RCF said:
One of my favorite micro-breweries is Mac 'N Jacks They were bought out a year or so ago. They just closed their retail operation in Redmond and moved the manufacturing operation to Bremerton.
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Threw me off recently when I went to a Seahawks game. Got lunch before the game at a pizza place nearby the stadium and there were cans of Mac & Jacks. I remember their claim to fame back when I lived up that way was that it was the "largest non-canning/bottling brewery in the world." So whoever picked them up didn't care about that apparently. Unless that changed long ago and I didn't see it (which is likely given I'm not in WA much these days).
 
Evan B said:
Threw me off recently when I went to a Seahawks game. Got lunch before the game at a pizza place nearby the stadium and there were cans of Mac & Jacks. I remember their claim to fame back when I lived up that way was that it was the "largest non-canning/bottling brewery in the world." So whoever picked them up didn't care about that apparently. Unless that changed long ago and I didn't see it (which is likely given I'm not in WA much these days).
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During the pandemic, or shortly after, they started with cans. Hard to find. And it is just not the same IMHO...
 
Funny this thread came up I stopped drinking beer the 2nd of this month, All I drank was Bush light. I drank no hard alcohol at all.. Got use to coming home and having a 12 pack every night for to long. It dulled the day pains of work and whever bullsh&t went on that day. My better half had a few strong heart to heart talks with me over the year or so about it and the last one hit home. Its been cold turkey for me since the 2nd, Do i miss it... Well yes and I believe it will get worse when spring and summer hits because hey who the hell mows there yard not drinking beer??? Do I feel better... Not exactly getting up to go to work is a little easier but I am sure its better on anyone's body not drinking. I am not here to preach to each their own, One other factor as mentioned, both my neighbor's are heavy drinkers I was one of them, I use to go over there many nights a week and shoot the sh*t with them about how their day went and world problems, I recently went over there NOT drinking and lasted 5 min and came home, I quickly realized who I once was. When my wife had the last talk with me she was like hey we will do this together, she drinks maybe 2 nights a week when someone comes over she has not had a drink either... We went to Buffalo Wild wings saturday watching a game on the big screen she was like, these are the times when we should have a beer just weekends only or vacation, I was like help yourself ill have sprite. she didnt partake in it just diet coke. She was like how long are you not going to drink for.. I said a while..... Little does she know a little wile is the rest of my life I am done with it. Good luck to all who are on the same journey as myself not all can stay on this path and I'll give the best shot I got not to fall off the wagon but I am pretty sure I can do it.

Thx for letting me vent. It's easier to vent this forum then vent to others.
 
As a restaurant guy, I'm seeing this showing up massively in the p&l. We have dropped at least 10% year over year since 2022 in terms of raw sales with even larger drops in alcohol as a percentage of sales. It's alarming to my industry. The drop from 24-25 was $82000 American dollars. Compared to 2022 it's over 250k.

That money is mostly going home with them as well, it's not translating noticeably to increased dessert, app or coffee/non alcoholic bev.

This is going to have significant impacts to the hospitality game unless something changes. Is the world not stressful enough to drive them to drink?
 
Quitting is easy when you're ready.
The Athletic Brewing Company "Free Wave IPA" NA Beer(Orange can) is better tasting then regular beer IMHO.
It has all of the piss, fart, burp with none of the problems alcohol brings.
Try it and report back.
 
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Pink Nighty said:
As a restaurant guy, I'm seeing this showing up massively in the p&l. We have dropped at least 10% year over year since 2022 in terms of raw sales with even larger drops in alcohol as a percentage of sales. It's alarming to my industry. The drop from 24-25 was $82000 American dollars. Compared to 2022 it's over 250k.

That money is mostly going home with them as well, it's not translating noticeably to increased dessert, app or coffee/non alcoholic bev.

This is going to have significant impacts to the hospitality game unless something changes. Is the world not stressful enough to drive them to drink?
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Yeah that's the double-edged sword - it's "good" in that people are partaking in less of something that causes a lot of harm. It's bad because there is so much industry and so many jobs built on it. So many restaurants survive because of their alcohol sales because that's where there's actual profit margin.
 
2MANY said:
Quitting is easy when you're ready.
The Athletic Brewing Company "Free Wave IPA" NA Beer is better tasting then regular beer IMHO.
It has all of the piss, fart, burp with non of the problems alcohol brings.
Try it and report back.
Click to expand...
My issue is that IPA isn't really my beer of choice, but it's the best-tasting NA style because all the hoppiness makes it taste like regular beer. I'm much more into the german lagers and english brown ale types. Much tougher to do an NA in those styles that even comes close.
 
I was previously in the homebrew business for about 13 years. It was around 2016-2017 that business peaked. We started seeing stagnation and some slight drop in revenue after that. 2020 saw a large boost that brought false hope, followed by 10-20% drops in revenue every year after. My regular customers dwindled (or died), and very few new younger customers replaced them. Sold the business in 2024. Many homebrew supply stores have closed in WA in the last few years and there are only a few left (my old store is still kicking at least).

I've chatted with a few friends in the brewery biz. Even the well regarded bigger name breweries are feeling the pinch. Craft breweries will likely continue to close up shop in the coming years.
 
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