NFR Alcohol going out of style

Non-fishing related
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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BINGO!! Good for you. Congrats!!:):)
 
ffb said:
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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Yeah I used to love homebrewing. Was my "other" big hobby outside of fishing for quite a long time. When my consumption started slowing down, I was starting to get tired of having the 4-keg kegerator full of beer that took me a year to get through. So brewing naturally slowed down and stopped. I would not at all be surprised to see most all homebrew stores close up shop. Most I know of already have.
 
Don't drink much anymore, and beer went away decades ago, maybe 4-5 a year in the Summer.
I like wines, with dinner, but cut back on that also as I am older now and so not doing that near as much.
A good meal, a good wine and the periodic cocktail after dinner...enjoy it when I do, but getting older is harder than I figured....
🤣😁🤣
 
Evan B said:
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.
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It was a shock when Rogue closed up. I didn't know Widmer had gone the way of the wild goose.
 
Isn't Gen Z's timeline about 1997 to 2012? If so, there's a pretty good reason why that chart shows such a disparity between age groups. Boomers getting bombed - not this one.
 
GAT said:
It was a shock when Rogue closed up. I didn't know Widmer had gone the way of the wild goose.
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imo, rogue charged too much for their beer, and to be honest, most of their offerings weren’t very good anyway. They were living off dead guy merch.
 
Pigs said:
I feel for folks in the restaurant biz. People have much less disposable income. I know my wife, and I, make more then we ever have, but it sure doesn’t seem like it at the end of the month.
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Way back in a forest economics class, we students were sitting around complaining about not having "enough disposable income".

Forestry students between fire money, and fairly good paying summer jobs working for the natural resource agencies and private companies had a pretty good "disposable income" even with working three months and going to school for nine.

He looked at us and said "Right now, you have the highest disposable income that you will have for decades".

NOBODY believed him. But he was right.

As soon as we graduated we bought trucks, homes, and then had children. Children, now there is a "disposable income" sink hole!!!

Want disposable income?? Don't buy new vehicles. Don't buy a expensive home, buy a shack instead. And whatever you do, don't pass your DNA on to future generations. If you must couple up, make sure your partner doesn't spend money but has a decent income.

I have a friend that actually did that. He has an incredible disposable income. He literally, can afford to do anything he wants and
does.

Everybody thinks he is poor because he drives a beater vehicle and lives in a simple shack.

Oh and whatever you do......don't pass on your DNA. That is free at the moment and feels good, but the bills start coming in nine months later and do not quit for three decades or more.

That said. In my 20's I bought the best wines. They were fairly cheap. My special graduate school wine for important occasions was about $5. Probably 20 in current dollars, but unfortunately it sells for $200 a bottle these days for current vintage.

The good news is that when you get old your disposable income goes up.

Or as a good friend said........"Vladimir, I have more money than time".
 
I treated beer as a food group for years. It’s still a preferred bev but only sometimes and in moderation…the getting older tax. I have no patience for marketing so I stick to the basics and really appreciate the old European styles. A beer while grilling is always great.
 
As a service to the community, I will provide the following service at no charge. I operate an approved Scotch Whisky disposal facility. Ship your scotch to me, and you can be assured of its responsible disposition. High quality gin accepted in the summer months. DM me for shipping details. Accept no substitutes!
 
Evan B said:
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:
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I don’t disbelieve the trend, but the statistical inference from that graph isn’t great.

It’d be more interesting (to me) to see age-corrected data, i.e., the proportion of people in each “gen” who were drinking (amount, frequency) at age 25.
 
SSPey said:
I don’t disbelieve the trend, but the statistical inference from that graph isn’t great.

It’d be more interesting (to me) to see age-corrected data, i.e., the proportion of people in each “gen” who were drinking (amount, frequency) at age 25.
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Oh for sure. I would like to see that data as well. Still, even anecdotally we can see it. I feel like any bar I've been to in the last few years, I'm the youngest there and I'm in my 40s 😂
 
I'm taking 10 days off of alcohol to see if it will help my sleeping. I typically have about 6 drinks a week and don't like to get drunk. But, theres' some information about 'light' drinking interrupting sleep patterns. I love beer and whiskey, but sleep is more important to me.
 
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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Partying hard in the 80s 6 nights a week…
It wasn’t until I bartended in a country tavern, where the men were men and the women were too, hearin’ the same ol’ sad songs, that I decided to move away from the scene and develop the strength to just have a few and call it good. I have bottles of bourbon that are over a year old and like a good drink and cigar in the back by the fire pit on the weekends occasionally.

Drinking at bars is crazy expensive these days. In the 80s, long islands were $2.00 and long neck beers were a $1.25; there were live bands, tight skirts, and lots of gel/mousse/hairspray.

Bars today are too sterile and the live band scene isn’t what it used to be. The appeal has lost its luster.
 
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