...an acceleration in the long-term decline of so-called domestic-premium brands, which include Bud Light and rivals Miller Light and Coors Light...
So, are people drinking less beer or are they drinking less piss beer? Could it be that people are having two Hazy Imperial IPA's with 8+ ABV instead of a six pack of Coors Light? I am taking this headline with a grain of salt.
EDIT: I found my glasses.
Article has a vague accusation that soda-based drinks are to blame without covering any of the other possibilities here
I thought soda consumption is also down? And the fizzy alcohols had leveled off or declining as well? I am curious myself.
Probably talking about LaCroix and that other stuff
I'm more of a once a week Porter, Ale and Hard Cider drinker, but it's still a Microbrew.
Grain a salt is right: People just don't like the taste of that crap anymore, not with so many options on the market now.
Coors/Bud/MGD/Corona? I haven't had one in years.
A Four Noses or Cerebrus Hazy is so much better than the domestic swill it’s not funny. We have so many more options these days that I’m glad it’s hurting the big guys. They’ve been making crap pilsners for decades.
Who the hell thinks those three are premium?
If that's premium what isn't premium? Steel reserve? That's just malt Coors with different marketing. Micky's? That's just malt Miller with different marketing. 10 barrel? That bud light wearing 2010's hipster clothes.
I think we're giving these brand too much credit with the word premium.
Hey, hey, hey! Don't disrespect Mickey's.
Stop making so many mediocre IPAs. Other styles do exist.
It's insane. I swear that some liquor stores I go to have a craft beer section that's 90% IPAs... and another 5% that are basically IPAs with cutesy names like "Super Duper Pale Ale."
Had the same thought to myself at the Sprouts today. All I wanted was a stout. Not even a Guinness anywhere, but an entire wall of IPA's and then the rest were hard seltzers.
It might have something to do with weed being easier to get. Where I live it's easier and faster to get weed than it is to get beer, especially on sunday.
Alcohol is expensive and makes you feel like shit. Who does that to themselves by choice when there's alternatives?
It only makes you feel like shit if you want to get wasted irresponsibly. I like beer and outside of some college benders I’ve never felt like shit after. Stay hydrated folks.
Because beer tastes great
After you've acquired the taste. It was social pressure that got me to acquire it, but if that social pressure is dropping, it doesn't surprise me that fewer pick it up because beer tastes kinda awful at first.
Acquired taste, or gaslighting your taste buds?
I don't really care about the social pressure anymore but I do like a beer on occasion. Though it is more about the overall experience of drinking a beer rather than the taste itself, which I'd personally say is at best not bad and generally tolerable.
I respond poorly to weed and well to alcohol. Bodies are different.
I enjoy the buzz from alcohol and I rarely drink enough to make me feel like shit. While I'm generally a social person, I also enjoy that it is a social lubricant, while I find other highs to not be nearly as social, and often even anti social.
Yup. I’m smoking on new years. Not drinking.
This is part of why alcohol companies spend insane amounts of cash towards anti legalization efforts
The DEA, or Distiller's Enforcement Apparatus, is an army of masked thugs licensed to rob, defame, kidnap, or kill those suspected of preferring other drugs over alcohol.
A 4 pack is $12. I'm just going to get a bottle of whisky instead.
that's gonna be some good whisky.
Depending on the size of the can, At $2-3 per standard unit of alcohol, would put it at like $40-60 for the equivalent whisky bottle. So, yeah it could be.
There's a bourbon called ancient age which is made by Buffalo trace. Sells for $11 a bottle here. It's not fancy, it's just a perfectly decent bourbon for a very low price.
But a bottle of whiskey and a four pack of craft beer have different amounts of alcohol, so you could end up getting a much nicer bottle of whiskey.
Liquor store chain in my area sells 30 packs of Hamm's for $13.99. 6 of those is more than a 16 gallon keg and costs ~80 bucks, cheaper than just getting a keg
That is crazy cheap. I can't buy name brand soda for that price.
$12 is a steal. A 7% IPA in Jersey will run you 16-22$. Yeah, and add to that that the craft beer market is just oversaturated, I think I'll pass.
Right there with ya.
No beer for me, just drugs please.
I just want weed. I didn’t even think of buying alcohol for new years, but I did purchase a screen for my pipe.
You son of a bitch, I'm in.
Meanwhile my drinking has hit personal record highs this year. Yay depression.
18 days sober today for me! You can do it friend.
Even if you don't stop completely, and instead only drink socially as opposed to alone I think you'll feel a lot better. I know I did! Plus, the feeling of waking up every day 100% sober with no hangover is better than all the drunken nights. Whatever you choose, good luck...
I peaked during the pandemic and was also depressed. It's a difficult cycle to break but I got out of it. If you want to chat about it let me know.
Please, be careful with that, alcohol usually makes depression worse
I don't know you, but I understand how tough depression is. Just remember when things get bad that this stranger on the internet loves you. I want to see you happy and I'm sure you'll make it there :)
The beer fests near me are filled with selzers, ciders and stuff like mead. As someone who doesn't like beer, I think it's a positive change to have alternatives for different tastes.
I also wonder how liquor sales are as well.
My wife and I are obviously only one couple, so this is confirmation bias, but alcohol in general just isn't as appealing anymore. With all this general stress we've been going through (struggling with inflation, insane work hours, insane work conditions) alcohol is causing more migraines, sucky morning-after-drinking symptoms, high calories, expensive prices, there's just no good reason to drink as much as we used to. And it's not like we drank that much earlier in our lives as well.
Tie this all together with marijuana availability which has none of these cons except for high taxes, then alcohol doesn't sound as appealing anymore.
I also wonder how liquor sales are as well.
Up a staggering amount. The US is in the throes of an alcohol-abuse epidemic.
If that's the case, keep on keeping on alcohol drinkers. 🫡
As long as nobody is drunk driving, being a public nuisance, or hurting people in any way then I won't tell people how to live their lives.
Although, I feel the same way about any drug really. There's enjoying yourself and then there's hurting yourself.
I think beer is gross, personally, so this isn't a post about me but reading the comments it is interesting to see beer drinkers here decide against it due to cost and wanting other choices. I have news for you guys there are cocktails and other great alcohols that cost as much as your 7 to 10 dollar beer and they taste fucking great.
Well, I personally get intoxicated a bit even by sweets, and also feel worse from sugar. While beer (IPA-s mostly) makes me feel better and not that much drunk.
Ah, and that "good alcohol" you're talking about makes me nervous, shaky, paranoid and it's as if my hangover always started when others are only becoming drunk.
Metabolism can be different from person to person.
sweet drinks are fine to have 1 or 2 of, but the sugar content will fuck your stomach up badly. learned that the hard way
You say "gross", now that's an intriguing choice of vocab...because it's just a watery liquid, it doesn't have a texture like snot or slime or similar typically "gross" things.
I'm not saying you're wrong in your dislike of it, the taste, smell, etc. but could you elaborate what you think is "gross" about it?
Beer tastes like carbonated ass with added bread flavouring. That specific enough for ya?
This is why I go for cider. Replaces the weird bread taste with apples.
And because it's like 8%, I only need half as much to get tanked up.
Beer can be different. Though TBF I only drink two kinds of beer - one is a really flavorful craft IPA which I'm unaware of being exported from Russia, another is the cheap alcohol-free thing my dad let me taste when I was 6 or 7, which gives memories and isn't too bad.
Smell and taste is terrible. I rather have a coke with amaretto if I HAVE to drink. Never saw the appeal of beer. Plus who has money to spend on this kind of stuff. Least soda is sweet and cheaper than water.
Beer is like soup. There's tons of different ways to make it. There are sweet (like candy sweet, not just soda sweet) beers if you want them. The issue is you have to find them. There was a big movement towards sour beers for a while, which turned into a race for the sweetest beer and ended horribly in my opinion, but those are more rare than during that period now. There's also beers that taste like pickles, wine, or just about whatever else you could want. There really isn't a "beer" flavor, though there is a lager or pilsner flavor which is the typical cheap beer.
Yeah that probably what I am used to seeing. I have had draft beer but I can't tell difference so I assume I am lost cause there. Same goes for red wine for me they all taste basically the same. It's like difference between 7up and sprite.
Draft beer just means it's coming from a keg, not a style difference. You may not find beer you like, but if you've only tried the typical beer you get at a bar or whatever then yeah, it won't be good. I'd say go to a brewery and ask for help. The bartenders will be happy to help and they'll let you taste whatever you want before ordering. You can also go to a taphouse or something, but they won't be as helpful probably and you also probably can't get tastes.
O weird people always act like draft is so much better.
I'm confused by this, how is soda cheaper than water? In the us, water comes out of my faucet ridiculously cheaply, and virtually every restaurant will give you water for free while charge for soda. At least with beer you get a buzz, why anyone would ever choose soda is beyond me. Well, I get it, it's sweet. But it's really just absolutely empty calories.
Ah water bottles versus faucet. I Believe you live in a place that doesn't have terrible tap. Plus I can't upgrade the place I live in to resolve that ugh.
Sugary water taste good by default plus you can offer it to anyone unlike beer.
Buzz is also a side-effect which soda codes not have. I can drink 50 Cana of soda and still drive home.
Plus I can’t upgrade the place I live in to resolve that ugh.
If we are talking about living in a place where the water is literally nonpotable, maybe you're correct. But if it's simply that you don't like the taste then this isn't about it being more expensive. Additionally, if this is the case, you can just buy a filter, which would produce way better tasting water at a fraction of the cost of soda.
My point about beer giving a buzz is that it actually provides something that water does not. If you are looking for caffeine from a soda, there are way better ways of getting it without getting all those empty calories as well. If you just need to hydrate, water is pretty universally the best choice (when it comes to vs soda, although maybe a tiny bit of soda would be better than just water if you are seriously deplenished from an intense workout. . .although so is a bit of beer).
I mean, you do you, I was just curious as to how in the world soda was cheaper than water. I'm not even sure it's cheaper if you just buy it bottled as well. I'm curious as to your math. I just did a quick check on walmart, and the water is less than a cent per ounce, while the cheapest coke I saw was about 2.9 cents per ounce. . and that required having a 2 liter bottle, which would require using it rather quickly.
I don't like alcohol. I like fried food and obesity is certainly on the rise in America.
What a fuckin' comment.
This sentence could have been uttered with the same validity 100 years ago.
This sentence could have been uttered with the same validity 100 years ago.
Nah, obesity wasn't a thing back then. It started around the 80s.
The number of overweight individuals has been decreasing steadily for the past decades.
🤔 😅 🤣 😂
Yet even as overall volume consumption declined, the largest beer makers remain financially resilient thanks to prices that climbed alongside — or even surpassed — broader inflation, Steinman said. Beer drinkers also continued to shift toward more expensive beer brands, especially imports like Modelo Especial, which became the No. 1 beer in America in 2023.
So people aren't willing to pay higher prices for worse product.
I drink IPAz when I only want to have 2 drinks instead of 10.
Turns out, that's most of the time
We're much more health conscious these days. We've seen how alcohol can wreck your health and quality of life. There are more and more people that don't drink alcohol at all. And so on.
No we're not
We've replaced drinking and snacking with smoking and snacking
Your liver can grow back and repair itself from moderate damage. Lungs cannot.
And I say that as someone who uses both.
Three words, edibles.
Is this trend only the US? Would be interesting to see how it is in other countries and how it correlates to economic and social indcators
ليس هناك مصير إلا ما نصنعه لأنفسنا
More expensive, but also just all around bad for the body. Just really not worth it.
I feel like a lot of people don't know that alcohol is a carcinogen. Totally not worth it
Just about everything useful or fun is a carcinogen. Just practice moderation and you'll probably be okay.
I just literally can no longer afford alcohol. It's partly a relief to just no longer have to think about it or spend time on it, though I do miss the treat and the relaxation that it can bring. But like many others facing poverty, I sometimes feel a little angry at my fellow consumers who kept right on buying beer and everything else as food and beverage prices rose about 30 percent in five years. I wish everyone had been like "sorry, no, you're not seriously charging that much, forget it." Then again, as a child in the 70s I thought for sure consumers were going to reject the move to plastic food packaging. D'ohh.
Yeah, depending on what you drink and how much, it's almost $10 for a six-pack of beer now, maybe $100 month on average, so that's about $1200 a year, just on something you're literally going to be pissing away.
To be fair though, the last few years probably caused people to start drinking more than they normally would. My consumption definitely ticked up during the worst parts of the pandemic to where I was plowing through multiple six-packs a week. I've come down quite a bit since then, though it was kind of scary deciding to quit altogether because I was afraid, "What if I can't do it? What if do have some kind of dependency?" But it actually ended up being easier than I thought since it's mostly for health reasons (cholesterol and reducing risks for dementia). I just decided to stop and I stopped and that was it, it's been relatively easy. I probably just have other habits that I started compensating with.
Beer drinkers have diversified
Not for lack of effort on my part.
As someone who rarely drinks and fucking hates being around dumb drunk fucks.
Humanity needs to wake the fuck up to how fucking bad alcohol is for us as a species.
I mean, yeah, booze isn't great for people. But it's been a fairly important part of humanity since, like, the first city. According to wikipedia, humans have been making booze since the Neolithic period (10,000 BCE). Many, many, human cultures have some sort of relationship with it. Removing it would not be easy or well received.
There are a few theories that propose alcohol tolerance is baked into our DNA. Pre-humans that were able to breakdown alcohol were able to survive off of fermenting fruit when needed and not get so blackout drunk they became easy prey for something else. While that is just theory, the ability for us to process alcohol had to start somewhere.
I find it strange that a substance that helped us evolve is also a major sponsor of the Darwin Awards.
Lol people know how bad alcohol is.
Maybe you'll understand when you're a little bit older, bud.
I don't know how young you think a guy who is referencing an obscure UK government official being sacked 14 years ago would be.
Someone who is parroting talking points they saw on the internet.
There was a while when everything was watery beer, Bud Light, Coors etc. Then there was a sort of golden era, with lots of variety and lots of companies. There was certainly a good bit of crap, but the huge variety meant that there was always something good to drink. Now we've gone back to consolidation, with only two companies in the entire world, and only one kind of beer: poorly done IPAs. Monopolies are bad for consumers. No one wants to buy this piss.
Now we've gone back to consolidation, with only two companies in the entire world, and only one kind of beer
Wat? We did? When did this happen?
Where I live there are microbreweries all over the place. As far as I can see we are still in the golden era and it’s only getting better.
I'm in the PNW and it's just shitty IPA's everywhere. I also seem to get judged every time I ask if there's a stout, or really any dark beer, on tap.
Even going to visit other areas with more microbreweries around, there are more options... still wading through IPA's though.
Edit: while I'm at it, sour beers suck.
Your area sucks then. Still not sure what any of this has to do with consolidation and monopoly.
Where I live there are microbreweries every where. While every single one sells an IPA they are also making different styles as well. Sours are taking off in my area.
Yeah, IPAs are way too popular. The issue is the people who "like IPAs" aren't willing to try anything else. They'll try a hazy or double IPA, even though those are very different from a west coast IPA, but they won't try the saison, barleywine, or anything else. It forces breweries to cater to them because more adventurous beer drinkers will still drink an IPA.
It's better where I am (VA), but IPAs still rule. There's one brewery in particular that has somewhere around 20 taps, but there's only at most 10 non-IPAs, usually fewer. I don't go there very often.
Same here and everywhere I visit in the US. One brewery will have 5 different IPAs. And the people in the comments here - "There's variety! The stores are full of different IPAs!"
I've written off IPAs entirely at this point, give me literally anything but lol. It just ends up always being tart/sour/fruity with almost a grittiness to them. I've never been the biggest fan of ciders which is what IPAs reminded me of when they first started getting popular in my area around 2015-2016. Never liked them then but I'd try one every once in a while cause people are always raving about one.
I usually say "Yeah, i used to like IPA but i got bored of it. Do you have anything else than hoppy beers?"
Then, they come up with the sours...
I went somewhere last week that I'm not even sure if they knew what a porter was.
Thankfully they had a decent lager
Are you shopping at the Dollar General?
Last time I was at a Walmart/Target/Publix/Ingles/etc all that shit watery beer is still there plus the largest selection of ales lagers and IPAs that there has ever been. Not to mention the ciders and seltzer that are huge now too.
Just wanted to chime in that I wholly disagree with this “beer was better back then” bullshit.
I've been all over the US and my impression is there are more local and regional craft breweries than ever. Sure some of them get gobbled up by the InBev monster but not all. Personally I'm only looking for a bottle or two per week during football season or maybe an occasional tap pint. In those small quantities you barely feel the price difference between Bud/Coors and better beers. Might as well drink the better stuff that isn't owned by an evil multinational conglomerate.
Anecdotally, I and many of my friends are way more likely to purchase liquor than beer. Personally it's just too much liquid for me, especially because I still want to be drinking water alongside the booze.
Same happened in Japan.
Lets make America great again - have a beer!
beer shipments
That’s the problem. A lot of people are living in and around cities now. We buy beer at the brewery. Do these figures include 1st party sells? Distributors have always been a necessary evil and many states have laws saying you must go through a distributor for selling elsewhere, but many breweries are just doing taprooms now to not have to deal with that. I’d like to see those stats if they exist.
I do understand that many people are buying seltzers now, myself included.
It also doesn't help that the craft beer scene turned into a competition to push the most over the top bitter IPAs possible. A lot of the appeal of craft beer went away for me when 3/4 of the taps became unremarkable IPAs. A good IPA is wonderful, but the vast majority of what you run into isn't that.
It's only marginally more interesting than when the landscape was dominated by lagers.
At least around me that has improved. Ten years ago it was just a dick-measuring contest about who could make the bitterest beer. Once you hit 90+ IBUs you're not even pretending to make something good.
Since then, craft breweries here have course corrected. Most of them here are focusing on making a well- balanced IPA as their flagship, then experimenting with sours, stouts and saisons.
I'm sure the weed legalizing has had an impact as well. I have completely stopped drinking in favor of weed. Saves my liver and no hangover.
Saves the brain, too. Not saying weed is exceptional, but alcohol fucks the brain up.
I'm going to credit Dylan Mulvaney for this improvement in American social discourse. People boycotting bud light has been amazing for beer consumption.
Lower beer consumption means lower community violence. These things take time to recognize, let's start planning Dylan's parade for say....2026? Plenty of time to make it fabulous.
I swear to fucking God if gen Z fucks up the local brewery thing I will burn down the building.
For every beer yall don't drink, I'm going to drink 3. 1 because I want a beer, 1 for the beer you passed on, and 1 to make the beer industry even more awesome.
US beer is shit anyway 🤷 Took them a good while to notice!
I’ve noticed that the people who say this aren’t beer drinkers and have zero experience with beer beyond what they see on TV.
I've been drinking beer for thirty years, am well versed in the beers of different countries, and I don't own a TV, so pull another one.
Doubt. Head back to slamming your Budweisers
LOL, all you have is what you "notice" and "doubt"? Enjoy your piss poor beer Murricano.
The US has some great craft beer. Some of (if not the) best in the world. Our beer that sells well is shit though, I agree. Out of the "popular" (which mostly just means cheap) beer, the imported ones are generally better.
Craft isn't bad but still not good for most of america.
Here is the key sentence in the article.
So, are people drinking less beer or are they drinking less piss beer? Could it be that people are having two Hazy Imperial IPA's with 8+ ABV instead of a six pack of Coors Light? I am taking this headline with a grain of salt.
EDIT: I found my glasses.
Article has a vague accusation that soda-based drinks are to blame without covering any of the other possibilities here
I thought soda consumption is also down? And the fizzy alcohols had leveled off or declining as well? I am curious myself.
Probably talking about LaCroix and that other stuff
I'm more of a once a week Porter, Ale and Hard Cider drinker, but it's still a Microbrew.
Grain a salt is right: People just don't like the taste of that crap anymore, not with so many options on the market now.
Coors/Bud/MGD/Corona? I haven't had one in years.
A Four Noses or Cerebrus Hazy is so much better than the domestic swill it’s not funny. We have so many more options these days that I’m glad it’s hurting the big guys. They’ve been making crap pilsners for decades.
Who the hell thinks those three are premium?
If that's premium what isn't premium? Steel reserve? That's just malt Coors with different marketing. Micky's? That's just malt Miller with different marketing. 10 barrel? That bud light wearing 2010's hipster clothes.
I think we're giving these brand too much credit with the word premium.
Hey, hey, hey! Don't disrespect Mickey's.
Stop making so many mediocre IPAs. Other styles do exist.
It's insane. I swear that some liquor stores I go to have a craft beer section that's 90% IPAs... and another 5% that are basically IPAs with cutesy names like "Super Duper Pale Ale."
Had the same thought to myself at the Sprouts today. All I wanted was a stout. Not even a Guinness anywhere, but an entire wall of IPA's and then the rest were hard seltzers.
It might have something to do with weed being easier to get. Where I live it's easier and faster to get weed than it is to get beer, especially on sunday.
Alcohol is expensive and makes you feel like shit. Who does that to themselves by choice when there's alternatives?
It only makes you feel like shit if you want to get wasted irresponsibly. I like beer and outside of some college benders I’ve never felt like shit after. Stay hydrated folks.
Because beer tastes great
After you've acquired the taste. It was social pressure that got me to acquire it, but if that social pressure is dropping, it doesn't surprise me that fewer pick it up because beer tastes kinda awful at first.
Acquired taste, or gaslighting your taste buds?
I don't really care about the social pressure anymore but I do like a beer on occasion. Though it is more about the overall experience of drinking a beer rather than the taste itself, which I'd personally say is at best not bad and generally tolerable.
I respond poorly to weed and well to alcohol. Bodies are different.
I enjoy the buzz from alcohol and I rarely drink enough to make me feel like shit. While I'm generally a social person, I also enjoy that it is a social lubricant, while I find other highs to not be nearly as social, and often even anti social.
Yup. I’m smoking on new years. Not drinking.
This is part of why alcohol companies spend insane amounts of cash towards anti legalization efforts
The DEA, or Distiller's Enforcement Apparatus, is an army of masked thugs licensed to rob, defame, kidnap, or kill those suspected of preferring other drugs over alcohol.
A 4 pack is $12. I'm just going to get a bottle of whisky instead.
that's gonna be some good whisky.
Depending on the size of the can, At $2-3 per standard unit of alcohol, would put it at like $40-60 for the equivalent whisky bottle. So, yeah it could be.
There's a bourbon called ancient age which is made by Buffalo trace. Sells for $11 a bottle here. It's not fancy, it's just a perfectly decent bourbon for a very low price.
But a bottle of whiskey and a four pack of craft beer have different amounts of alcohol, so you could end up getting a much nicer bottle of whiskey.
Liquor store chain in my area sells 30 packs of Hamm's for $13.99. 6 of those is more than a 16 gallon keg and costs ~80 bucks, cheaper than just getting a keg
That is crazy cheap. I can't buy name brand soda for that price.
$12 is a steal. A 7% IPA in Jersey will run you 16-22$. Yeah, and add to that that the craft beer market is just oversaturated, I think I'll pass.
Right there with ya.
No beer for me, just drugs please.
I just want weed. I didn’t even think of buying alcohol for new years, but I did purchase a screen for my pipe.
You son of a bitch, I'm in.
Meanwhile my drinking has hit personal record highs this year. Yay depression.
18 days sober today for me! You can do it friend.
Even if you don't stop completely, and instead only drink socially as opposed to alone I think you'll feel a lot better. I know I did! Plus, the feeling of waking up every day 100% sober with no hangover is better than all the drunken nights. Whatever you choose, good luck...
I peaked during the pandemic and was also depressed. It's a difficult cycle to break but I got out of it. If you want to chat about it let me know.
Please, be careful with that, alcohol usually makes depression worse
I don't know you, but I understand how tough depression is. Just remember when things get bad that this stranger on the internet loves you. I want to see you happy and I'm sure you'll make it there :)
The beer fests near me are filled with selzers, ciders and stuff like mead. As someone who doesn't like beer, I think it's a positive change to have alternatives for different tastes.
I also wonder how liquor sales are as well.
My wife and I are obviously only one couple, so this is confirmation bias, but alcohol in general just isn't as appealing anymore. With all this general stress we've been going through (struggling with inflation, insane work hours, insane work conditions) alcohol is causing more migraines, sucky morning-after-drinking symptoms, high calories, expensive prices, there's just no good reason to drink as much as we used to. And it's not like we drank that much earlier in our lives as well.
Tie this all together with marijuana availability which has none of these cons except for high taxes, then alcohol doesn't sound as appealing anymore.
Up a staggering amount. The US is in the throes of an alcohol-abuse epidemic.
If that's the case, keep on keeping on alcohol drinkers. 🫡
As long as nobody is drunk driving, being a public nuisance, or hurting people in any way then I won't tell people how to live their lives.
Although, I feel the same way about any drug really. There's enjoying yourself and then there's hurting yourself.
I think beer is gross, personally, so this isn't a post about me but reading the comments it is interesting to see beer drinkers here decide against it due to cost and wanting other choices. I have news for you guys there are cocktails and other great alcohols that cost as much as your 7 to 10 dollar beer and they taste fucking great.
Well, I personally get intoxicated a bit even by sweets, and also feel worse from sugar. While beer (IPA-s mostly) makes me feel better and not that much drunk.
Ah, and that "good alcohol" you're talking about makes me nervous, shaky, paranoid and it's as if my hangover always started when others are only becoming drunk.
Metabolism can be different from person to person.
sweet drinks are fine to have 1 or 2 of, but the sugar content will fuck your stomach up badly. learned that the hard way
You say "gross", now that's an intriguing choice of vocab...because it's just a watery liquid, it doesn't have a texture like snot or slime or similar typically "gross" things. I'm not saying you're wrong in your dislike of it, the taste, smell, etc. but could you elaborate what you think is "gross" about it?
Beer tastes like carbonated ass with added bread flavouring. That specific enough for ya?
This is why I go for cider. Replaces the weird bread taste with apples.
And because it's like 8%, I only need half as much to get tanked up.
Beer can be different. Though TBF I only drink two kinds of beer - one is a really flavorful craft IPA which I'm unaware of being exported from Russia, another is the cheap alcohol-free thing my dad let me taste when I was 6 or 7, which gives memories and isn't too bad.
Smell and taste is terrible. I rather have a coke with amaretto if I HAVE to drink. Never saw the appeal of beer. Plus who has money to spend on this kind of stuff. Least soda is sweet and cheaper than water.
Beer is like soup. There's tons of different ways to make it. There are sweet (like candy sweet, not just soda sweet) beers if you want them. The issue is you have to find them. There was a big movement towards sour beers for a while, which turned into a race for the sweetest beer and ended horribly in my opinion, but those are more rare than during that period now. There's also beers that taste like pickles, wine, or just about whatever else you could want. There really isn't a "beer" flavor, though there is a lager or pilsner flavor which is the typical cheap beer.
Yeah that probably what I am used to seeing. I have had draft beer but I can't tell difference so I assume I am lost cause there. Same goes for red wine for me they all taste basically the same. It's like difference between 7up and sprite.
Draft beer just means it's coming from a keg, not a style difference. You may not find beer you like, but if you've only tried the typical beer you get at a bar or whatever then yeah, it won't be good. I'd say go to a brewery and ask for help. The bartenders will be happy to help and they'll let you taste whatever you want before ordering. You can also go to a taphouse or something, but they won't be as helpful probably and you also probably can't get tastes.
O weird people always act like draft is so much better.
I'm confused by this, how is soda cheaper than water? In the us, water comes out of my faucet ridiculously cheaply, and virtually every restaurant will give you water for free while charge for soda. At least with beer you get a buzz, why anyone would ever choose soda is beyond me. Well, I get it, it's sweet. But it's really just absolutely empty calories.
Ah water bottles versus faucet. I Believe you live in a place that doesn't have terrible tap. Plus I can't upgrade the place I live in to resolve that ugh. Sugary water taste good by default plus you can offer it to anyone unlike beer. Buzz is also a side-effect which soda codes not have. I can drink 50 Cana of soda and still drive home.
If we are talking about living in a place where the water is literally nonpotable, maybe you're correct. But if it's simply that you don't like the taste then this isn't about it being more expensive. Additionally, if this is the case, you can just buy a filter, which would produce way better tasting water at a fraction of the cost of soda.
My point about beer giving a buzz is that it actually provides something that water does not. If you are looking for caffeine from a soda, there are way better ways of getting it without getting all those empty calories as well. If you just need to hydrate, water is pretty universally the best choice (when it comes to vs soda, although maybe a tiny bit of soda would be better than just water if you are seriously deplenished from an intense workout. . .although so is a bit of beer).
I mean, you do you, I was just curious as to how in the world soda was cheaper than water. I'm not even sure it's cheaper if you just buy it bottled as well. I'm curious as to your math. I just did a quick check on walmart, and the water is less than a cent per ounce, while the cheapest coke I saw was about 2.9 cents per ounce. . and that required having a 2 liter bottle, which would require using it rather quickly.
I don't like alcohol. I like fried food and obesity is certainly on the rise in America.
What a fuckin' comment.
This sentence could have been uttered with the same validity 100 years ago.
Nah, obesity wasn't a thing back then. It started around the 80s.
The number of overweight individuals has been decreasing steadily for the past decades. 🤔 😅 🤣 😂
Yes, because they were converted into obese.
So people aren't willing to pay higher prices for worse product.
I drink IPAz when I only want to have 2 drinks instead of 10.
Turns out, that's most of the time
We're much more health conscious these days. We've seen how alcohol can wreck your health and quality of life. There are more and more people that don't drink alcohol at all. And so on.
No we're not
We've replaced drinking and snacking with smoking and snacking
Your liver can grow back and repair itself from moderate damage. Lungs cannot.
And I say that as someone who uses both.
Three words, edibles.
Is this trend only the US? Would be interesting to see how it is in other countries and how it correlates to economic and social indcators
ليس هناك مصير إلا ما نصنعه لأنفسنا
More expensive, but also just all around bad for the body. Just really not worth it.
I feel like a lot of people don't know that alcohol is a carcinogen. Totally not worth it
Just about everything useful or fun is a carcinogen. Just practice moderation and you'll probably be okay.
I just literally can no longer afford alcohol. It's partly a relief to just no longer have to think about it or spend time on it, though I do miss the treat and the relaxation that it can bring. But like many others facing poverty, I sometimes feel a little angry at my fellow consumers who kept right on buying beer and everything else as food and beverage prices rose about 30 percent in five years. I wish everyone had been like "sorry, no, you're not seriously charging that much, forget it." Then again, as a child in the 70s I thought for sure consumers were going to reject the move to plastic food packaging. D'ohh.
Yeah, depending on what you drink and how much, it's almost $10 for a six-pack of beer now, maybe $100 month on average, so that's about $1200 a year, just on something you're literally going to be pissing away.
To be fair though, the last few years probably caused people to start drinking more than they normally would. My consumption definitely ticked up during the worst parts of the pandemic to where I was plowing through multiple six-packs a week. I've come down quite a bit since then, though it was kind of scary deciding to quit altogether because I was afraid, "What if I can't do it? What if do have some kind of dependency?" But it actually ended up being easier than I thought since it's mostly for health reasons (cholesterol and reducing risks for dementia). I just decided to stop and I stopped and that was it, it's been relatively easy. I probably just have other habits that I started compensating with.
Beer drinkers have diversified
Not for lack of effort on my part.
As someone who rarely drinks and fucking hates being around dumb drunk fucks.
Good.
Keep going, don't stop, fuck alcohol.
David Nutt knew what was up. He argued alcohol and tobacco should be illegal and marijuana, LSD, and mushrooms should be legal, based on real-world harm (he also had the data to back it up). He got shitcanned for suggesting this.
Humanity needs to wake the fuck up to how fucking bad alcohol is for us as a species.
I mean, yeah, booze isn't great for people. But it's been a fairly important part of humanity since, like, the first city. According to wikipedia, humans have been making booze since the Neolithic period (10,000 BCE). Many, many, human cultures have some sort of relationship with it. Removing it would not be easy or well received.
There are a few theories that propose alcohol tolerance is baked into our DNA. Pre-humans that were able to breakdown alcohol were able to survive off of fermenting fruit when needed and not get so blackout drunk they became easy prey for something else. While that is just theory, the ability for us to process alcohol had to start somewhere.
I find it strange that a substance that helped us evolve is also a major sponsor of the Darwin Awards.
Lol people know how bad alcohol is.
Maybe you'll understand when you're a little bit older, bud.
I don't know how young you think a guy who is referencing an obscure UK government official being sacked 14 years ago would be.
Someone who is parroting talking points they saw on the internet.
There was a while when everything was watery beer, Bud Light, Coors etc. Then there was a sort of golden era, with lots of variety and lots of companies. There was certainly a good bit of crap, but the huge variety meant that there was always something good to drink. Now we've gone back to consolidation, with only two companies in the entire world, and only one kind of beer: poorly done IPAs. Monopolies are bad for consumers. No one wants to buy this piss.
Wat? We did? When did this happen?
Where I live there are microbreweries all over the place. As far as I can see we are still in the golden era and it’s only getting better.
I'm in the PNW and it's just shitty IPA's everywhere. I also seem to get judged every time I ask if there's a stout, or really any dark beer, on tap.
Even going to visit other areas with more microbreweries around, there are more options... still wading through IPA's though.
Edit: while I'm at it, sour beers suck.
Your area sucks then. Still not sure what any of this has to do with consolidation and monopoly.
Where I live there are microbreweries every where. While every single one sells an IPA they are also making different styles as well. Sours are taking off in my area.
Yeah, IPAs are way too popular. The issue is the people who "like IPAs" aren't willing to try anything else. They'll try a hazy or double IPA, even though those are very different from a west coast IPA, but they won't try the saison, barleywine, or anything else. It forces breweries to cater to them because more adventurous beer drinkers will still drink an IPA.
It's better where I am (VA), but IPAs still rule. There's one brewery in particular that has somewhere around 20 taps, but there's only at most 10 non-IPAs, usually fewer. I don't go there very often.
Same here and everywhere I visit in the US. One brewery will have 5 different IPAs. And the people in the comments here - "There's variety! The stores are full of different IPAs!"
I've written off IPAs entirely at this point, give me literally anything but lol. It just ends up always being tart/sour/fruity with almost a grittiness to them. I've never been the biggest fan of ciders which is what IPAs reminded me of when they first started getting popular in my area around 2015-2016. Never liked them then but I'd try one every once in a while cause people are always raving about one.
I usually say "Yeah, i used to like IPA but i got bored of it. Do you have anything else than hoppy beers?" Then, they come up with the sours...
I went somewhere last week that I'm not even sure if they knew what a porter was.
Thankfully they had a decent lager
Are you shopping at the Dollar General?
Last time I was at a Walmart/Target/Publix/Ingles/etc all that shit watery beer is still there plus the largest selection of ales lagers and IPAs that there has ever been. Not to mention the ciders and seltzer that are huge now too.
Just wanted to chime in that I wholly disagree with this “beer was better back then” bullshit.
I've been all over the US and my impression is there are more local and regional craft breweries than ever. Sure some of them get gobbled up by the InBev monster but not all. Personally I'm only looking for a bottle or two per week during football season or maybe an occasional tap pint. In those small quantities you barely feel the price difference between Bud/Coors and better beers. Might as well drink the better stuff that isn't owned by an evil multinational conglomerate.
Anecdotally, I and many of my friends are way more likely to purchase liquor than beer. Personally it's just too much liquid for me, especially because I still want to be drinking water alongside the booze.
Same happened in Japan.
Lets make America great again - have a beer!
That’s the problem. A lot of people are living in and around cities now. We buy beer at the brewery. Do these figures include 1st party sells? Distributors have always been a necessary evil and many states have laws saying you must go through a distributor for selling elsewhere, but many breweries are just doing taprooms now to not have to deal with that. I’d like to see those stats if they exist.
I do understand that many people are buying seltzers now, myself included.
It also doesn't help that the craft beer scene turned into a competition to push the most over the top bitter IPAs possible. A lot of the appeal of craft beer went away for me when 3/4 of the taps became unremarkable IPAs. A good IPA is wonderful, but the vast majority of what you run into isn't that.
It's only marginally more interesting than when the landscape was dominated by lagers.
At least around me that has improved. Ten years ago it was just a dick-measuring contest about who could make the bitterest beer. Once you hit 90+ IBUs you're not even pretending to make something good.
Since then, craft breweries here have course corrected. Most of them here are focusing on making a well- balanced IPA as their flagship, then experimenting with sours, stouts and saisons.
I'm sure the weed legalizing has had an impact as well. I have completely stopped drinking in favor of weed. Saves my liver and no hangover.
Saves the brain, too. Not saying weed is exceptional, but alcohol fucks the brain up.
I'm going to credit Dylan Mulvaney for this improvement in American social discourse. People boycotting bud light has been amazing for beer consumption.
Lower beer consumption means lower community violence. These things take time to recognize, let's start planning Dylan's parade for say....2026? Plenty of time to make it fabulous.
I swear to fucking God if gen Z fucks up the local brewery thing I will burn down the building.
For every beer yall don't drink, I'm going to drink 3. 1 because I want a beer, 1 for the beer you passed on, and 1 to make the beer industry even more awesome.
US beer is shit anyway 🤷 Took them a good while to notice!
I’ve noticed that the people who say this aren’t beer drinkers and have zero experience with beer beyond what they see on TV.
I've been drinking beer for thirty years, am well versed in the beers of different countries, and I don't own a TV, so pull another one.
Doubt. Head back to slamming your Budweisers
LOL, all you have is what you "notice" and "doubt"? Enjoy your piss poor beer Murricano.
The US has some great craft beer. Some of (if not the) best in the world. Our beer that sells well is shit though, I agree. Out of the "popular" (which mostly just means cheap) beer, the imported ones are generally better.
Craft isn't bad but still not good for most of america.