It’s still cool. It’s just prohibitively expensive.
As a non-drinker that seems like a lot, OTOH, I have spent a lot on liquor for cooking so…
I wonder how much of a role palate refinement is for this trend. For example: Starbucks, for as terrible as their coffee is, did a lot to elevate the overall regard of coffee; bean juice was no longer just a bitter stew we tolerated to get our caffeine fix. Starbucks broke trail for craft coffee roasting more general popularity.
Could it be the same with alcoholic beverages? I used to think Maker’s Mark was the best bourbon going. Now I know better, but so many of the craft bourbons are expensive or just plain hard to find. Ditto for my favorite hazy IPAs. Why binge drink the good stuff when your palate is going to be wrecked after three beers? And since I’m not going to drink swill, welp, guess I’m not going to get drunk tonight!
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the graph covers 20 years. i think what we’re seeing is the 35+ y.o. people gradually cutting back because the doctor’s telling them to stop beating the shit out of their liver, in addition to younger generations not picking up the “let’s get shitfaced every weekend” habit
edit : I guess I should learn to read
i think what we’re seeing is the 35+ y.o. people gradually cutting back because the doctor’s telling them to stop beating the shit out of their liver
No, that’s not how the graph works. It isn’t following one generational cohort as they age; it’s measuring the behavior of a certain age group and switching to new people as they age out.
It’s only measuring the second part of what you wrote.
Used to work in the industry. The common joke was that Starbucks is a dairy business with a side coffee business. They move a hell of a lot of dairy. They had word-of-mouth and an insatiable appetite to fill every strip mall. I wouldn’t say their coffee was ever good or great. It just had to be better than McDonalds which is not saying much. Good business plan though.
I think at least part of it is due to weed. Both it being legalized and being more popular than it’s ever been in non-legal states. At least for me, smoking weed kills my desire to drink nearly as much. Usually at parties or just hang outs it starts off with a beer or mixed drink or three, then someone breaks out the weed and suddenly I’m nursing my fourth drink for an hour.
Would we not expect sudden changes then? This is a steady decline, not indicating any sudden changes in laws or anything.
Weed legalization hasn’t been sudden though. It’s progressed from medical to decriminalized to legal state by excruciating state.
As this graph is national, it makes sense that there wouldn’t be a cliff because there’s no particular date when we could say weed became legal.
Still not legal in any way here in texasss, and I assume we’ll be the very last of the last to do so. But even here, it’s so easily accessible that a good number of younger people I know tell me they prefer weed to alcohol. In legal states, that tendency must be much higher.
Weed has had a steady increase in popularity since like the 70s. I kind of agree, I’m sure there should be some cliff in the states where it was legalized, or if not my theory is bunk. It’s only based on an anecdote tbf.
Edit: actually if we want any theory it seems pretty clear that the beginning of the drop off started right about at the market crash of 2008.
Also interesting that female rates stayed steady to the point that they’ve actually overtaken male rates.
Interesting. Personally, it doesn’t kill my desire to drink when I do decide to go on a bender. If anything, for me it gets easier to drink when there’s weed involved, as I just don’t enjoy most alcoholic beverages, taste wise. However, since access to weed got easier and I don’t have to hide anymore, when the occasion to get a buzz happens, I just prefer the weed high to being drunk, and I can skip the hangover.
I think it’s also in part due to easier access at an earlier age compared to alcohol and the rapid increase in quality. Weed is easy to grow, and even kids have been selling it to their friends in school for forever. But gone are the days of buying skunk weed off some dude you barely know. There’s 13 year olds out there today smoking stuff of a quality that the hippies could only dream of.
Plus, when it comes to drugs, as a late Millennial, I knew a lot more kids who became heroin addicts as teenagers than alcoholics - and they started their drug use years before showing up on this graph. During Bush’s presidency, heroin from Afghanistan became a lot more easily accessible on the east coast, and I used to say when I was a teenager that heroin was more popular with my generation because it was too awkward to go to the bar and see your friends’ parents day drinking.
I’m not sure how it all factors in but there’s evidence that teenagers are using weed less: https://coloradosun.com/2024/06/26/youth-marijuana-use-colorado-legalization/
There’s apparently a similar story for the amount of sex younger people are having. I’ve always attributed the story to the internet and social media. IE, Younger people are just getting their “fix” from and are addicted to something else and aren’t bored in the same way older generations were when they were young.
That would fit. Trend lines start dropping around the time that smart phones really started to be good and smartphone use actually become a viable passtime
