Obviously the CEO of a beer company has an interest here, but this analysis of declining alcohol sales rings true to me. There’s been this running narrative about more health conscious consumer patterns leading people away from booze but I have long suspected it was about an addictive replacement, not greater discipline. Reasonable people didn’t need the latest science on the cancer risk alcohol poses to realize drinking a lot isn’t good for you. Staring at a screen is a lot better for your liver but i have a bad feeling about what this trend implies about human socialization and the broader impacts on our society.

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As someone who recently lost his biggest photo client because of declining alcohol sales I think about this stuff a lot and I am 100% sure it has more to do with people in their early 20s having spent so much of their formative years during the pandemic. I have so many adult friends with anxiety about large groups of people and I know it has to be much worse for people who didn't have real social lives during high school. Add to that inflation, economic insecurity, dating apps and political gender gap no wonder people aren't going to bars as much.