The Great Beer Abandonment: American Young Drinkers are Drinking Wine and Hard Alcohol Instead

December 4, 2014

The percentage of twenty-something, American drinkers who prefer beer to other alcoholic drinks has drastically declined over the past two decades according to Goldman Sachs Investment Research.  Twenty years ago almost 75% of drinkers age 18 to 29 responded that they like beer best, today the percentage is down to 40%. In contrast, young drinkers who prefer hard alcohol increased significantly from 13% in the early 1990’s to 30% today, and the percentage of young drinkers who prefer wine has likewise increased from under 15% in the 1990’s to just under 25% today. Between 2002 and 2012 overall national beer consumption fell by 9%, however the decline attributed to drinkers ages 30-49 was marginal, and the number of beer drinkers ages 50 and above remained unchanged. To read further about the various possible drivers for such a change, and why we tend to drink what our grandparents drank and not what our parents drank:

 

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