Americans are drinking less alcohol overall, according to a new report which found that total booze consumption across the United States declined for the third consecutive year in 2018.
Along with a drop in beer volumes, the International Wine and Spirits Records (IWSR) group attributes the decline in alcohol consumption to the continuing trend toward health and wellness.
Overall, total volume consumption in the U.S. dropped nearly one percent in 2018 to 3.345 billion nine-liter cases, compared to 2017.
The beer segment suffered the biggest blow of all alcohol markets at -1.5 percent.
The best performers in 2018, meanwhile, were mixed drink and cider categories (drinks like alcoholic seltzers, local craft and flavored ciders perceived as healthier alternatives to other products) which grew 4 and 6 percent respectively.
Distilled spirits and wine grew modestly at two and 0.4 percent respectively.
It is clear that Americans are drinking less overall, which is likely a result of the continued trend toward health and wellness,” said Brandy Rand, IWSR’s U.S. President and global chief marketing officer.
“We’ve also seen for some time now that consumers aren’t necessarily loyal to just one category, which leads to less volume for individual brands,” Rand explained. “Also, the aging baby boomer population, the largest group of legal drinking age consumers, is contributing to slowed growth as well.”
Meanwhile, a report published by Wine Intelligence this week showed that monthly wine drinkers, who are those who drink wine at least once a month, aged 55 and under dropped by almost 10 million between 2015 and 2018.
In the Millennial age group alone, that figure is three million.
Likewise, Millennials show the least interest and awareness in wine, as measured by their knowledge of wine varietals, regions and brands. JB
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