Millennials are ditching beer for liquor and wine

Source: Business Insider

Elena Holodny

Mar. 14, 2016

Younger Americans love liquor and wine way more than previous generations.

In fact, the 18-29 year old demographic has been shifting away from beer towards spirits and wine over the last two decades, according to a chart shared by Barclays’ William Marshall and Samuel High.

Their research shows that back in 1992-93, 70% of 18-29 year olds listed beer as their preferred drink.

By 2012-13 that number had plunged to 40%.

At the same time, about 15% of 18-29 year olds surveyed in 1992-93 listed wine as their preferred drink and approximately 13% of 18-29 year olds listed liquor as their preferred choice.

By 2012-13 those numbers increased to about 23% and 30% respectively.

“The share gains have been slow but very consistent,” noted the Barclays analysts.

“Importantly, preference for liquor has increased most among the 18-29 year-old demographic, suggesting that this trend is poised to continue as more young drinkers eschew beer and shift towards spirits,” he added.

Already major companies like Anheuser-Busch, MillerCoors, and Heineken have been getting worried about millennials’ love of wine.

In fact, Wine Spectator found that millennials consumed 42% of all wine drunk in the US in 2015 – aka more than any generation.

Even when it comes to beer, there are some ominous signs for huge beer companies: many millennials prefer craft varieties to “traditional” beers like Budweiser.

And for what it’s worth, Budweiser found that in 2014 44% of drinkers aged 21 to 27 have never tried the brand, according to the WSJ.

In short, there are a lot of bad signs for Big Beer.