Who drinks in America

New Hampshire's high position in these sorts of statistics is often attributed to the fact that there is no sales tax on beer, so people from neighboring states often cross the border to buy beer and other alcoholic beverages.

So, they are not really actual per capita "consumption" rates as much as beer sales figures divided by in-state population.

Yeah, that sure makes that graphic suspicious - Budweiser listed at #1 in many of those states. By some industry stats, Budweiser has fallen to the #5 or #6* beer in the US, while Bud Light remains #1. And they do specifically list Bud Light as #1 in Vermont. (I also can't imagine that Pabst-owned, MC-brewed Lone Star is really #1 in Texas, the largest beer market in the US.)

Behind Bud Light, Coors Light, Miller Lite, Michelob Ultra and (possibly) Modelo Especial.

 

If you break down the reported demographics, it may make more sense to you.

• Seniors 65+ abstain at just under 50%, likely a combination of cutting down for health reasons, economic reasons (living on SS), and are more religious, with several denominations discouraging or instructing their adherents to abstain.
• Age 18-29 ”Generation Dry” is abstaining at higher rates on many “vices” (drinking, drugs, sex) vis a vis prior generation rates at the same age. Seniors abstain at only a 6% higher rate than young adult rate.
• Population continues to skew older, and with young adults not “picking up the slack”, I’d expect alcohol consumption to slowly dip over time unless demographics change and/or young people begin to imbibe at higher rates.

I didn’t notice the Bud Light listed separately for Vermont. Co-sign on the skepticism regarding Lone Star being the number one selling beer in Texas. I believe they are possibly using survey results, not IRI data.

Here is the most recent free link I can find for 2020 based on sales volume (no source listed).
https://www.wisk.ai/blog/top-selling-beers-of-2020-based-on-sales-data

1. Bud Light
2. Corona Extra
3. Michelob Ultra
4. Coors Light
5. Miller Lite
6. Budweiser

I’ve read Modelo Especial has gained significantly the past two years, claiming the number one spot in large cities including I believe LA and Chicago.

 

Religion, Religion, Religion.

All depends on what type of German. Growing up in Southeastern PA, I am 75% PA Dutch German, as a kid I went to a Mennonite church - no drinking/smoking, no dancing, no secular music, conservative dress, etc - my grandmother's generation, the women all still wore hair coverings. Our church used grape juice for the yearly communion service. So my dad's whole extended family did not drink.

A lot of my mom's extended family did not drink either as they went to a non-denominational Evangelical church. For those Thanksgiving dinners, the tradition was drinking my great grandmothers' homegrown grape juice mixed with ginger ale. It wasn't until I was older that I realized that probably started off as a wine substitute.

 

Yeah, would have a lot of company in America. Would be surprised if the real total abstainer percentage wouldn't be like 10-20%. Look at me, I drank myself five years ago. Abstaining is great, but maybe a bit underrated (or overrated?)

 

Yeah, well - without citing source(s) that one is suspect based on things like:

How can that be after they've listed Heineken, Dos Equis, Corona and Sol above it?
These items, too:

And:

Huh?

According to Beer Marketers Insights, the top ten brands in the US in 2020 (w/market share percentage):
Bud Light 12.4%
Coors Light 6.5%
Miller Lite 5.6%
Michelob Ultra 5.4%
Budweiser 5.0%
Modelo Especial 4.9%
Corona Extra 3.8%
Busch Light 3.4%
White Claw (all) 3.3%
Natural Light 3%

 

The abstention rate in Finland decreased significantly, the result of women dropping from a 40% rate in the 1960s to a 10% rate today. The top 10% of male and female drinkers account for 45% and 50%, respectively, of all alcohol consumed in Finland.

Other countries also have similar situations (a small minority of people using/abusing or accounting for a disproportionate amount alcohol, drugs, gambling, etc). It’s one of two primary reasons (taxes the other) why alcohol stores remained open during government required lockdowns (tax revenue the other). You didn’t want to have to deal with a substantial number of alcoholics trying to detox cold turkey/simultaneously while health resources were required elsewhere.

Alcohol sales have declined here, and abstention rates have been pretty consistent over time, so there is no reason to believe the rate of people reporting abstinence in America is significantly inaccurate.

@jesskidden - I saw those as odd beers in the Top 70 as well, but the top six are similar with other data I’ve come across, and close to your source.

Do you have any recent data (since 1969) in terms of alcohol consumption by region?

 

Guess I will have to believe the surprising numbers. To be that absolute like me isn't common here. Not totally uncommon though to be sobering up as age accumulates and drinking accumulates too. Wonder how religion in the States looks at NA beer?

 

That's a good question, and I don't know the answer. I'll guess that it is still considered to be beer, but let's see if anyone in-the-know answers your question.

 

A popular joke is told about Southern Baptists:

Q: If you invite a Baptist to go fishing with you, how do you keep him from drinking all your beer?

A: Invite two of them!

Cheers!

 

I’ll go ahead and put several sociological factors together from this survey/article that might be stereotypical, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they don’t also happen to be true.

It appears that higher education levels correlate to higher alcohol consumption. Higher education levels also tend to correlate to higher income and, overall, a less religious worldview. By contrast, lower education levels tend to correlate to both lower income and higher participation in organized religion, both of which contribute in different ways to lower alcohol consumption (less disposable income for the former, belief that drinking alcohol is “sinful” or at least frowned upon for the latter). None of the above seems to be all that earth-shattering.

So in short, I guess I’d say the findings are not all that surprising, and tend to reinforce observable reality (though, admittedly, we are all biased to see what we already tend to believe and dismiss facts that don’t support our preconceived ideas). Interesting to have data on this going back decades, in any case.

 

I have some background in religion but have grown secular. Wonder how that influences things, maybe I believe in sobriety? Haven't heard though that religion influences drinking so much, on the contrary, Jesus drank wine. Probably would have drunk beer if living a bit up north?

Maybe drunkenness is more rare among believers, but don't think they usually abstain totally, please look above. That's just the feeling how things go around here.

 

Historically, up until relatively recently, I think people drank low-ABV alcoholic beverages (wine, beer, diluted spirits) because it was safer to consume than water because of bacteria etc. All these beverages had been boiled at some point in their production, and the alcohol itself functioned as a kind of sterilizer.

In the U.S. at least, there’s a direct correlation between certain religious groups and temperance—prohibition was driven largely by churches (and their members) and many of the most religious counties across America are “dry” to this day. My father in law, a Southern Baptist, proudly declared that he had never tasted alcohol when I offered him a beer (the first and last time I ever did that).

 

If I'm reading that correctly religious peeps are less likely to drink. I call bullshit on that 1..

I know some heavily religious people than can drink me under the table.

 

As @draheim already discussed it is certain Protestant religions that frown on drinking alcohol (e.g., Southern Baptists):

“Southern Baptists, one of the most prominent evangelical groups in America, have traditionally been associated with an anti-alcohol position. Many a young Southern Baptist grew up hearing admonitions against "demon rum," the historic temperance aphorism that "lips that touch liquor shall never touch mine" and the Biblical quote from the book of Proverbs: "Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise."

An official Southern Baptist resolution adopted at the group's 2006 annual convention proclaimed "our total opposition to the manufacturing, advertising, distributing and consuming of alcoholic beverages" and "we urge that no one be elected to serve as a trustee or member of any entity or committee of the Southern Baptist Convention that is a user of alcoholic beverages." This is important because Southern Baptists remain the largest Protestant denomination in America, and as such serve as an exemplar of the historic alcohol-religion connection among Protestants. We don't break out Southern Baptists in our research, but a recent survey sponsored by LifeWay, the publishing arm of the Southern Baptist Convention, showed that about a third of Baptists nationwide admitted to drinking alcohol.”

https://news.gallup.com/opinion/polling-matters/264713/religion-drinking-alcohol.aspx

Cheers!

 

How about offering him a good NA beer? But maybe not?

 

I know NA beer is a bit problematic. The mantra is that when quitting alcohol it's better not to have NA, it can lure you back in. Maybe NA could be looked at as running with the Devil, even if it isn't an actual sin? If NA is ok though, that would be a possibilty to expand safely vs taste among various groups of people.

 

The older generations in my family were heavily religious, some even today. They low-key partake in alcohol. After prohibition was open season it seems, had family members racing and drinking booze up until now.

 

I have no idea how Southern Baptists view NA beer.

I am a Catholic and I drink alcohol. When attending Mass, sacramental wine is served.

Cheers!

 

Yeah I know some Catholics that can put the booze away.

Southerners are hypocrites. We'll preach about alcohol consumption might get religious and turn around and hit a flask or pint on the down low.