Here's an interesting little article from NPR with infographics on how Americans spend their dollars on booze and how that spending has changed from 1982 to 2011. http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2012...ins&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=20120620 Summary of main points... - Consumer spending on alcohol has been steady at about $1 out of $100 Americans spend - In 1982, 24% of the total alcohol dollars was spent in bars and restaurants, and by 2011 that percentage rose to 40% - Adjusted for inflation prices at stores decreased by 39%, but prices at restaurants and bars increased by 79%. - Of the alcohol purchased in stores, from 1982 to 2011 the percentage of dollars spent on beer has been relatively stable (48.9% to 47.7%); wine sales have increased (16.2% to 39.7%); and liquor sales have decreased (34.6% to 12.6%)
Interesting. Those last numbers give the impression that wine has stolen sales from liquor, but beer has only stolen sales from itself (craft beer taking from macro beer).
Possibly... but I think what is more problematic to "big" beer producers is the greater percentage of alcohol spending at bars/restaurants instead of stores. They are competing for significantly fewer total sales. Craft beer is so niche that it's growth is still exceeding the overall losses in the beer market.
they obviously did not add me into the equation..... i spend way more than 1% of 100 and stopped going out to drink 8 years ago.............
From the article: "This isn't particularly surprising. Over time, you expect productivity gains and falling prices in manufactured goods. But a bartender today can't make drinks any faster than a bartender 30 years ago. In other words, there haven't been major productivity gains at bars. When a sector lags in productivity growth, it tends to have increasing prices. (This study has more on this idea.)"
I think there's major productivity gains for beer bars, but they're a small subset of overall restaurants serving beer. Why? Beer bars serve a huge percentage of just beers (almost exclusively in some cases), which is incredibly easy unskilled labor. No knowledge of mixed drinks, ingredients behind the bar, nor time consumed to make them. They're largely just "pour people", yet prices for a pint are more than double what they were not long ago ($6-7 really? yes).
This is why I rarely get drinks at bars. Fuck them for charging me 300% markup just to pour it. I'll pour the thing myself.
