I myself have moved downmarket for both beer and bourbon now. Trying to drink less, it’s bad for you and expensive
Reassuring to see the young people will still be killing luxury industries when Millennials are no more
The only thing I would spend money on is entertaintment, and I learned to pirate everything since 12 lol
I can rest in peace knowing that promising young pirate captains are there to take the helm
sales of Bulleit, a Kentucky distillery that makes bourbon, rye and whiskey, where down 7.3% this fiscal year.
you can tell it’s not an AI article because of good old fashioned typos like this
And using “growing list of casualties” twice within four paragraphs.
Just an AI editor!
It’s not a mystery. Bourbon got huge because really good stuff was readily available for pretty cheap. Henry McKenna 10 year was the poster child for this, it was really solid and you could find it everywhere for $25. Now it’s a semi-premium offering for $60-75. The boom made all the producers invest in more infrastructure and now that infrastructure is delivering more and more product to an already flagging and overpriced market.
The boom made all the producers invest in more infrastructure and now that infrastructure is delivering more and more product to an already flagging and overpriced market.
WEIRD GUYS, I thought BASIC ECONOMICS said when supply go up, price go down???
You don’t get it, supply and demand is TAUTOLOGICAL. The fact that the market is overpriced IMPLIES BY LOGICAL NECESSITY that the demand is up
i stopped drinking whiskey (i was a bulleit fan even!) because it got popular, then too expensive, and worst part, too samey. i originally drank bulleit cuz it was a great drunk for 18$. now they’re too proud of themselves and to my palate all bourbons taste pretty much the same, the better ones just burn less.
so now i drink barrel-aged gin or mezcal, or nothin cuz i can’t pay the price for that vice.
Alcohol is so expensive now. I stopped buying craft beers bc they were 15 for a four pack where I live and switched to a euro lager, except now I drink 3 instead of 1
Bought some 0% yesterday they seem to scratch the itch hopefully I can wean off
I am really stressed lol
the best beer for alcoholism WAS new belgium’s voodoo ranger imperial IPA, its 9% abv but doesn’t taste like it’s really strong
but they stopped fucking going on sale for 13.99 now half the time that shit is 19 fucking dollars
hell yeah, that’s a good beer.
-an alcoholic
Pro tip look for an outlet grocery store if they have them near you. I can still get $7 6 Packs and $12 12 packs most times.
Best beer for alcoholism is malt liquor. Idk prices now, but you used to be able to get two tall boys for $5, and that’s enough to get even the drunkest drunk good and tipsy, anyone else will be pretty trashed. I haven’t drank in almost 10 years though
Two weak ass tall boys that I’d struggle to physically drink fast enough to actually get drunk and would taste like pee pee water
Bruh Steelies are 8%, and 2 of them is 64oz lmao. It doesn’t taste great, but if you’re a drunk you stopped caring about that a long time ago. Or you’re just still in the denial phase and think drinking is cultured, but I used bourbon for that period, back when a good bottle was $30-40.
Okay so I get 1% less alcohol AND it tastes like shit. Read my comment, it’s a good beer because it gets you jacked and it doesn’t taste like it’s 9% OR have that bitter hoppy bullshit taste people seem to love in IPAs
I drank voodoo ranger when I felt nice to myself in my alcoholism, but normally I wanted the cheapest shit possible so it’d be a steel reserve or worse, hurricane.
So you’re still in the denial phase it seems lol. It’s okay, if you really go all in on alcoholism you won’t care what it tastes like at all. Hopefully you don’t though, cause alcohol is pretty nasty
Man, when I was deep in the throes of alcoholism(semi-sober now) during the pandemic that was my go-to beer. I wouldn’t say it was good, but New Belgium was the perfect intersection of high alcohol content, a decent price, and not tasting like it was malt trash. Last I checked they were like $(US)20 for a 12 pack near me though so I don’t think it’s still in that category.
I disagree with it not tasting strong though. A single sip would make my hair stand on end hahaha.
Those price hikes are absolutely rampant.
This doxxes you pretty effectively. State minimum spirit prices and w/e.
All us millenials are old as dirt and the hangovers are too bad so we cut down our drinking too
Two drink maximum for me these days, otherwise it’s a day long hangover.
Yeah, I still binge when I do drink, and it’s such a gamble. I switched from high ABV beers to low ones and chug electrolytes in the evening before drinking and in the morning. That seems to help most of the time but seems like its becoming less effective… If only I were capable of actually listening to my body
My friend who is in the medical profession swears by a multivitamin and two ibuprofen before bed. Works pretty well in my experience although I usually just do lots of water and a multivitamin
Will be buying multis today to test this. Ibuprofen + alcohol regularly is terrible for your liver right? Or is that just aspirin?
I’m not a doctor but I’m 99% sure it’s acetaminophen that’s bad for you when drinking
Acetaminophen/paracetamol is processed by the liver the same way alcohol is, so the combination kind of overwhelms it. Long term regular ibuprofen use is just bad for your kidneys
Good to know! I always erred on the side of safety and skip the ibuprofen when trying to avoid a hangover. At least a half a gallon of water and the multivitamin seem to do the trick most times
Since becoming disabled, I’ve had to go on opioids to deal with pain. When I was 22, I could drink a whole six pack of whatever and only get a buzz. Now I’m ready to fall asleep after half a beer because of the interaction with painkillers, which kills my whole day.
I’ll still drink whenever/whatever. I just have to plan the rest of my time around it, which is a hassle. My friends are all just adults now with responsibilities, so they can’t get drunk like they used to.
Hey belly, thanks for sharing that. It sounds really hard dealing with pain and all the changes. I get how annoying it must be that something like drinking now needs so much planning. I hope you’re finding little moments that help you feel okay.
Yeah up until like 3 years ago I could drink a six pack of IPAs, perhaps whatever else was on hand and it would be a lottery when it came to hang overs but even then it was a rare occasion when I was too sick to function. But over time my body has really started to reject alcohol. Now I can’t take shots unless it’s tequila and even then a double will make me gag to the point of almost throwing up. Probably for the best no one REALLY needs to be pounding shots lol. But now with even beer/white claws on their own they can wreck me, I have to be super careful with what I mix. I started drinking when I was 12 or 13 so I attribute all of the fifth guzzling and not getting hung over to my current state lol. Just caught up to me
At least your friend group might be a good influence in your case then. And I hope the opioids have been a relief for you instead of another struggle
clean three months, mostly because mental health reasons, not going back ever.
Good for you. Happy you’re feeling healthier and good about it.
Thank you
Congratulations on hitting the 3 month mark!
Thanks!
I just can’t afford a cocktail
I don’t understand how anyone is surviving. I never understood the amount people are willing to pay for cocktails but beyond that, I’m spending a minimum of $15 a day on food/groceries and I like to think I’m keeping that cost down to as low as anyone can.
Credit cards, but that train has a final stop
But this was relevant 5-10 years ago and now we’re at the end stage where Klarna is being used for groceries, that can only last for a few months max
15 bucks for an old fashioned is pretty steep
“yeah I’d like to spend $40 after taxes and tip to not get drunk, that sounds great!” - this article’s platonic ideal of a gen Z drinker.
You can buy a decent bottle and stay home for about that much, and depending on who you are, have “leftovers”.
It’s no replacement for going out and being social, but I’m at a point in my life where I’d rather kill a bottle with a couple other friends at home where we can pick the music and activities
As soon as I discovered weed, alcohol was dead to me, gotta be a few of those cases going around.
Anecdotally, all the early 20’s I’ve met smoke over drinking, but my crowd is made up of ND potheads so idk if that’s worth much to generalize off of
California sober
Everyone I know that drinks, myself included, gets fucked up nightmarish panic attacks from weed. Dunno what to do about it, need something so booze it is
Same here. After weed, I haven’t had a drop of alcohol in a while at events
Many such cases
Weird because all my friends are mid 20’s/early 30’s and we live on the cross fade. Nothing beats a couple beers and a joint while playing disc golf or hanging out around a campfire.
As American as apple pie, Kentucky bourbon was booming after the last Great Recession ended. But as the economy has waned post-Pandemic - and with multiple trade wars on the horizon - the market may be drying up.
Although the whiskey, which is traditionally made with corn and aged in charred oak barrels, has roots going all the way back to the 18th Century, it wasn’t until 1964 that it became an iconic piece of Americana, when Congress passed a law declaring it a “distinctive product of the United States”.
But drinking trends come and go, and by the end of the 20th Century, bourbon was considered a bit old fashioned - pun intended.
“You often see these kind of generational shifts where people don’t want to drink what their parents drink,” said Marten Lodewijks, the US president of IWSR, which collects alcoholic beverage data and provides industry analysis.
Then, as the world recovered from the 2008 recession, drinkers seemed to rediscover this classic spirit, for a few different reasons.
For starters, the price point was good, which made it attractive for bar managers to purchase and incorporate into cocktails and for younger drinkers to sample. Then, in 2013, a law was passed in Kentucky that made it easier for companies to purchase and resell vintage bottles, opening up a high-end collectible market. Add to that the rise in mid-century nostalgia fuelled by shows like Mad Men, and bourbon was due for a full-blown Renaissance.
Sales of bourbon grew by 7% worldwide between 2011-2020, which is more than three times the growth of the decade prior, according to industry data company ISWR.
Soon, some bourbon distillers were becoming quasi-celebrities, and people were starting to buy up bourbon bottles not to drink, but as an investment.
“Everyone was going crazy over the bourbon market, and treating like a commodity, like a stock,” recalls Robin Wynne, a general manager and beverage director for Little Sister in Toronto, Canada, who has been a bar manager for about 25 years.
“People would go in as a prospector, to flip bottles for two to three times the value.”
But like most market bubbles, this one was bound to burst. The pandemic’s lockdowns tanked bar sales, and inflation has made many would-be bourbon drinkers choose less expensive options - or forgo drinking all together. Amongst Gen-Z, many 20-somethings are drinking less than their older siblings and parents did at their age.
Those factors have contributed to declining alcohol sales, with bourbon sales specifically slowing down to just 2% between 2021-2024, according to ISWR data.
President Donald Trump’s global tariffs have been the final straw. The EU has announced retaliatory tariffs against US goods, including Kentucky bourbon and Californian wine, although implementation has been delayed for six months.
Meanwhile, most provinces in Canada have stopped importing American alcoholic beverages in retaliation. The country accounts for about 10% of Kentucky’s $9bn (£6.7bn) whiskey and bourbon business.
“That’s worse than a tariff, because it’s literally taking your sales away, completely removing our products from the shelves … that’s a very disproportionate response,” Lawson Whiting, the CEO of Brown-Forman, which produces Jack Daniels, Woodford Reserve and Old Forester, said back in March when Canadian provinces announced their plan to stop buying US booze.
Trump has said that tariffs will boost made-in-American businesses.
But Republican Senator Rand Paul, who represents Kentucky, said the tariffs will hurt local businesses and consumers in his home state.
“Well, tariffs are taxes, and when you put a tax on a business, it’s always passed through as a cost. So, there will be higher prices,” he told ABC’s “This Week” in May.
people were starting to buy up bourbon bottles not to drink, but as an investment.
“Everyone was going crazy over the bourbon market, and treating like a commodity, like a stock,” recalls Robin Wynne, a general manager and beverage director for Little Sister in Toronto, Canada, who has been a bar manager for about 25 years.
“People would go in as a prospector, to flip bottles for two to three times the value.”
die
I know one of these guys! He let me try a “rare” and “antique” whiskey that he bought a fraction of a bottle for ~$2500. It was a 1950s bottle of some mass produced whiskey of the era and that’s exactly what it tasted like. Whiskey. There was no more depth to it than Jim beam. It was just old.
im pretty sure the only value in older whiskeys comes from longer aging in the barrel and once you bottle it that stops really changing so lol
I mean there could theoretically be manufacturing differences. If newer techniques replaced older techniques and in the process something was changed, flavor could be changed. A great example of this is pot still whiskey versus column still whiskey. They taste different because the physical properties of the stills are different which will have different degrees of rectification. Hell, the distillers of the 50s could have different palates than modern distillers and take different cuts. Or the yeast was changed which is a huge part of the flavor.
I don’t mind genuine whiskey conneseirs. It’s the speculators who don’t give a shit what it tastes like and just want to make a buck that annoys me.
Correct. Whiskey doesn’t age once it’s out of the barrel, which is part of why it became a staple beverage across the world. Wine does age in the bottle and people are trying to add that prestige to whiskey.
What makes whiskey valuable is how long it was aged before it was bottled. Some distilleries have 100 year-old cycles. But a 50 year Macallen bottled in 1983 is going to taste the same as 50 year Macallan bottled in 2025. The consistent taste is one of the benefits of distilling old whiskey.
Whiskey, and in fact all spirits, only age while in casks. Once they’re bottled they stop aging and stay as they were when bottled. With extremely old spirits you’ll maybe see some sediment fall out of solution and whatever slow reactions happen with the residual tannins, maybe some photochemical stuff if left in the sun.
Price in older spirits comes from two places:
- It’s expensive to store aging spirits in their barrels because warehouses cost money to run and the spirit is going to squat there for years and years and years before use
- The longer a spirit ages the more evaporates. There’s a lot less material available for a 20-year than a 5-year despite taking up just as much space to age.
Any additional dollars come from moneyed assholes wanting to flex on each other by having famous rare vintages on their shelves
A deeply ridiculous “economic system”
Anyone know why there’s so many bubbles? Someone must have written a book about it or something.
I know it’s not capitalism’s fault, though, because it’s the best and only economic system.
It’s sort of in the nature of business/capitalism. Any time someone makes a lot of money in something, other people pile in, unless there are significant barriers to entry
These economic pressures have created a growing list of casualties.
Liquor giant Diageo, reported that sales of Bulleit, a Kentucky distillery that makes bourbon, rye and whiskey, where down 7.3% this fiscal year.
Wild Turkey - a Kentucky bourbon owned by Campari - sales were down 8.1% over the past six months.
While big, international brands will likely be able to weather the storm, the sales hit has led to a growing list of casualties.
In July, LMD Holdings filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy - just one month after opening the Luca Mariano Distillery in Danville, Kentucky.
This spring, Garrard County Distilling went into receivership.
And in January, Jack Daniel’s parent company closed a barrel-making plant in Kentucky.
The bottom of the barrel has not yet been reached, warned Mr Lodewijks.
“I’d be extraordinarily surprised if there weren’t more bankruptcies and more consolidation,” he said.
In part, bourbon has become a victim of its own success - the rise in bourbon sales, and the growth of the premium market, helped fuel many small distilleries. Because bourbon must age in barrels for years, what’s on the market today was predicted a few years ago, which means that there is currently an oversupply, which is driving down prices.
But while these economic conditions are harsh, Mr Lodewijks said that history has shown how tough times can create innovation. Scotch whisky used to be fairly simple, a blend of middle-of-the road tipples. But when sales declined in the second part of the 20th centuries, distillers started aging their excess bottles, which helped create the market we have now for premium, aged Scotch whisky.
In Canada, where bourbon imports have slowed to a trickle, local distilleries have started experimenting with bourbon-making methods to give Canadian whiskey a similar taste.
“The tariff war has really done a positive for the Canadian spirits business,” noted Mr Wynne.
“We’ve got lots of grains to make these whiskeys without having to rely on the States.”
most provinces in Canada have stopped importing American alcoholic beverages in retaliation. The country accounts for about 10% of Kentucky’s $9bn (£6.7bn) whiskey and bourbon business.
Liquor giant Diageo, reported that sales of Bulleit, a Kentucky distillery that makes bourbon, rye and whiskey, where down 7.3% this fiscal year.
An incredible self-own
The last line of the article is most telling imo, Canadian producers are figuring out how to home brew bourbon. These changes are going to be structural and permanent. Why import what you can do yourself?
The story repeats itself across many if not all sectors. The intent of the tariffs is to reduce US reliance on foreign imports. Instead it’s making foreign importers less reliant on the US
I love to watch the empire crumble. I hate to be in it tho
This really does feel like a point of no return. Structural self-imposed contraction in the West and BRICS is thriving, settling trades in local currency
There’s just no way the US goes quietly
Maybe it’s because I did so many American honey shooters back in my drinking days, but it’s wild to see Wild Turkey losing profits. Feel like I probably made up at least 1 percent of those sales personally lol
The kickin chicken is a favorite for sure
Also about as downmarket as it gets
But like most market bubbles, this one was bound to burst. The pandemic’s lockdowns tanked bar sales, and inflation has made many would-be bourbon drinkers choose less expensive options - or forgo drinking all together. Amongst Gen-Z, many 20-somethings are drinking less than their older siblings and parents did at their age.
It’s worth noting that drinking, drug use, nicotine use, and teenage pregnancy has gone down between each generation. Gen Z is drinking less than Millennials, who drank less than Gen X, who drank less than Boomers, who drank less than the Silent Generation, who drank less than the Great Generation (before that gets a little fucky due to Prohibition). This is correlated with better education and higher living standards.
Of course, the economy is changing as inflation eats into bread and circuses. I’m just pointing out it’s silly for these companies to expect anything different from what we’ve seen over the last 100 years. People don’t want to live like Don Draper where they’re drinking constantly throughout the day. Employers especially don’t want to go back to that type of office culture.
Ketamine > alcohol
Ket has been a functional replacement for alcohol for me. It makes me dance and there’s no hangover (relative to alcohol)
Be wary of bladder toxicity
Fr, try to spit out the post nasal drip if you can, kinda gross but better than incontinence
Whiskey is too damn expensive these days. Copper pipes and cracked corn wins out again if you catch my drift
Alcohol fucks with my meds, I switched to weed.
I will gladly not drink out of spite.
Turns out delegating porky to have all the fun has consequences. Us young people are just raring to go and work when you change your mind, porky.
