TIL World’s biggest beer, wine and spirits producers have collectively lost $830 billion in market value over just four years. Changing drinking habits and rising health concerns have hit earnings across the sector. Millennials and Gen Z are also not much interested in alcohol.
Most of the people I know are cutting back not because of health or habits, just because everything is so crazy expensive now. I feel like booze has been almost completely priced out of its target demographic.
I remember my dad saying when he started going to bars with his friends they would have beers because they were half the price of cocktails that were 3 bucks. Now a beer is ten bucks with a tip. Who the fuck wants to pay that?
cocktails are 20 bucks plus tip. still half the price of beer. more than an appetizer and almost as much as an entree at this point.
basically 25 bucks for a single drink at your average bar. fancy places high end you’re talking closer to 30-40 per drink, which at that point you might as well start just ordering the $200+ bottle of wine, as it will be cheaper.
and every bar around me is packed most weekends, because where i live people don’t think twice about blowing $500 eating and drinking in a weekend. but then they all cry about how poor they are… yeah it’s hard not to be poor if you are drop 2,000 a month on booze and eating out every month.
i had a renter a few years ago who would come home shitfaced every weekend and then not pay the rent for like two weeks. they were shocked when I terminated their lease 60 days later.
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Yeah, while I’m happy that this is making my favorite stuff cheaper, it’s still very expensive. Blanton’s was selling for $120/bottle just last year if you could even find it in my area, but I can find it in a regular grocery store for $80 now. EH Taylor went from $100/bottle and hard to find to $60 and all over the place. That’s WAY more affordable but also still really damn expensive compared to Buffalo Trace (all three of these brands are from the same parent company and from roughly the same recipe and source ingredients).
Scotch is slightly cheaper now, too. Dalmore 15 was selling for $120 last year and is around $100 now. Two years ago, Dalmore King Alexander was $340 but can be found in the grocery store for $280 now.
What I haven’t seen yet is a drop in price of Burgundy. I can’t afford to pay $300/bottle for a Nuits-Saint-George Gran Cru.
Even looking away from luxury booze brands, the cost of cocktails is also very high. I have to pay $21 for a cocktail at a moderately priced restaurant in my area.
Cocktails are a scam. Most places (and even some of the best places) are using cheap base ingredients, and the end results are gimmicky, boring, and lacking in complexity. At best, the median quality cocktail is nice to look at and features an acceptable balance of sweetness and acidity. A fucking glass of cold juice wins on a head-to-head of those metrics almost every time haha.
Yeah, there is a difference between an $8 and a $20 cocktail.
Though I agree with you that too many places will charge a $20 price for a $8 quality.
Bars with overpriced drinks hate this one weird trick:
1oz Campari - $1.10
1oz Red vermouth - $0.75
1oz Gin - $1.50
1 orange peel sliver - $0.1
Ice
100% premium ingredients. A dalmation could prepare it. $3.45 cost, sell it for double @ $7.
I know it’s an unc take, but I just don’t understand where the appetite for $20+ cocktails comes from. Maybe I’m just poor, like the person said below.
You’re definitely not going to the right places to get a cocktail.
What’s the word? Thunderbird!