Brewers Add Non-Alcoholic Drinks as Polls Show Young Drinkers Have Health Concerns (cnn.com)
- Reference: 0175830733
- News link: https://slashdot.org/story/25/01/05/0927240/brewers-add-non-alcoholic-drinks-as-polls-show-young-drinkers-have-health-concerns
- Source link: https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/03/food/beer-spirit-sales-non-alcoholic/index.html
So what happens to beer and spirits companies? They've actually been preparing for something like this for years, [2]reports CNN :
> Major brewers, including Molson Coors and Anheuser-Busch InBev, and spirit giants such as Diageo and Pernod Ricard, have all grown their portfolios with new non-alcoholic drinks to attract an increasing number of consumers, particularly younger ones, who are ditching drinking because of health concerns. A [3]Gallup poll from August found that almost half of Americans say that having one or two drinks a day is bad for a person's health — the highest percentage recorded in the survey's 23 years, and younger adults were most likely to say drinking is bad for health. The poll also showed that just 58% of adults said they drink alcohol, down from 67% in 2022, although Gallup notes it's relatively close to the historical average of 63% going back to 1939.
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> But that doesn't predict a doomsday scenario for Big Alcohol. It actually could be good for their bottom lines: A December report from IWSR, a leading drinks analysis firm, said that the non-alcoholic drinks global market is "experiencing a transformative period of growth, driven by evolving consumer behaviors and the momentum of no-alcohol." The trend, to be led by the United States, is expected to grow by $4 billion by 2028 in the firm's forecast. Non-alcoholic drinks are even "skewing younger than the core buyer demographic across markets, and demonstrate higher frequency and intensity of consumption," signaling that there's a sustained thirst for booze-less beverages.
Anheuser-Busch said in its 2023 annual report that its non-alcoholic beers "continued to outperform, delivering high-teens revenue growth."
And the staff economist for the Brewers Association told CNN that non-alcoholic beer sales have jumped more than 100% between 2021 and 2024.
[1] https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/01/03/1316230/surgeon-general-calls-for-cancer-risk-warning-on-alcoholic-beverages
[2] https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/03/food/beer-spirit-sales-non-alcoholic/index.html
[3] https://news.gallup.com/poll/648413/alcohol-consumption-increasingly-viewed-unhealthy.aspx?utm_source=alert&utm_medium=email&utm_content=morelink&utm_campaign=syndication
Anheuser-Busch nonalcoholic beer outperforms.... (Score:3)
> Anheuser-Busch said in its 2023 annual report that its non-alcoholic beers "continued to outperform, delivering high-teens revenue growth."
...because their regular beer sucks!!!! Also, growth can be misleading. If you go from .01 to .015%, that's 50% growth...very impressive percentage-wise, but I'd rather get the alcoholic beer revenue.
Also, non-alcoholic beer is pointless. What's the market?...those who want to get really fat really quickly and hold a beverage that looks like a beer at a party to the visually impaired so they don't stand out?
I barely drink myself. No one gives you shit for it. Show some backbone and say..."no thank you" politely and assertively and people move on...under the theory..."OK...that's odd, well, I guess more for me then" and then forget about it 2 minutes later. The same is true with drugs. I choose to abstain from both for personal reasons and no one has every complained. I've been to a lot of parties with a lot of marijuana and sometimes even cocaine (college and early 20s mostly for the hard stuff)...no one gives a shit...in fact, most like it because I can drive them home. So if you're drinking non-alcoholic beer, you're getting the weight gain purely for the flavor of beer? I actually like the taste of beer...but not enough to get fat drinking fake beer.
Unless Anheuser Busch has really improved the flavor of their non-alcoholic beers in the last 20 years since I last tried one...it was never even close to their best-tasting beer. So I doubt it "tastes good". I doesn't get you buzzed and it has severe health consequences from the obesity. So...not sure the market...but happy for them if they can make it work...not for me, confused as to who it is for...but that's OK.
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Serious question: beyond the hipster specialty beer value, are there people who actually drink beer for taste rather than alcohol content?
Because we had a fun "stated preferences vs revealed preferences" moment when law changed allowing higher alcohol content beer to hit the market. And it's quite popular. Because higher alcohol content obviously. But a lot of people say "they like the taste better".
But they could never be bothered to walk next door to the government monopoly alcohol seller chain to get the
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> are there people who actually drink beer for taste rather than alcohol content?
I'm sure there are, and for all alcoholic drinks in general. Otherwise everyone would just drink Everclear.
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There's also the fact that you can specifically want a lower alcohol content: unless the point is just to black out and wake up feeling really dreadful as quickly as possible, which it normally isn't, people are generally looking to either hit a relatively steady-state impairment level that they can maintain for an extended duration or to slowly ramp up, ideally with the point where it's no longer getting more entertaining happening at roughly the same time that it's time to knock off anyway.
Different st
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I think you can counter with the absurdly huge variety and popularity in different micro/mid brew brands and styles. The place down the street from me will have no less than 20 types on tap any given night, including 3-4 of the same style (IPA, Lager). Plenty of people will choose based on things like types of hops, filtered/non-filtered, etc. The highest alcohol content aren't even the most popular. If you want to get wasted there's far more efficient ways of doing it that $15 four packs or $9 tap pours
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Most definitely. There is a huge difference between a pale ale, an IPA, and double and triple IPAs. You're working with more sweetness from the malts and therefore higher IBUs to counteract that. All creates a vastly different profile and body. That and styles like Baltic porters are way different and more complex than a simple porter or lower ABV stout.
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I'm somewhat allergic to Brewer's Yeast but the strains used in Imperial Stout don't bother me.
They can handle higher ABV before going dormant so some proteins must be different.
They're super expensive but your typical malt liquor is cheaper per mole. The cost of bottles, bottling, and shipping are fixed.
Light Beer would be the opposite.
Everclear has a dumb premium so people buy vodka.
Personally I buy a 4-pack of stout once a year and put the flavor money budget into ribeye.
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> are there people who actually drink beer for taste rather than alcohol content
Sure there are. And low alcohol beers have come a long way in taste. I used to drink them only at parties when I had to drive home afterwards, nowadays I drink them at home as well when I want a beer with my food. At parties, one advantage of beer (with or without alcohol) is that you can drink a lot of it, compared to sodas, orange juice, or other non alcoholic options typically found at parties.
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>> are there people who actually drink beer for taste rather than alcohol content
> Sure there are. And low alcohol beers have come a long way in taste.
They most certainly have. I'm particularly fond of Athletic Brewing's products. Also I used to enjoy a Canadian beer from Partake, but sadly it's no longer available where I live in California. Partake is very low in calories and carbs, but still gives you that hoppy taste.
Wine is more difficult. I have tried several good reds, but I have yet to discover one that is convincing enough to stand in for one with the alcohol still present. They all taste somewhat "grapey" and don't have the complex finish of the
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> Serious question: beyond the hipster specialty beer value, are there people who actually drink beer for taste rather than alcohol content?
if by "hipster speciality" you mean the recent trend of homebrews, some are indeed very good but that's already subsiding and is just a tiny minority vs the huge variety of consolidated beers available in the whole spectrum of tastes. meaning actual beer . in the rest of the world beer isn't synonym of carbonated piss. that the likes of coors or anheuser are even considered "brewers" is a silly joke.
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"Serious question: beyond the hipster specialty beer value, are there people who actually drink beer for taste rather than alcohol content?"
Yes, and if that's a serious question, how stupid are you?
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Absolutely.
It's kind of ironic because my dad, a boomer, drank the cheap stuff like pabst blue ribbon and old milwaukee, because he probably just wanted the alcohol content cheap. When I came of age and shared a few cans I hated the stuff, even when going to college parties and drinking beer it was still something like Budweiser which I can drink but don't like either.
It wasn't until I moved states to start my career that I went out with some coworkers and they introduced me to Scottish Ale and Guinness' S
You dont' drink and you're out with friends (Score:1)
you want to fit in but you don't want to drink.
Also if you're used to drinking and have to give it up. I drink a pot of caffeine free coffee pretty much daily. Swiss water method so it's got less caffeine than a candy bar. I'm used to it. I had to stop drinking caffeinated stuff because I developed a weird "allergy" where it caused heart palpitations. But after 30+ years of drinking coffee I didn't want to give it up.
Re:Anheuser-Busch nonalcoholic beer outperforms... (Score:4, Interesting)
> ... non-alcoholic beer is pointless. What's the market?...those who want to get really fat really quickly and hold a beverage that looks like a beer at a party to the visually impaired so they don't stand out?
> ... So if you're drinking non-alcoholic beer, you're getting the weight gain purely for the flavor of beer? I actually like the taste of beer...but not enough to get fat drinking fake beer.
I'm not sure what non-alcoholic beers you have been looking at, but the ones I have found typically have less than half the calories and carbs of the alcoholic beers. Some are much less. And they still taste delicious.
> Unless Anheuser Busch has really improved the flavor of their non-alcoholic beers in the last 20 years since I last tried one...it was never even close to their best-tasting beer. So I doubt it "tastes good". I doesn't get you buzzed and it has severe health consequences from the obesity.
See above. 20 years is a long time. Things have indeed changed. And look beyond Anheuser Busch to other brands, like Athletic Brewing, which specializes in non-alcoholic beers. Others are also good.
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There is no safe amount of sunlight to consume. 8,000 people die of melanoma in the US every year.
Aha! (Score:3)
I was wondering why they were having less sex.
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Not even funny - for both boys and girls, and later men and women... It's a way of suppressing inhibitions.
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I met my ex that way.
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I met her the same way!
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There's a "your mom" joke here, bit I'm going to steer clear of it.
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Slight tangent:
English doesn't have enough tenses. There needs to be an efficient way to say, "I met the woman who would later become my ex that way"... because obviously, she had yet to become your ex when you first met.
We need a prefix indicating "is now but wasn't at the time".
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It was perfectly clear, as demonstrated by your "correction" of the obvious.
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Apparently my post wasn't clear enough for you, because I wasn't correcting the parent post.
Then again, maybe you're just a fucking reactionary idiot.
Re: Aha! (Score:2)
Brits and other repressed societies will eventually disappear
CA Sober -- It's moving on from alcohol (Score:3)
It's because the population is starting to realize there are better ways to get "high" with less repercussions the next day, less calories/carbs, and less likely long term health issues than alcohol. One such way is Marijuana if you tolerate it well.
One aspect receiving attention (Score:2)
This is a narrative about preventing diseases and accidents and also marketing a new trend to help the entertainment industry, brewers, food companies, government tax revenue collection and birth rate (go out and meet people).
Alcohol is in the same "sin tax" category as tobacco and government at all levels gets billions of revenue from both alcohol taxes and tobacco taxes. Tobacco usage is declining and so is the tax revenue.
The media has been low level mentioning alcohol related diseases, accidents, etc.
Alcoholic Society (Score:2)
All the 20 and 30 year-olds that I know are obsessed with drinking alcohol. Perhaps because it was denied to them when they were younger, and represents and affirms their self-image as being "adults". As a result, they drink every day.
They are all drunks. They need the alcohol to interact socially, and they become very unpleasant when they drink. (They lose their inhibitions and their personality disorders, mainly driven by insecurities and whatever childhood traumas) take forefront. Usually this is aggress
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Statistics be damned, your personal anecdotes trump reality!
Alcohol is an interesting one. (Score:5, Interesting)
Yes, it's a mutagen, but the nasty stuff is in the byproducts as the alcohol is processed by the liver. This raises an interesting question - is there something you can add to alcoholic drinks that changes how the alcohol is broken down or which limits the impact of the byproduct, say by binding specifically to it?
Pulque, for example, has a reputation for having a very different sort of effect on the brain to regular alcoholic drinks, but I can find no research to confirm this. Now, if the reputation has any kind of basis, then it follows there's some sort of change in the metabolism pathway.
Of course, the differing effect may be myth. But it doesn't alter the underlying principle. Since acetaldehyde is the nasty one (the others aren't nearly so problematic), all you need to do is accelerate its breakdown.
Binge watch some Dr. G, Medical Examiner (Score:1)
Alcohol is very very not good for you. In so, so many ways.
I personally can't see going for non-alcoholic versions of alcoholic drinks - e.g. does anybody actually like beer, unless it's through long association of linking the taste to the intoxication? - but if it helps get people off the alcohol, then great.
Bad for your wallet (Score:2)
Booze costs a lot. Young adults have been choosing cheap, low-quality hooch for decades as a cheap way to get drunk. When even the worst junk on the market is eating into your meagre check, it's time to put down the bottle before addiction takes hold.
Unless young folks are hellbent on being stupid, they're not going to help Big Alcohol(tm) maintain their profit margins.
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I'd argue this is less about costs and more about competition. Drug variety and availability is way up. All competing for the same limited pool of money from intoxication budgets of people.
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Maybe? You'd have to show that usage and od rates are going up yearly. Maybe weed is filling the gap, but legal and cheap weed isn't necessarily that common. There are a lot of relatively novel THC products now, and they don't seem that cheap either. Certainly not compared to a $.99 40 Oz.
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" Young adults have been choosing cheap, low-quality hooch for decades as a cheap way to get drunk. "
When we were young, we ordered tonic and put our own expensive gin from home into it.
Young people are nowadays running around all day long with giant bottles, I guess they're doing it wrong.
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Borgs are mostly a reaction to people spiking drinks at parties. Even the cheap booze for mixers can be $$$ so it's gonna cost either way.