WHY ARE PEOPLE TURNING AWAY? –
Jan. 2026 – That the U.S. is losing its taste for the hard stuff. In a recent Gallup survey, 54% of American adults said they consumed alcohol, the lowest level since the pollster began tracking drinking behavior in 1939.
Why are people turning away?
It’s partly an aftershock of the Covid era. The stress, isolation, and boredom of the pandemic led Americans to ramp up their drinking, especially at home. Beer, wine, and liquor store sales spiked by about $42 billion from March to September 2020—a 20% increase over the same period in 2019. And the share of Americans who reported consuming alcohol at levels defined as “heavy drinking” (at least 15 drinks a week for men, and eight for women) went from 5.1% in 2018 to 6.1% in 2020 and 6.3% in 2022. After those years of excess, it’s understandable that many people wanted to get sober or curb their drinking, said Malcolm Purinton, a beer historian at Northeastern University. “Pendulums do swing back and forth,” he said. But a growing awareness of alcohol’s health risks is also causing Americans to shun booze.
