People are well aware of many
industries that were impacted dramatically by the COVID-19 pandemic such as
aviation, manufacturing, leisure and hospitality, etc. Only a few pay close
attention to the alcohol industry. While many suspect a cut back from alcohol
due to the shutdown of bars and restaurants along with fewer social
interactions where alcohol is involved, alcohol consumption has spiked during
the pandemic.
One of the biggest drink
trends is that people are becoming more willing to try adventurous drinks and
drinks from countries that usually don’t attract mainstream consumers. Odd
things like peanut butter or banana-flavored whiskey have since become very
popular, so do Austrian and Greek wines. For example, the Wine Society's sales
of Greek wines totaled £500,000 in 2019, rising to £700,000 last year, and £2m
so far in 2021. Meanwhile, demand for its Austrian bottles increased from
£900,000 in 2019, to £1.4m in 2020, and £2.1m this year. Many liquor store owners
suspect that it is because people are trying alcohol from the countries (in
this case, Austria and Greece) that they were going to travel to but canceled
the plan due to COVID. Besides, people have more time and energy to be creative
with their drink menus since they are stuck at home with nothing better to do.
And alcohol with odd flavors sometimes brings pleasant surprises to boring
quarantine times.
Not only are people more
adventurous in their drinking choices, but also their drinking habits. Before
COVID-19, more than 25 percent of American adults admitted binge drinking,
according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health. In the first few weeks
of lockdowns, alcohol sales jumped 54 percent over the previous year.
Easier access to alcoholic
beverages is playing an important role in the phenomenon of increasing alcohol
consumption: almost every state relaxing its alcohol laws in 2020 in an effort
to keep local economies afloat, and liquor stores are now classified as a
COVID-19 essential service in all but 3 states.
Credit: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-58992784
5 comments:
Alcohol is not something that comes to mind when talking about the pandemic. It would seem that it would decline like the majority of other industries, but for the reasons that you listed, it makes sense that it increased. People certainly had more time to consume alcohol. It is interesting how they loosened alcohol restrictions to help keep the economies going.
It makes sense. Since everyone was at home, people had enormous free time. When people committed to the job, not everyone had an opportunity to have a drink due to the load of work. Other people lost their job, which led to suppression. Consequently, alcohol consumption rose. However, it is surprising that there was a supply chain since everything was closed.
It would be interesting to conduct a survey and statistical analysis with alcoholism. Additionally, it would be interesting to look into the effects the pandemic has had on the opioid epidemic and suicide rates. I would suspect that all of these measures likely have increased due to the pandemic with people being forced to stay home, losing jobs, and/or losing loved ones. This is a very interesting statistic to look at!
I do remember during the major spikes of the pandemic learning how alcohol consumption increased in the United States. A lot of people did not have to work during that time and could relax with a drink as much as they wanted to. However, there is a dark side to all this alcohol consumption. Many people were dealing with the physical and mental effects during the pandemic and needed alcohol as an escape. I think the alcohol market has diversified during the pandemic and has resulted in manufacturers producing new drinks that appeal to all types of drinkers.
This blog is very interesting and makes complete sense in my opinion. People were stuck at home and unable to socialize in public places due to the pandemic. Bars across the country were shut down and some even went out of business. It seems to me that the people brought the bars to them and took it into their own hands to socialize while having a drink at the comfort of their home.
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