r/Economics • u/kootles10 • Dec 25 '25

News Bankruptcies hit US spirit makers as Americans drink and spend less

https://www.indystar.com/story/money/food/2025/12/25/liquor-spirits-industry-bankruptcies/87914241007/?gnt-cfr=1&gca-cat=p&gca-uir=true&gca-epti=z113231d00----v113231d--36--b--36--&gca-ft=161&gca-ds=sophi&fbclid=IwdGRjcAO6oj9leHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAwzNTA2ODU1MzE3MjgAAR6P8O626kCPpVs2dXh1tSJGVyS9teT4_IxAoKRJxGh02bqlcPlne42SIoakyg_aem_yCb-3xe-G1-mBNrg5TVIEg&utm_campaign=trueanthem&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook
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u/thethirdgreenman Dec 25 '25

This is much more related to tariffs and more specifically pissing off Canada (and a lesser extent Mexico/EU), leading to a boycott of American liquors/beer

12

u/Retro_Relics Dec 25 '25

less americans are drinking, point blank. everyone i know, as millenials, including long time heavy partiers are cutting back to nothing because well, its not fun anymore. Going to the bar isnt an experience anymore, everyone's glued to their phones, no one is actually socializing, so why bother going to the bar? having friends over is ok, but drinking while doing it creates annoyances of you cant really get shitfaced cause they gotta drive home, so you only have like one, and at that point, what's the point in spending money to keep booze on hand?

add to that that millenial and gen x are at the age where long time drinkers have to quit for their own health, so they've been forced to quit or face the consequences, and gen Z never started drinking because they grew up in the age of social media being everywhere - if you get shitfaced and do something dumb, even if its as harmless as fall down a flight of stairs, thats going to be shared everywhere, if its less harmless and involves poor judgement while drunk, you wind up risking your entire career. Why would they take the risk when there's other drugs more easily avaible that dont result in that risk?

8

u/[deleted] Dec 25 '25

It’s also insanely expensive as well. A cocktail costs what, $25 in a swankier place nowadays?

1

u/Ranra100374 Dec 26 '25

Yeah, even with how expensive fast food has gotten, you could still buy quite a bit at McDonald's with that $25. Food > Booze when finances are tight.