Whiskey... literally... Alcohol consumption per capita peaked in 1981

[acemcmac]

According to statistics from the Department of agriculture... regardless of weather or not you include underage Consumption (which the department of Agriculture does account for), alcohol consumption per capita peaked in 1981 with the following statistics

In 21 or older, 43.1 gallons of booze per year (36.9 beer, 3.3 wine, 2.9 spirits)
In 18 or older, 39.7 gallons of booze per year (34.0 beer, 3.0 wine, 2.7 spirits)
In all age groups, 28.8 gallons of booze per year (24.6 beer, 2.2 wine, 2.0 spirits)

compare to most recent data (1997)

In 21 or older, 38.9 gallons of booze per year (33.9 beer, 3.0 wine, 1.9 spirits)
In 18 or older, 36.3 gallons of booze per year (31.8 beer, 2.7 wine, 1.8 spirits)
In all age groups, 25.2 gallons of booze per year (22.0 beer, 2.0 wine, 1.2 spirits)


my question:: WHY??????????????

 

[wfbberzerker]

heck, i imagine back in the 17-1800's, it was even higher. back then, people drank alcohol ALL the time, just as a beverage. they didn't just get trashed every once in awhile.

 

[everman]

We have some catching up to do.

 

[acemcmac]

Originally posted by: everman
We have some catching up to do.

:beer::beer::beer::beer::beer::beer::beer::beer::beer::beer::beer::beer::beer::beer::beer::beer::beer::beer::beer::beer:

 

[Ronstang]

Kids these days are pansies would be my guess. 😉

 

[Jassi]

I think a lot of it has to do with the increase of the legal drinking age (that doesn't stop a lot of people but it is somewhat effective), organizations such as MADD and the rise of religious fundamentalism in to mainstream culture.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

Interweb porn is a great distraction from boozing

 

[BurnItDwn]

I think it's because less beer is being consumed and more spirits.
These days everything is Vodka Vodka Vodka .......

Those days it was beer beer beer .....

 

[Gooberlx2]

Of course, have you HEARD some of the music made back then. I'd have to be stone-cold drunk to stand it too.

 

[acemcmac]

Originally posted by: BurnItDwn
I think it's because less beer is being consumed and more spirits.
These days everything is Vodka Vodka Vodka .......

Those days it was beer beer beer .....

spirits consumption has been been decreasing too. It's across the board

 

[allisolm]

In 21 or older, 43.1 gallons of booze per year

Yes! :wine: I'll drink to that - oh, wait, I did - in 1981! (and 1980 and 1979 and...) :beer:

 

[MetalMat]

Originally posted by: Jassi
I think a lot of it has to do with the increase of the legal drinking age (that doesn't stop a lot of people but it is somewhat effective), organizations such as MADD and the rise of religious fundamentalism in to mainstream culture.

I agree. MADD can suck my balls.

 

[tweakmm]

Originally posted by: Ronstang
Kids these days are pansies would be my guess. 😉

Actually, if I was to guess, I'd say that underage consumption has probably increased a fair amount.

It would make sense that if kids are starting to drink earlier, they would not drink as much when they are older. Also, wasn't it more socially acceptable to drink a lot more? Wouldn't having a martini or two over lunch be a thing that nobody would think twice about 30 years ago but now people would probably think you were an alcoholic.

 

[IronWing]

Crap, I can't find my table. I had a table of estimated consumption from the mid 1800s by decade plus the annual stuff quoted by the OP. Pre-prohibition consumption rates were highest. Prohibition worked from the consumption perspective as rates plummeted. Post prohibition rates have never regained the pre-prohibition highs. There was a steady increase through the 1930s, a spike during WWII, a drop after the war, then a steady climb from the 1950s through the 1970s. In the early eighties a downward trend started and continued through 1998 (don't recall which year the upward trend began). Consumption has been rising slowly since, with some wobble.

The decline can be explained by the aging of the baby boomers from booze soaked disco queens/kings into their granola crunching, jogging phase. The recent rise may be the boomlet passing into teens/twenties.

I reason I recall the trends so well is that I tried correlating alcohol consumption per capita to GDP per capita to see if alcohol consumption trends had any predictive power over economic trends or vice versa. With the I data I had I couldn't detect anything.

 

[FoBoT]

Originally posted by: acemcmac


my question:: WHY??????????????

i stopped drinking in 1998, so it wasn't me

 

[Siva]

I know I'm doing my part to bring those numbers back up!

I'm also fighting the huge declines in marijuana use.

 

[Zim Hosein]

Originally posted by: everman
We have some catching up to do.

I'm doing my part! :beer:

 

[Gibsons]

The baby boomers are getting older and don't drink as much.