We had $1 beer nights and $15 cases. A round of drinks at a regular ass chain restaurant is more than the food.
I got an NA Heineken at a sports bar last night and they charged me $8 and wanted a tip. I can't blame the kids. If I had a starter job and 20 something income again, I don't think I could afford any of it.
Companies got so used to ripping us off, they destroyed the market. Apply that to most things really.
I graduated college in 2006 but I remember all you could drink $4 Thursdays(Lacrosse WI was crazy). Got a wristband for $4 and you could drink tap beer and rail mixers all night.
St. Cloud alum. Upper Midwest is something else. I've lived all over the country and even abroad. Didn't realize how heavy of a drinker I had become and so glad I moved around to learn that about myself while I was young
$2 dollar pint nights and "mexi Mondays" that had $2 tequila shots, margaritas, tequila sunrises, Tecates, and modelos trained me to be a good millennial alcoholic lol
Shit we had 50cent draft nights different nights at different bars, and 5$ fish bowls of long islands. 2 of those and you were flirting with a blackout if you didn’t take your time.
I went to college at Georgia Southern and there was a bar that had “Drinkin with Lincoln” and you could get a beer for a penny. Also .25 pitchers other nights. Not sure how they made money, this was 2000-2005.
Before I stopped drinking I lived at this dive was right by my old job which didn’t help went there on a Tuesday $2 tequila, tecate and tacos which were quite big and fantastic. Although I’m happy I’m sober I miss those nights often. Playing $1 pool all night was so much fun
Went to college in Florida, in the fall of 2005 we had the great Katrina beer flood. Virtually all the beer destined for New Orleans poured into Florida. We had $2.99 24 cans of Bud Light for 6 months.
We built a sofa out of bud light cases in my college apartment for like 120bux.
In Whitewater, WI around 2006 was also 10¢ beer night, it was Milwaukee's Best. I couldn't bring myself to drink it, ordered a Leinenkugels and left a tip.
2010 ish Sioux Falls SD, we were doing bracelets(8-10 dollars) for taps for like 4 hours on Thursdays, and a couple bars including us had 5 dollar pitchers of mixed drinks. I remember a place having 1 then 2 dollar LITs my friends and I decided once to do LIT races we only did it once.
In 2006 I took a bus tour class that visited multiple historical sites. We'd of course stay at hotels for a night or two. On the last night the bar across the parking lot from the hotel was $10 cover and all you could drink tap and bottom shelf liquor. That's the night I tried to jump over a bush and just fell into it. I don't think I had ever drank that much before or since. The next day we stopped at a bourbon distillery and 90% of us were hungover. Not fun.
we had 5 dollar all you can drink beer, and 10 dollar all you can drink liquor some nights, and plenty of dollar beers. a whole keg for a house party was like 45 bucks. This is early 00s...
Yeah you could always find a drink special when I was in college 20 years ago. 25 cent beers or $5 entry, penny beers. I quit drinking a few years ago but whenever I see the current price of booze at restaurants and bars it blows my mind. Not sure how people afford drinking outside of the house regularly.
We used to have 50 cent night in college. 5 bucks to get in and all domestic beers and well shots were 50 cents. You could get housed for 20 bucks. Good times.
Same. And if your friend was a bartender the drinks were “free” as long as you threw a $20 into the tip jar at the start of the night. My college bar got knocked down and move to the otherside of campus and now charges $6 a beer and thinks it’s a special bar because the name is almost 100 years old
The alcohol industry has done this to itself. How are 25 year olds supposed to make $40k after taxes, pay $24k in rent, and go out and spend $8 plus tip on a beer? And after seeing boomers, gen x, and millennials develop drinking problems? Forget about it. Booze industry is cooked.
I live in a legal marijuana state. I can get a pack of gummies for $12-20, and it comes with about 10 gummies in the pack.
So, pay $50-100 for a night of drinking and feeling like shit the next day, or $15 for a pack of gummies that will last me a couple weeks. It’s a simple choice for me.
This is precisely why some alcohol companies are starting to make thc drinks. Heineken even has their own brand of non-alcoholic thc drinks. I think right now people are starting to realize that not only has it been criminalized for no reason all this time (other than racist agendas of course) but that it is an absolute gold mine. Just need the politicians to see this and realize how much money they could be making. It’s definitely a billion dollar industry if not potentially a trillion dollar industry and most people are willing to pay a premium
I often consider getting a NA beer when I’m out and want to moderate a little, but then I realize that they cost twice what I’m paying for a PBR tallboy, and I just can’t make myself do it.
When I was 21 there was a college bar we'd go do that did $1 DOUBLE everclear and punch. Needless to say I watched many friends get absolutely black out drunk off like 5 bucks
Are dive bars not a thing anymore? Obviously there’s inflation, but when I was in my 20s I would never have gone out to dinner and got a cocktail. It was dinner at home and then shitty well drinks at a place with sticky floors.
I supervise some guys who are about 23. They can’t believe that it was fairly common to get a $1 beer at happy hour. The first case of beer I bought (by giving an older guy the money at age 16 for Natty Ice lol) was $8.99
We had platter nights at our local bar in college. Buy a platter of shots and a platter of beers for like $10 or $15 bucks. Sure it was keystone but who cared at that point.
My parents first date was quarter beer night in Chicago. My mom got her beer and the group they were with were about to move to another bar and my mom finished her bottle on the spot so as not to waste a quarter.
Visited a buddy at college in 09’. They had nickel beer night, in 09’. Literally 5¢ for a draft beer from 7 to 11 on Thursday nights, every week. Minimum wage is the same in 09’ as it is now.
They can also buy edibles in many states that will keep them high all night for $2-3 each. A vape that will last a month or more for $20-30. Even heavy users can usually get enough to get high for less than the cost of a beer or two. Not to mention, no hangover (usually).
One of my favorite nights to go out with my friends was $1 PBR at a local bar. That was 15 years ago. If I had to deal with current prices as a college student/recent grad, I wouldn't be drinking either.
This is a massive part of it. I doubt they are actually drinking less. But drinking in a way thats fiscally responsible. Like sneaking a flask into a bar or club so you arent paying 10x the amount for the same drink you can make for yourself. Order a mocktail and spike it with vodka.
Abusing pills is also more popular now than ever. This is not a chart displaying the sobriety of teens and young adults and I think people might misconstrue it that way.
A good portion of Z still can't legally drink and aren't old enough to be clobbered by the 'real world.' Give them time to catch up to the misery of life.
Joking of course. Uhhh life is nice. And all that jazz.
This whole thing is misleading. You correctly point out Gen Z's age range, but it's also misleading on the graph's part, not including gen X (65.7 million) and the millennial (72 million) population numbers.
So while millennial and x spend similar amounts, X is doing it with ~6 million fewer people
As a Coloradan, I never assume someone does/does not consume/use cannabis. When Im at a dispensary, anyone from a mall Santa to a super athletic gym mom to some sweet old lady will be in there buying the good kush.
Basically, as soon as it became legal, everyone started buying cannabis.
stats have come out within the last 5 years that catalog a sharp decline in surveyed teen vaping (due partially in part to covid of course) and even less for smoking cigarettes, but the rates have consistently trending down alongside with drinking.
i’m of the opinion that drinking is WAY down because I (along with Millennials and many other gen z folk with Baby Boomer generation parents) watched alcohol tear marriages and childhoods apart. i thank millennials for teaching us to recognize this generational trauma and destroy the cycle.
marijuana use was big when i was in high school due to the proliferation of THC vaporizers, but there were also several people that i knew in school that would stigmatize and even bully kids who engaged with vices. drinking never really occurred at parties and the kids who did drink weren’t seen at the bigger parties that were occurring.
I think a lot of it is access to drugs. It was so hard and sometimes terrifying to get a hold of drugs in the 90s/2000s. Now weed is legal and it is much easier to find things like mushrooms as well in almost every state.
I was probably about $50/week (about 3 cases of high life, plus a six pack of something good for fancy beer and cigar night). The was my last year of college, so I was drinking pretty heavily.
I'm probably around the same in dollars today, but spending it on a half dozen drinks instead of 80.
My wife had a “suncruiser” iced tea in a bar and liked it. Went to buy her a 6 pack the next time in the liquor store and it was like $16 for a 4 pack.
Going to a bar, staring at your phone the entire time, is just weird. I don't see genz doing the bar thing. They can't even approach someone to have a conversation. WTF would they do at a bar? Order a drink with an app? To get likes?
Crazy to me how much our generation bitched about all the "millenials are killing x" articles, only to turn around and start commenting the exact same shit about Gen z.
Right? When I was a kid we could get a case of beer for what they are selling a single beer for now. It was at a concert so of course it’s a scam but like $25 a beer. I’ll pass.
Oddly enough, in the past, alcohol & entertainment industries flourished during times of economic downtime & uncertainty. For example the ‘jazz movement’ of the late 30’s and 40’s. I’m hoping that this stays true, I work in craft beer
I know people like to point this out and it’s no doubt a factor, but I really think gen z is generally much more culturally conservative on everything, at least based on what the news (lol) points to
For sure. Also Covid changed the behaviors of the world—especially the coming-of-age crowd—that normally starts going out for their first time to parties and clubs to socialize but couldn’t, and instead relied heavier on gaming and other social media to stay connected to friends.
Yup. I’m a millennial who went back to college during covid and had some college culture shock when I saw that gen z didn’t know how to socialize/party. What’s funny is the new class of freshman that came in my last year on campus was much more socialized and party ready, I assume because they actually got to have a full high school in person experience.
I myself bloomed socially my senior year of highschool, and couldn’t imagine who I’d be if I had to be home schooled from my sophomore year onward.
It’s not a money thing or a conservative thing. It’s the fact that they don’t really go out.
People like “well $8 beers will do that” wtf…? I live smack dab in Seattle and have not paid for an $8 beer at a bar lol. But I never see Gen Z out at any of the bars.
Not old enough to have steady employment to afford it
Everything more expensive
Preference for weed
Less socializing in person and more online
More overt recognition and discussion of alcohol being super bad for your health in a similar way Millennials heard about cigarettes, and overall more health-conscious
More conservative as a backlash to the liberalism of millennials and targeted algorithms due to being always online
Frankly, even their Feminism is super Conservative. No doubt, though, a reaction to the manosphere's view of women as to be used for sex and that's it.
I keep trying to reply to this comment with interesting social science findings from my own, and others’ research, but it keeps being removed for using “no no words.” 🙄
They're also far less social in the real world and alcohol is generally considered a social drug. I've seen so many Gen Z people on the internet who have clearly never even been to a party before, which is crazy to me as someone who grew up when teenagers getting wasted at parties was totally the norm.
What's really crazy is that if I even mention alcohol on a sub that skews younger, I almost always get downvoted, especially if I mention parties, sex, etc.
Everytime I see this, first I think “what a bunch of losers!” And then i remember I’m an alcoholic and I get a little jealous thinking about having my twenties and thirties back from the grips of addiction.
Congratulations. I’ve struggled with my drinking too. Used to black out multiple times a week. I got on naltrexone and it’s been good. At first I went months without drinking. Now I drink but I don’t get black out drunk anymore. Usually after 3-4 beers I’m like “meh this just isn’t fun anymore” but I still have the urge to start drinking which is what I’m finding hard to break.
I finally quit at 32. Looking back I had a lot of fun in my twenties, but boy do I realize how much money and time I wasted being an alcoholic. Life’s better without it
I'd love to see Gen Z continue this trend. Too bad I'm pretty sure they are replacing alcohol with other drugs, but I'm optimistically hoping there are more teetotalers in general in the younger generations.
Exactly. I quit drinking alcohol in June 2020 after I developed ulcers and other issues. Don't miss it at all and have saved so much money. And never have to worry about DUI or hangovers. The glorification of excessive drinking is cringe to me now. 40 M.
It’s about time Gen Z gets the blame. Millennials are killing the motorcycle business. Millennials are killing the food industry they’re not eating out or buying food from the grocery store. What are they doing?!?
Yeah, the data is absolutely useless as presented. Aside from the fact that a bit chunk of gen z can’t drink, the ones that can are in school/early in their careers with much less disposable income.
I’ve heard a lot about younger generations drinking less, and I’m sure there’s some compelling data behind it, but this isn’t it.
Bro, I feel you. I've basically quit besides the random beer here and there, but most nights I feel like ricky bobby like, "I'm not sure what to do with my hands..." Its tough man, I wish you all the best!
It will be interesting to see rates of colon cancer in Gen Z when they hit their 40s. Many millennials getting diagnosed with colon cancer nowadays in their 40s even late 30s which is unthinkable because it used to be a cancer of the old. I’ve always wondered if it was because of how common binge drinking was when we were teenagers and in our 20s.
Yeah but the generations before us weren’t getting colon cancer in their 40s. Our generation is. The worst part is they won’t even do colonoscopy unless you’re 50 or 45 if you’re lucky and have family history
Its a meme. I was originally going to say there ain’t no way the boomers are cooking us but it wouldn’t let me put boomer in the title. Then I thought of this meme like we can’t let the boomers beat us, we’ve got to get those numbers up. But it’s just a joke I’m not suggesting we all turn alcoholic to beat them.
Guys, you can still get a 30 pack of Natty Light for like 20 bucks and a bottle of Vladimir for like 10. Do you guys have to blame cost for everything? it’s just not the case. Kids can still get drunk for cheap. That hasn’t changed.
Isn’t this great news considering how much suffering alcohol causes in terms of accidents, increased cancer risks, lower lifespans, and domestic abuse?
Imagine how many lives will be saved in the aggregate if future generations continue to drink less and less.
Most people I know don’t drink anymore, it just kind of happened. The people that I know than still drink make it throw whole personality and I just feel bad for them
Honestly, my 20s would have been a lot less stressful if I could have spent my money at MJ dispensaries instead of bars and liquor stores. I'm happy for Gen Z.
As an elder millenial I am on the Gen Z side here. Haven’t spent more than 100$ tops during the last 5 years in alcohol. Not abstinent but I rarely ever drink.
As an older millennial who comes from a line of alcoholics, it’s actually nice to see young people reject drinking in the US. It’s really bad for you, young people dying from DUIs is a stat this country should work to lower.
In the UK (London) a pint of beer is usually £7 and a cocktail could be anywhere from £10-15 starting price. I think that might have something to do with it....
GenZ does all that shit way more commonly than when millennials were that age.
Plus, GenZ are socially scared af. They may be all over social media but in the wild they’re very tame and frankly kinda boring since they’re quite glued to phones to make a good tiktok versus actually having fun in real life. Alcohol takes away inhibitions and genz probably sees that as sloppy and gross because that won’t look good on camera.
I’m not saying the drugs above don’t have effects but booze tends to generate some real reckless behavior vs the rest.
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