It’s been an article of faith – or at least marketing – that Millennials were born not only with a smartphone in their hands but a bottle of craft beer in their mouths.
Studies have indicated that almost two-thirds of weekly craft beer drinkers are members of the Millennial generation, typically defined as Americans born between 1980 and 2000. Then, of course, are the ads, in which designer suds have been portrayed as exclusively the adult beverage of choice of twenty- and thirtysomethings.
Today, however, perhaps not so much.
In fact, financial giant Goldman Sachs (the firm dubbed by Rolling Stone’s Matt Taibbi as “a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity”) says its research indicates that the older cohort of Millennials is shifting their alcoholic preferences from beer to wine and spirits, which has led the company to downgrade the stocks of two major beermakers: Boston Beer Co. (makers of Sam Adams) and Constellation Brands (the third-largest beer company in the U.S. and the importers of Corona and Modelo, as well as partners with the crafty brewers of Tocayo and Ballast Point).
Goldman Squid. . . er, Sachs is also predicting an overall decline in beer sales in the U.S. this year, a prediction bucked up by a report by the International Wine and Spirits Record that cites a worldwide decrease in beer sales.
And it’s not just wine that is stealing younger customers from Haute hops. Mary Jane is doing it too. As a recent report by the Wall Street financial services firm the Cowen Group put it, “Coming out of the recession, alcohol’s recovery has been uneven, while cannabis incidence (and legal sales) have both risen markedly. We believe this sets up the alcoholic beverage category for another cycle of falling per capita consumption.”
Don’t bogart that IPA, my friend.