It wasn't just woke Bud Light and its failed Dylan Mulvaney campaign. U.S. beer sales are on track for their biggest decline in 24 years.
After shipments were down 5% over the first nine months of 2023, year-end numbers are expected to be the worst in more than two decades, the Washington Examiner has reported, citing Beer Marketer's Insights data.
"This is an industry-wide, five-alarm fire," National Beer Wholesalers Association President Craig Purser said in October, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The factors contributing to the decline in beer sales are believed to be changing demand, drink, and spirits alternatives for younger consumers, and the legalization of marijuana in many states, according to the report.
A recent poll found that Generation Z are the lowest consumers of alcohol among U.S. adult groups, with just 58% of legal-age adults saying they had drunk alcohol in the past six months.
Legal marijuana sales were an estimated $29 million, according to the report.
Investment bank TD Cowen predicts the cannabis industry will gain 18 million users over five years, while alcohol could lose 2 million.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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