Old Habits

As a typical 1960s frat boy at an all-male school with Vietnam looming in my future, alcohol consumption was a big part of my social life. Lafayette limited sanctioned parties with alcohol and females in frat houses to four weekends each semester. The hijinks shown in “Animal House” were not far off the mark on “party weekends”. Phi Delt set the record by consuming (actually mostly spilling) twenty-four half kegs during Lehigh Weekend. We had to drown our sorrows.

It took almost sixty years, but alcohol consumption among college age folk is way down. Forty-five percent of Gen Z consumers over 21 claimed that they did not consume any alcoholic drinks at all in 2023. Of course, kids are notoriously untruthful regarding their vices. I always claimed that those empty booze bottles in my frat house room belonged to my roommate when my parents visited.

But the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics wouldn’t lie to us (at least until Donnie takes over next week). The BLS found that Americans younger than 25 spent 60% less on alcohol (adjusted for inflation) in 2023 than they did in 2003. Of course, legalized pot has something to do with this. States where recreational marijuana is available show the greatest decrease in alcohol consumption.

Old habits die hard. While those wimpy Americans under age 25 spent 60% less on alcohol over the past two decades, we red-blooded Boomers over age 75 spent 72% more (adjusted for inflation). This may be due to the fact that we have graduated to “top shelf” liquor in our advanced age. On those rare occasions when I drink beer, it is imported German stuff. That six pack of Hofbrau Oktoberfest costs the same as two cases of Natural Lite. My days of cheap bourbon are done. I go with the good stuff now. A 750 ml bottle of Jimmy Red runs the same as two 1.75 liter bottles of Old Crow.

I imagine a doctoral student in Economics writing his thesis on the fact that alcohol beverage prices have increased by only 12% since 2003 while overall prices have risen by 23%. Is this (like everything else) all Joe Biden’s fault? Did Joe keep a lid on booze prices while allowing the cost of everything else to soar? I will contemplate this while sipping good bourbon with a German beer chaser.

By Ed Dufton