The drinking trends of Americans seem to include both drinking healthier choices as well as drinking those that taste like deserts. And some trends fall somewhere in the middle.
America is continuing its war on sugar, which is seen in the trend towards healthier beers. Blake Konrady, founder of Supplemental Brewing, is a beer lover and workout enthusiast. He is attempting to launch a line of “fitness beers.” Through Kickstarter, Konrady hopes to make two protein-fortified beers – known as NutriBeer and Brewtein.
He describes NutriBeer as a light lager and a “low carb beer” featuring four grams of protein and four percent alcohol. It is being marketed to calorie counters who wish to limit their intake. Brewtein is a wheat ale that has “greater protein content than any other beer in existence” and features seven grams of whey protein and five percent alcohol.
Konrady is definitely on to something (providing it tastes good.) The healthy eating movement is sweeping the country and becoming increasingly more fashionable. This includes a growing war on sugar. While alcohol is not particularly good for you, there is a definite shift towards “healthier” alcoholic drinks.
Another trend that drinkers are following is the re-emergence of alcopops. While the ready-to-drink industry was worth $1.5 billion in 2005, it is half of that now. But, ready-to-drink alcopops are convenient and that appeals to those with increasingly busier lives. The re-invention of the drinks includes premium options to appeal to image-conscious drinkers.
Premium mixers are also becoming ever more popular.
Another trend sees gin continuing to rise in popularity. Many independent, craft distilleries are hitting the market, and drinkers are noticing.
Millennials seem to be doing less pub crawling and more “food crawling.” They are spending more time and money on food that they love rather than average pub food. Drinkers are looking for alcoholic drinks to complement their foodie experiences. Therefore, drinks that taste like delectable desserts are becoming much more popular, with drinkers having many more choices than the traditional mudslide.
Drinkers are also showing that they love ready-to-drink tea that contains alcohol. Sales for this type of drink are growing and tea has become the basis for a number of new drinks.
So, while drinking cheap beer during football games will likely never go out style completely, it is evident that more sophisticated, healthier options are taking the alcoholic drink market by storm.
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