Derek Thompson points out that beer consumption may be seeing some structural decline, but “beer doesn’t deserve our tears”:
If we’re spending more on alcohol but drinking much less beer, what’s going on? Well, we’re spending more for the suds. Beer is getting more expensive on average, due to the rise of craft beers, which account for about 10 percent of the market. In 1980 there were 8 specialty breweries in the United States. Now there are more than 2,000 “Between 1994 and 2011, an average of 97 breweries opened in the United States every year,” consultant David Dworkin pointed out in an email to me. As a result, beer hasn’t lost much ground as a share of total booze-spending at stores. And it is by far the most popular alcoholic drink by volume.
Yes, you point out, it is physically impossible to drink vodka in beer-like quantities. And yes, I’d agree, but on an alcohol basis, holds up well against wine: Beer volume still outsells wine volume by 8.5X despite the fact that a typical beer that’s 4% alcohol is only three or four times weaker than a typical wine.
The Dish 