Chart of the day: soda down, wine up
Americans love soda so much that we drink 44 gallons a head last year. But soda sales have slowed, as Americans drank 52 gallons of soda in 1998. So that’s a decline of 18%. Even though that change hasn’t been reflected entirely in America’s waistlines, the secular decline has led to some to argue that “peak soda” is over.
Of course, we’re drinking a lot of other things such as bottled water, coconut water (!), and the juice of pomegranates and acai berries. For beer, the consumption arrow is pointed down (and sentiment is in free-fall). But wine consumption per capita has risen every year since 1993.
So there you have the current score: soda, 44 gallons, red arrow; wine, 3 gallons, green arrow.
Oh, and for a bonus chart of the day, check out the latest poll data from Gallup. They show that Americans of all ages are more into wine than 20 years ago. Only 14 percent of the youngest drinkers then liked wine as their preferred drink (compared to 71 percent who like beer); 29 percent of that cohort now says wine is their preferred drink (with only 43 percent liking beer the most). Young people today like wine twice as much as they did then. And people over 50 don’t really like beer.
On August 2nd, 2013 at 12:51 pm ,Frank wrote:
Gallup doesn’t distinguish between mass-market beer (declining) and craft beer (increasing), although since the former have 80% of the market, their sales will dominate the statistics.
It’s not unlike the decline of bread-eating in France: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/31/world/europe/a-french-dining-staple-is-losing-its-place-at-the-table.html, where the sales of mass-market bread are declining and those of traditional (artisan) breads are increasing.
Not a bad trend, really.
On August 2nd, 2013 at 1:17 pm ,Weston wrote:
With Craftbeer moving along, I can see that younger generation drinking Craftbeer and not wine. I enjoy my Craftbeers and drink more one a growler for $11 is a steal cant get wine for that but i drink wine more only because my tummy doesnt like beer!
On August 2nd, 2013 at 2:49 pm ,RobinC wrote:
Would Mayor Bloomberg’s concern about super-sized portions of sodas be a factor in reduced consumption of soda?
What are the predicted effects of the .05 abv law if enacted?
On August 3rd, 2013 at 9:47 am ,Thomas Pellechia wrote:
I hate it when I can be defined as a statistic…but there it is: over fifty doesn’t like beer.
In actuality, it’s not that I don’t like beer, it’s that L don’t like what it does to my body.
To RobinC: the BAC .05 move seems to have stalled for lack of enthusiasm among legislators.
On August 4th, 2013 at 9:46 pm ,gabe wrote:
hipster pride!
On August 6th, 2013 at 9:26 pm ,Ben wrote:
Did they give a breakdown by age groups?
On August 7th, 2013 at 7:13 am ,Good Reads Wednesday « Artisan Family of Wines wrote:
[…] Chart of the day: soda down, wine up […]
On October 6th, 2013 at 3:41 pm ,Warren wrote:
Not a bit surprised by that. The health news for wine has all be positive, the health news for soda awful.
It isn’t a bit odd that the one would decline while the other increased