It’s that delicious amber taste. Some hops, some wheat, a dark glow or a warm yellow-orange color. Whether it’s strong or weak, whether the alcohol content is high or low, beer always tastes amazing.
Americans are thirsty. The statistics explain that.
- In 1993 Americans only drank 1.74 gallons of wine per capita.
- By 2013, the figure had rise to 2.82 gallons.
- This makes the U.S. the largest wine consuming nation in the world.
- This according to Impact Databank.
Millenials are in fact consuming more alcohol than anyone. Younger drinkers average 3.1 glasses, compared to 2.4 for Gen Xers, and 1.9 for Boomers.
17% of all millenial wine drinkers about a bottle costing more than $20 in the past month, compared to 10% of all drinkers, and 5% of boomers. In 2015, millenials consumed nearly 160 million cases of wine or 42% of all wine sold in America.
There is no doubt that wine holds a certain appeal for people of a certain age. While wine may seem like a stuffy drink to those in high school or even in the early years of college, by the time a young adult starts reaching the middle-20s or even later, wine becomes a popular drink for house parties and for a night in.
Wine has an appeal because it has a moderate level of alcohol content–between 11% and 14% generally–and it pairs well with meals. A nice Shiraz will go well with a well-cooked stake, while Chardonnay will go well with pasta. It’s more sophisticated seemingly than beer and certainly less hard than liquor, those these cultures may be changing.
Microbrews are starting to grow within the beer field. They, in fact, have a 12% share of the beer market. Craft brews are serious competitors in the field. They in fact operate 99% of the breweries in America, with 2,400 microbreweries, 1,650 brewpubs, and 178 regional craft brews.
Beers are perfect for numerous activities. Whereas the image of wine is that of a mom relaxing after a day of taking care of her kids, the image of beer is party and celebration, most notably at a sporting event, such as a basketball game or football game. It is an alcohol seen most often in television commercials as being associated with men.
While the brews have normally been associated with Budweiser, Bud Light, Corona, Heineken and other large scale brews that have enormous financial backing and operate on a global scale, more and more breweries are the smaller breweries and they are producing unique brews with different levels of hops and different alcohol contents.
Walk into a gas station. It’s not unusual to find a microbrew with an alcohol content much higher than the standard Budweiser. While those hang around that 4%-5% alcohol content range, a microbrew might have an alcohol content of 9% or 10%. Very close to the area of wine.
Because of this, more and more outlets–gas stations, alcohol stores, and more–are stocking their shelves with microbrews in order to tap into the market for those microbrews. People that love microbrews generally drink microbrews more often than other beers.
With more and more people moving to microbrews, it is possible they will gain a larger share of the marketplace year after year until they begin to dominate the market. Microbrews can also target a certain city–as is the case with Ghost River or Wiseacre in Memphis, TN.
There are other locations, cities, and states with craft beer around the country, including Delaware craft beer, New Jersey craft beer, Florida craft beer, and more.
For those looking to purchase craft beer, wine, or even other liquors, it is possible to search for a store in your area. Keep in mind that different states and counties have different liquor laws. For instance, some laws may for wine and spirits stores to close at 10pm or not to stay closed on Sunday.
Searching for the store may be as simple as searching for ‘wine and spirits Delaware’ for instance. If you type ‘wine and spirits Delaware’ into Google, it should turn up the wine and spirits stores in your area. Typing in ‘wine and spirits Delaware’ into your phone maps app should do the same thing.
A search plugging in key words with a state like ‘wine and spirits Delaware’ should get you the nearest liquor store.