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Comment by sfpotter | Hacker News Reader

Didn't the pandemic accelerate drinking, if anything?

I believe it mostly just accelerated the thinking around drinking and why we do it.

Convincing yourself you don't have an alcohol problem when you are out with friends every night is one thing. Trying to accomplish the same persuasion when you are locked in your apartment with just your cat for months on end is much more challenging.

It would seem to me a person typically has 2 paths they can explore at that point: Go deeper into the rabbit hole, or GTFO.

I think it did both - seems like a barbell distribution. Medium drinkers became heavy drinkers, others drank less - but there was a change in the distribution. Lots more non-alcoholic options popped up as well, both for purchase at home but also a lot more restaurants list NA options for fancy drinks while out to eat.

> a lot more restaurants list NA options for fancy drinks while out to eat.

I've noticed this as well, as a few of my friends don't drink, or drink very little. Even just ~5 years ago, I think it was pretty rare to see a dedicated non-alcoholic section on a cocktail menu, with several interesting, flavorful options. But now it's... well, not quite standard, but pretty common, at least where I live.

I think stopping drinking was a response to exactly that -- it got out of control, then people quit.

At least in NYC that's when we saw the first non-alcoholic "liquor" stores emerge. Because people still want a sophisticated treat to sip to mark the end of the day.

Got any example of this new wave of sophisticated non-alcoholic liqour?

You can probably see if any of the stores mentioned here have websites with product listings:

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/14/nyregion/dry-stores-non-a...

Around here, the rising alt is kratom.

Non-alchoholic=yes. Liquorous=no. Sophisticated? I have no idea.

Kratom is believed to activate on opiod receptors.

It's advertised in window displays at mini marts and cigarette/vape shops, so a big no to that last one.

Try your local health & wellness shop. (you know: the place you get non-FDA supplements, expensive toothpaste, and anything Himalayan salt)

Mine has had a non-alcoholic wine + spirits section growing steadily over the past 12 months from a couple random bottles, to a full floor-to-ceiling section of 40+ options.

> it got out of control, then people quit

Can confirm, that's how it went for me and at least a few friends who I've talked to about it. I went from rarely drinking to heavily drinking to now drinking even more rarely. I let it get way too out of control (mostly in frequency, nothing life-destroying or dangerous to anything/anyone but my body potentially) and even after admitting it was an issue it took a while before I kicked it. Glad I did. It made me look at drinking in a whole new light, especially about just how pervasive it is in society. The joke I've heard a number of times before along the lines of "It'd never get approved if it was introduced today" feels pretty apt. Even something like marijuana seems many times safer than alcohol.

Good for you on cutting down. Alcohol can slowly increase and turn into a drinking problem. Years ago I started having a beer after work and it turned into two over time then every day. Now I may grab a lower abv beer on the weekend but the entire situation could have turned easily into a long term drinking problem.

True, maybe at home, etc. Though I'm thinking more the kind of "going out" drinking at the new hip microbrewery.

Also we have SO MANY breweries/wineries/distilleries options etc... so I think there was already a bubble.

I wonder if it depends on demographic (almost certainly does).

Maybe the “hip” crowd is losing interest in microbreweries and drinking culture, while the “struggling” crowd has increased drinking. And the types of alcohol which appeal to each is different.

Totally hypothetical here, as I have no data behind this at all.

Yes it did. Many are still on pandemic era drinking habits of drinking most week nights.

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