As alcohol prices stabilize, some liquors are getting cheaper
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Booze will cost you more this holiday season than last — but not much more. And there are ways to increase the bang for your buck while grabbing a round of drinks or bringing a bottle to a gathering.
As is usually the case, alcohol is still generally cheaper at home than in bars and restaurants, and beer remains lower-priced than many liquors. But some spirits, including many tequilas and whiskeys, are seeing noteworthy price drops that have made even top-shelf bottles a bit more affordable.
Whiskey bought for at-home consumption is nearly 2% less expensive, on average, than a year ago, federal inflation numbers released Wednesday show. Beer served out of the house, on the other hand, is about 4% pricer.
And on Thursday, federal regulators turned a spotlight on retail booze prices, accusing a major U.S. liquor distributor of favoring big chains like Costco and Kroger over independent shops, making it harder for smaller operators to compete.
So far, at any rate, many price moves for alcoholic beverages have been relatively modest. Booze costs rose nearly 15% from the first half of 2019 to the first half of this year, less than the 23% jump in consumer prices at large during that period. As of last month, alcohol costs were up only 1.8% since the year before, while inflation overall was 2.7%.
You can really find good-quality product at a lower price. Often it's better than the stuff you're paying more for.
Marten Lodewijks, president of IWSR U.S.
Sluggish demand has helped keep prices in check.
"It's been a pretty rough year for alcohol sales," said Marten Lodewijks, president of the U.S. division of the beverage industry data firm IWSR. "It's been fairly consistent across the board: a general pulling back of consumer spend on alcohol, and spirits in particular."
That trend coincides with a broader caution rippling through the economy. Retail sales around Thanksgiving showed many households are still eager to spend, but only at the right price. Many brands are chasing value-wary shoppers' wallets with increasingly competitive deals and discounts.
"As a nonessential item, it hit consumers quite hard," Lodewijks said of inflation's impact on alcohol in recent years. "When prices on everything else started going up, suddenly that extra $5 on a bottle of spirits was meaningful."
His firm flagged in September that sales volumes had declined more than expected during the first seven months of this year for beer, wine and spirits alike; the only exception was in canned cocktails, which beverage makers have been pushing heavily. The falloffs came amid growing interest in nonalcoholic mocktails and signs that younger people are thinking twice about causal drinking. Shares of Diageo, a major importer of Scottish whiskey, and Pernod Ricard, which imports Absolut Vodka and Jameson whiskey, are each down by double digits since the start of this year.
U.S. beer sales have also suffered, squeezing brewers who have faced a yearslong pullback after the previous decade's craft beer boom. Even so, beer remains the cheapest and by far the most popular alcohol at full-service restaurants, accounting for over half of booze sales in those settings this year, according to data released Tuesday by the transaction processor Toast.
Typically, weaker sales encourage price cuts, but this week's inflation data showed beer at bars and restaurants posting the biggest jump — climbing 4% between November 2023 and last month. Lodewijks said at least two factors are likely at play: Many brewers have been passing on higher costs to their customers and chasing higher-dollar drinkers.
"While mainstream and below beer has seen major volume losses, premium and above beer has generally fared very well," he said. "Now, consumers won't be fooled into thinking a mainstream beer is premium simply by raising prices, but this could be an attempt by some brand owners to change the perception of their brand by moving it up the price ladder."
There are still big unknowns when it comes to brewers' costs. President-elect Donald Trump's victory in November led some beer makers to voice fresh worries about tariffs, after his first round hit the aluminum and steel-reliant industry in 2018. Even Modelo importer Constellation Brands, which had waved off trade concerns before the election, saw its stock fall 3.5% after Trump proposed 25% tariffs on goods from Mexico last month, before shares steadied.
In the meantime, some of the industry's headwinds since its pandemic-era boom are still benefiting consumers this holiday season.
The price of agave, a key ingredient in tequila and mezcal, has fallen dramatically since 2022, when it peaked at 32 Mexican pesos per kilogram, or about $1.60. By February 2024, 1 kilogram of agave cost just 5 Mexican pesos, or less than 30 cents. Tequila manufacturers took advantage as demand soared, producing trendy luxury tequilas — many of them at lower prices. That has made it easier to buy a high-quality bottle in recent years without spending more, Lodewijks said.
"What consumers are saying is, 'I'm not going to spend $50, but spending $30, I can get a really good tequila for that price,'" he said.
Tequila is still the priciest liquor you can order at a sit-down restaurant, averaging $13.48 per drink as of the third quarter, the Toast data shows. But it's the only booze whose costs have remained basically flat for the past year.
Premium bourbons have propped up the U.S. whiskey industry, which is relatively strong at the moment even as Scottish and other imported options struggle, Lodewijks said.
Still, whiskey was the only at-home alcoholic beverage to see prices outright decline since last year, inflation data shows. Whiskey distillers have seen softer demand in key markets like California, Florida and Kentucky, according to IWSR. But Lodewijks said it could be that producers have managed to lower their costs through more efficient production.
"Shop around and do your research, and you can really find good-quality product at a lower price," he advised holiday quaffers and bottle-gifters. "Often it's better than the stuff you're paying more for."
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some good news
except for the price of beer. That's pretty much all I drink. On occasion I will have a Crown and ginger
cheaper beer prices would make me happy
BEER, is my alcohol of choice
I am enjoying a cold one now
damn Charger, so am I, as i don't wish to see one drink alone
What's wrong with drinking alone?
Cheers! To your good health and fortune
as long as you can afford the interest, nothing wrong with drinking a loan...
yea, with nobody else....
I prefer to drink alone. Then I can read in peace
you read while you drink? wtf? how unamerican. what happened to driving, waving a gun around, or trying to start fights? sheesh, way to represent the south ...
Plus the added advantage of not having to share..
A bottle of Moscato does me fine...and I don't even have to put any in the cats milk...
Cheers..
I'm back at it again
U n i both
My PBRs are still $18 something for a 30 pack. Cheaper than water.
50+ years ago, we pooled our money and only drank the cheapest beer, and PBR's were my favorite. then we found 40 oz A-1's at just over $1 per bottle.
yeah, we drank Lucky Lagers. 12 bottles for $2.
we called them A-1's, but I think they were really named arizona premiums or primo, or something similar ...
Indeed. Can't beat a good whiskey with a slow burning smooth cigar.
Check this out. sugarbush whiskey
Interesting. I might have to look into that. Thanks for the tip.
there's some whiskey producer here in denver that produces a limited batch for the holidays and people camp in the parking lot for a chance to buy some ...
Most of my beer and liquor are produced locally. Even my favorite bloody mary mix is made locally. ...now if we just grew olives.
I like to make my own Bloody Mary mix. I like mine spicy....very spicy
don't forget to use celery salt ...
I also have some applewood smoked pepper I add to mine. I had one last night it was just the right amount of spicy.
Never
got the big bottle of tabasco in the cupboard, do you?
That's the problem...it's not big enough
I would really love to go to the Purple Onion this afternoon and have one of their Cajun Bloody Marys
I have a friend that eats pizza with one hand because the other has a bottle of tabasco in it ...
Looks like I'll have to go out and splurge on a bottle of Patron to celebrate lower agave prices and mourn higher beer prices.
I quit drinking years ago, excluding last october because my hotel had a happy hour with 3 free cocktails every night. I'll stick with my vape pen. a more manageable and unregrettable buzz, without having to piss like a racehorse every 30 minutes ...
The worst part of drinking beer
I don't need fermented liquids to be obnoxious and offensive.
I don't either but it gives me an excuse
Oh so true:-)
it doesn't take much to imagine how more congenial I might be fortified with liquid courage ...
Great news for alcoholics
Booze will cost you more this holiday season than last — but not much more
Looks like Bidenomics worked after all
Good luck getting a single Biden hater on this forum to provide a single way their life has been negatively impacted by Biden’s policies. I think that they have their reasons, but they know how they would look if they expressed them. Something like always being afraid if the person in the stall of the bathroom they’re in has a penis, or having to hear Spanish in conversations they aren’t even a part of, or their kids not being forced to recite bible quotes in their public school.
MAGA is based on white grievance at the loss of "their" country to multiculturalism. Outside of that it will never make sense.
Man, you guys have a way of bringing a fun topic down.
This is about booze! Who cares Bidenomics or the maga shit heads? Tell us a story about your drunkest night
yeah, this is something important and fun (but now I have to go do something)
You get it!
I can’t remember the last time I couldn’t remember a drunken night. Hangovers are never nice but as I age they get measurably worse. I stay away from the hard stuff and spend my money on the best beers in the country now, and they ain’t cheap.
I don't like any kind of hangover. I'm useless all day long.
vegas in july 2004, and I woke up with more than a hangover. I have never drank to excess since ...
Problem being that I don't remember my drunkest night and don't believe the scandalous rumors.
Morning.. Leningrad 1987..I do not recommend Russian champagne...🤢
My Kiwi friend and I did nothing but chunder the next day...
We were so crook... never again..
Victoria 1995 got really drunk, pepper sprayed, kicked out of the bar, drunkenly stumbled my way home and fell off a cliff into the Pacific Ocean, crawled out and fell asleep (passed out) on some rocks, woke up the next morning as the tide came in and meandered the rest of the way home
Well I think that one pretty well beats us all..
Glad you survived..
So am I lol
I learned a long time ago that watching other people get shit faced and make fools of themselves was more fun ... and I'm quite proud that I didn't need to refer to my oz slang dictionary to know what you said to me ...
See half Aussie already..now Vegemite will be next and then a trip to the Great Southern Sandbar..
Can't beat that..
Everybody told me I had a great time.
we created still-lifes and took polaroids of those that passed out drunk. another reason I quit drinking to excess ...
Yep. Sure beats my one time with rum and cokes
I know chunder means puke because of that song I come from the land down under. I'm assuming crook means shit faced
ok...that's bad when you don't remember the good time
Morning Fishy...yep crook means really sick..
You will often hear..
I was crook as a dog..which means you are really really sick and near carking it (dieing)...
Cactus and carking it..basically means your stuffed, dead, dieing or its buggared or broken..
We have multiple meanings for many words..😁
Never drank Russian champagne again..no wonder Russians have a massive alcoholic problem and it couldn't happen to a nicer lot..
Where do they even get the grapes to make champagne?
Or....is their champagne made from their shitty vodka? The French make the best vodka
They do have large grape growing areas Ukraine was one..but at the time it was all very much still the Communist government and the KGB etc..and cloak and dagger..
It bordered on paint stripper and came from the black market which was sourced by our bus driver and courier...
My brother goes for the Ukraine vodka, he says it's the best..he was in Ukraine this year and brought some back...doesn't do anything for me I am afraid...
sounds like some whiskeys I've drank
Lol sounds like every Scotch I've drank
I include Scotch on that list. Gaw! That stuff is horrible
I don't like Scotch or Tequila
tequilla used to give me amnesia, for which I was thankful ...
I can only do tequila in margharitas and then I don't drink a lot of them
On my traveling paint ball team, the first to pass out got "painted" and photographed.
using permanent marker didn't turn out so funny sometimes ...
I know my limit............unfortunately, I get drunk before I get there............
Yeah....that seems to be a problem for me, too
It's Wednesday evening, Anybody want to join me with a cold beer?
Surre, but gott a little head start on ya
Enjoy yours
I got another one from refrigerator but probably won't catch you, I have to do something tomorrow morning
no worries, as there aren't too many that will "catch" me, as I can tend to overachieve at certain things, and BEER, would be one of them...
N Joy
I have to work this morning....
I will have one or more this evening.
good and cold
I could only drink barley pop ice cold, otherwise yuck ...
Ewwww....warm beer! Mr G gets the beer on his way home, usually at the Class 6 store on base, and it takes a good 15-20 minutes to get home. On a hot day it's warming up. If there's beer already in the fridge I make him rotate the cold ones to the front
when I was tending bar 45+ years ago, the bar had a 2 keg cooler with taps on top. it had a little tray under the taps that drained down a hose into a gallon jug that sat between the 2 kegs. we had a couple alcoholic dish washers that would come by during closing and fill containers with that stuff for their bus ride home. I think they drank anything that they found in the bus tubs too. yeesh ...