# Beer losing ground to the cocktail.



## WhatInThe (Feb 17, 2016)

Beer consumption is declining while liquor consumption is going up. The new drinker is apparently a fickle one. Also likes the hard stuff. Said the craft beer craze can't even slow beer's decline.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/cocktails-sip-away-at-beers-market-share-1455585240?mod=rss_Business

Unofficial but with the stats on drug abuse one must wonder if illegal stuff is also nipping away at the beer market.


----------



## SifuPhil (Feb 17, 2016)

It's all my fault, I admit it ...


----------



## Ameriscot (Feb 17, 2016)

I'm guessing this is only for the US.  I do  what I can when I visit for about month every year.  Love craft beers.  Also love cocktails.


----------



## IKE (Feb 17, 2016)

I never have been much of a beer or wine drinker......when I do partake it's liquor.


----------



## SifuPhil (Feb 17, 2016)

IKE said:


> I never have been much of a beer or wine drinker......when I do partake it's liquor.



There ya' go - a REAL man! irate:


----------



## Don M. (Feb 17, 2016)

I drank enough of that good German beer when I was stationed in Europe to last me a lifetime.  When I came back to the States, and had a couple of US beers, that ended my enjoyment of that beverage....there is no comparison.  Then, raising a family quickly placed the expense of imbibing in Booze as a very Low priority...I saw far too many people spending a large part of their paychecks on booze and bar tabs, while shortchanging their family responsibilities.  I still like an occasional shot of good whiskey, or a glass of wine with a meal, and I have found that a shot of flavored vodka about an hour before bedtime is my best sleep aid...but there is No Way I would ever want to become "addicted" to booze. 

I have a neighbor who used to cart a big trash bag of crushed beer cans to the local recycle center every month....until his health and weight of 350 lbs. finally caught up with him.  He admitted, one time, to having spent over $200K on beer over the years....and wishes he had been wiser.


----------



## Ameriscot (Feb 20, 2016)

Don M. said:


> I drank enough of that good German beer when I was stationed in Europe to last me a lifetime.  When I came back to the States, and had a couple of US beers, that ended my enjoyment of that beverage....there is no comparison.  Then, raising a family quickly placed the expense of imbibing in Booze as a very Low priority...I saw far too many people spending a large part of their paychecks on booze and bar tabs, while shortchanging their family responsibilities.  I still like an occasional shot of good whiskey, or a glass of wine with a meal, and I have found that a shot of flavored vodka about an hour before bedtime is my best sleep aid...but there is No Way I would ever want to become "addicted" to booze.
> 
> I have a neighbor who used to cart a big trash bag of crushed beer cans to the local recycle center every month....until his health and weight of 350 lbs. finally caught up with him.  He admitted, one time, to having spent over $200K on beer over the years....and wishes he had been wiser.



I used to like Budweiser, etc. but now won't touch it.  I've 'matured' in my taste in beers.  Now I love IPAs, other ales, porters and sometimes lagers.


----------



## Don M. (Feb 20, 2016)

Ameriscot said:


> I used to like Budweiser, etc. but now won't touch it.  I've 'matured' in my taste in beers.  Now I love IPAs, other ales, porters and sometimes lagers.



I used to drink an occasional Budweiser, but it sometimes left a nasty taste in my mouth.  Then, one time, years ago, I was part of a team installing new computers at the Bud plant in St. Louis, and I saw where they get their water...from that murky polluted sludge called the Mississippi River.  Now, if I have a beer, it is usually a Coors...made with clean Rocky Mountain spring water, or sometimes I have a beer at one of our favorite casinos...made at a small on-site microbrewery.


----------



## Ameriscot (Feb 20, 2016)

Don M. said:


> I used to drink an occasional Budweiser, but it sometimes left a nasty taste in my mouth.  Then, one time, years ago, I was part of a team installing new computers at the Bud plant in St. Louis, and I saw where they get their water...from that murky polluted sludge called the Mississippi River.  Now, if I have a beer, it is usually a Coors...made with clean Rocky Mountain spring water, or sometimes I have a beer at one of our favorite casinos...made at a small on-site microbrewery.



Brewpubs are the best places to go.  At my brother's house there is always Two Hearted Ale which we love.  And our favourite pub chain in the UK always has a huge selection of ales and beers, including some from the US.


----------



## Don M. (Feb 20, 2016)

Ameriscot said:


> Brewpubs are the best places to go.  At my brother's house there is always Two Hearted Ale which we love.  And our favourite pub chain in the UK always has a huge selection of ales and beers, including some from the US.



Yup, the beers brewed at the Ameristar casino are pretty good....and the waitresses bring them around for free to the gamblers.  I limit myself to one or two in an evening, as no more than I drink, i would probably get drunk pretty quick, and lose my shirt at the tables or slots.  "Moderation" is key when gambling.


----------



## tnthomas (Feb 20, 2016)

I've noticed many TV ads for liquor products in recent times, perhaps the marketing is paying off...


----------



## Ameriscot (Feb 20, 2016)

Don M. said:


> Yup, the beers brewed at the Ameristar casino are pretty good....and the waitresses bring them around for free to the gamblers.  I limit myself to one or two in an evening, as no more than I drink, i would probably get drunk pretty quick, and lose my shirt at the tables or slots.  "Moderation" is key when gambling.



A lot of those beers are 8% so I can't drink more than two 20 oz glasses.  I like to do the tasters where you get 5 small glasses of different types of ale/beer.  This is how I discovered I like a porter. I didn't think I'd like any dark beers but I do.

Thailand is very limited in it's beers. All lagers.  There is one brewpub on the opposite end of the island though. There are a couple of Aussie pubs where I can get Foster's which I like.  Or we can pay a small fortune for imported beers in the supermarket.  I've mostly been drinking this:


----------



## Don M. (Feb 20, 2016)

I don't know what the alcohol content of these micro-brew beer is, but they sure taste a lot better than what the stores sell.  The law used to state that U.S. beers were either 3.2, or 6% alcohol, and I don't know if that still is the case.  When I was in Germany, some of those beers could be as much as 15%, or more alcohol, and that is more than many wines contain.  I don't remember much about what I drank in Thailand, back in 1967, but when I got over there and first started going to town, I tried to just drink coffee and tea...and always seemed to get the "trots" afterwards.  Then, one of the "older" troops showed me where the locals got their water, and after that I carried a little flask of whiskey with me to add to the local coffee/tea...to kill off what was lurking in the pond where the locals filled their water buckets....moss, algae, and an occasional floating dead dog.  

At any rate, I drink very little anymore...just my 1/2 shot for a nightcap, and an occasional beer or glass of wine.


----------



## Ameriscot (Feb 20, 2016)

Don M. said:


> I don't know what the alcohol content of these micro-brew beer is, but they sure taste a lot better than what the stores sell.  The law used to state that U.S. beers were either 3.2, or 6% alcohol, and I don't know if that still is the case.  When I was in Germany, some of those beers could be as much as 15%, or more alcohol, and that is more than many wines contain.  I don't remember much about what I drank in Thailand, back in 1967, but when I got over there and first started going to town, I tried to just drink coffee and tea...and always seemed to get the "trots" afterwards.  Then, one of the "older" troops showed me where the locals got their water, and after that I carried a little flask of whiskey with me to add to the local coffee/tea...to kill off what was lurking in the pond where the locals filled their water buckets....moss, algae, and an occasional floating dead dog.
> 
> At any rate, I drink very little anymore...just my 1/2 shot for a nightcap, and an occasional beer or glass of wine.



We only drink bottled water here.  And I don't buy food from street vendors unless it's hot, no fruit shakes.  You always have to be careful eating raw food but the restaurants we go to I'm safe getting salads as I know they only use clean water to wash food.


----------



## Cookie (Feb 20, 2016)

I barely drink beer anymore, as there are so few that I find palatable, including the the fancy craft beers -- I usually get Stella Artois when I go out and don't seem to be drinking much of anything unless I have guests, then it will be wine or light cider. My son said he'll bring me some good scotch and I look forward to having some of that around the house for 'emergencies'.


----------



## fureverywhere (Feb 20, 2016)

Even as a teen beer was like drinking flavored seltzer. But from what I understand the micro brews can be really unique.


----------



## Ameriscot (Feb 20, 2016)

All kinds of craft beers.  Some don't sound great but once you taste them they are yummy!  Huge varieties!


----------



## Don M. (Feb 20, 2016)

Ameriscot said:


> We only drink bottled water here.  And I don't buy food from street vendors unless it's hot, no fruit shakes.  You always have to be careful eating raw food but the restaurants we go to I'm safe getting salads as I know they only use clean water to wash food.



I don't know how things are in Thailand now, but when I was over there, they had very little in the way of refrigeration.  I was pretty hard to walk through a local meat market, and not "lose your lunch".  I made sure that if I ordered a steak, or burger, it was cooked "well done".


----------



## AprilT (Feb 20, 2016)

Don M. said:


> I don't know how things are in Thailand now, but when I was over there, they had very little in the way of refrigeration.  I was pretty *hard to walk through a local meat market, and not "lose your lunch*".  I made sure that if I ordered a steak, or burger, it was cooked "well done".



Funny, I always felt that way whenever I got a whiff of beer, I'll take the cocktails preferably with an umbrella sticking out of it as well.   My ex-husband drank Guinness, I think that's how it's spelled, he knew not to kiss me after he drank it.  Once one of my ex-beaus switched my soda with his beer, I was so mad, for a minute, he thought it was the funniest thing.  

But put a little something sweet in it and I will manage to get it down on a hot day by the pool; my birthday last year, my friends bought some bud-ling Mang-O-Rita, I still have a couple sitting in the fridge along with some mixers they left behind.  One of these days, I'm just going to sit here and just drink it all for the heck of it, might start a bad, but fun habit.  :cheers1:  Maybe I'll bang out some real winners on the net, worse than usual.  :sentimental:


----------



## Ameriscot (Feb 20, 2016)

Don M. said:


> I don't know how things are in Thailand now, but when I was over there, they had very little in the way of refrigeration.  I was pretty hard to walk through a local meat market, and not "lose your lunch".  I made sure that if I ordered a steak, or burger, it was cooked "well done".



It must be a very long time since you've been here.  It's quite modern.  The island we stay on has big shopping malls.  You can still go to markets though and see the meat sitting out and they have little fans above it to get rid of the flies.  Yuck!  But the fish looks great.  As do all the veggies and fruits.  We love the food here!


----------



## Ameriscot (Feb 20, 2016)

AprilT said:


> Funny, I always felt that way whenever I got a whiff of beer, I'll take the cocktails preferably with an umbrella sticking out of it as well.   My ex-husband drank Guinness, I think that's how it's spelled, he knew not to kiss me after he drank it.  Once one of my ex-beaus switched my soda with his beer, I was so mad, for a minute, he thought it was the funniest thing.
> 
> But put a little something sweet in it and I will manage to get it down on a hot day by the pool; my birthday last year, my friends bought some bud-ling Mang-O-Rita, I still have a couple sitting in the fridge along with some mixers they left behind.  One of these days, I'm just going to sit here and just drink it all for the heck of it, might start a bad, but fun habit.  :cheers1:  Maybe I'll bang out some real winners on the net, worse than usual.  :sentimental:



The problem with those sweet cocktails is they taste so good and go down so quickly that you don't realize until you stand up and fall flat on your face that you've had too many!  Mai Tai is probably my favourite.


----------



## AprilT (Feb 20, 2016)

Ameriscot said:


> The problem with those sweet cocktails is they taste so good and go down so quickly that you don't realize until you stand up and fall flat on your face that you've had too many!  Mai Tai is probably my favourite.



I learned my lesson, I never have more than two spread out very far apart, but, yes, they are darn good.  The Mai Tai is what I was ordering for a while and it will knock you off your socks, I had no idea what I was getting into the first time I ordered a real one.  I'm now liking the Blue Hawaiian. It's another killer, but, one is enough for a few hours out.


----------



## Don M. (Feb 20, 2016)

Ameriscot said:


> It must be a very long time since you've been here.  It's quite modern.  The island we stay on has big shopping malls.  You can still go to markets though and see the meat sitting out and they have little fans above it to get rid of the flies.  Yuck!  But the fish looks great.  As do all the veggies and fruits.  We love the food here!



Yup, it's been a long time...1967, Takhli, Thailand...about 50 miles north of Bangkok.  That was a very rural area...jungles, rice paddies and poisonous snakes.  The meat was all Water Buffalo...when the animals were too old and worn out to work the rice paddies, they became "meat".  Refrigeration was unheard of in the meat market, and the sides of meat were hung in an open pavilion.  The meat was "cured" by the heat, and a layer of flies/maggots.  When a person wanted a piece of meat, the market operator scraped off a layer of the bugs, and carved a piece of meat.  

There were two climates...Hot and Dry, and Hot and Wet.  Most of the houses were built on stilts, and they had two big clay pots underneath...one for water, the other for human waste.  The water pot was filled by buckets carried from one of the local stagnant rainwater ponds.  When the "waste" pot was filled, it was tipped over and drained....and probably some of that sludge found its way to the "water" pond.  It was only when going to Bangkok that something resembling modern civilization was observed.  

I'm sure that things have changed in the past 50 years, but when I was over there it was like stepping back into the middle ages.  About the most positive thing was that Thailand was a lot better than some of the stories I've hear from the guys who had to go to VietNam.


----------



## Ameriscot (Feb 21, 2016)

Don M. said:


> Yup, it's been a long time...1967, Takhli, Thailand...about 50 miles north of Bangkok.  That was a very rural area...jungles, rice paddies and poisonous snakes.  The meat was all Water Buffalo...when the animals were too old and worn out to work the rice paddies, they became "meat".  Refrigeration was unheard of in the meat market, and the sides of meat were hung in an open pavilion.  The meat was "cured" by the heat, and a layer of flies/maggots.  When a person wanted a piece of meat, the market operator scraped off a layer of the bugs, and carved a piece of meat.
> 
> There were two climates...Hot and Dry, and Hot and Wet.  Most of the houses were built on stilts, and they had two big clay pots underneath...one for water, the other for human waste.  The water pot was filled by buckets carried from one of the local stagnant rainwater ponds.  When the "waste" pot was filled, it was tipped over and drained....and probably some of that sludge found its way to the "water" pond.  It was only when going to Bangkok that something resembling modern civilization was observed.
> 
> I'm sure that things have changed in the past 50 years, but when I was over there it was like stepping back into the middle ages.  About the most positive thing was that Thailand was a lot better than some of the stories I've hear from the guys who had to go to VietNam.



I can only imagine what it was like here 50 years ago.  I think some of the rural areas are still fairly primitive.  You'd be amazed at the changes if you came back.  

There are still squat toilets in some places but they are ceramic.  The vast majority are regular toilets though.  

Climate on our island - Samui - is rainy season or dry season and the temps pretty much stay in the 80's.  It's humid, of course, but sea breezes help with that a lot.


----------



## Don M. (Feb 21, 2016)

Ameriscot said:


> I can only imagine what it was like here 50 years ago.  I think some of the rural areas are still fairly primitive.  You'd be amazed at the changes if you came back.
> 
> There are still squat toilets in some places but they are ceramic.  The vast majority are regular toilets though.
> 
> Climate on our island - Samui - is rainy season or dry season and the temps pretty much stay in the 80's.  It's humid, of course, but sea breezes help with that a lot.



I'm sure that things have changed a lot in the past 50 years...especially in the more developed parts of the nation and the Tourist areas.  I really enjoyed going to Bangkok and seeing the glorious Buddhist temples, etc.  The temple of the Emerald Buddha, and the Reclining Buddha were quite a sight.  The ancient Buddhist temples around Sattahip were as impressive as the pictures I've seen of some of the Mayan ruins.  Bangkok and rural Thailand were different worlds...but much the same can be said about many of the less developed nations.  Cancun, Mexico, for example, is a paradise for tourists...but one doesn't have to travel very far from there to see the squalor that so many of the Mexicans have to live in.  People here complain about "income inequality", but our poorest live far better than millions/billions of people in other parts of the world.


----------

