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Unlike the Prohibitionists of an earlier age, the new moderates are not on a single-minded moral crusade; they are simply getting older and busier. People tend to drink differently as they age, and the 76 million baby boomers, whose sheer numbers can turn a whim into a trend, are maturing. There is not much time for drinking in two-income households and little sympathy for hangovers. "I'm pushing 35, and I'm certainly drinking less," says Angie Levin, an Atlanta office worker. "In college, binges were pretty common, but as people get older, they have children and other responsibilities."
The $66.4 billion alcohol industry is having trouble coping with the new fashion, which neither it nor any other group predicted. While bottled water soared (see chart), distilled-spirits consumption fell from 2.88 gal. per adult in 1974 to 2.46 gal. in 1984. Brewers registered their first (though slight) slump since 1957--from 36.9 gal. per person in 1980 to 35.1 gal. in 1984--despite the introduction of low-alcohol brews like Anheuser-Busch's year-old LA. Wine growth, which experienced significant leaps in the 1970s, has slowed. One reason: the industry was late in developing softer lines. The Seagram Co. Ltd., the Montreal-based distillery giant, has become the second- largest American wine producer; it owns both Paul Masson and Taylor wines, along with some 100 other spirits. To woo the yuppie sweet tooth, many distillers are marketing unusual-flavor drinks much lower than liquor in alcohol content. Bailey's Original Irish Cream Liqueur (whiskey, chocolate and cream) and Hublein's Long Island Iced Tea (vodka, gin, tequila, rum and triple sec) are successful examples.
Drinkers are cutting down on quantity and going for quality, a shift that is nowhere clearer than in the wine industry. While consumption grew only slightly, sales jumped from $6.2 billion in 1980 to $8.2 billion last year. "Wine has history, romance and a lot of glandular stuff," says Terrance Clancy, president of Napa Valley's Calloway Vineyards. "Eighty-three means something different than '82. I haven't heard of many people going to gin- tasting courses."
Other marketing strategies are aimed at more temperate consumers. Introduced only last year, St. Regis, the first mass-market nonalcoholic vintage, which some tasters rate as similar to a fruity Chenin Blanc, already has a following and is selling briskly. In the three years since they hit the market, some 40 brands of wine coolers--carbonated mixtures of fruit juice and wine only half as potent as vin ordinaire--have captured 5% to 8% of the wine business.
Since 1972, the vineyards have been attracting baby boomers with the so- called blush wines. Made from such red grapes as Zinfandel or Pinot Noir, this wine is kept a pale salmon-pink by removing the skins, pulp and seeds from the juice before they darken the liquid. The result: a wine that tastes like a white and lacks the flowery bouquet of a rose. The Wine Growers of California are negotiating with Julia Child to tout their vintages on TV ads come September. Says William Young, western division president of D'Arcy MacManus Masius, the Wine Growers' advertising firm for the commercials: "We're trying to make Americans understand that wine enhances food, and that's where to use it."