How Come Super Bowl Is No Longer About Beer?

A truly horrible thing happened: According to Nielsen, the Super Bowl is no longer about drinking beer. How come?

Let’s be frank about it: for most people, the finale of the NFL season is not about sports per se. Surely, we watch sports, but we do not participate in the game. What we usually do is meet with our family and friends and get a beer or two, a bucket of chicken wings, or some other food that is equally advantageous for your health. Or do we?

A survey by measurement and information company Nielsen shows that wine is going to be almost as popular as beer during the Super Bowl event. In fact, during the last two years, during the week preceding the Super Bowl, average wine sales increased almost as much as beer sales (by 8.9 and 9 percent respectively). What’s more, the sales of other spirits increased by 10.7 percent. Hey, beer lovers, how did it come to this?

It may have something to do with women, apparently. According to Nielsen, women account for the bulk of wine consumption (57 percent) and have a strong preference for other spirits as well. And since women now make up to 46 percent of the Super Bowl audience, the beer begins losing the high ground to other types of alcohol.

While this may seem like the new trend that will end the era of beer domination, we remain somewhat skeptical about it. Here is why. There are statistics that show craft beer is more popular among young women than among men. There is also a new tendency among beer drinkers to choose quality over quantity (so much so that Germany even considers repealing its half a millennium old beer purity law). It is not unreasonable to expect that a continued proliferation of craft beer will make America great again bring the Super Bowl watchers firmly back to the beer camp.

In any case, don’t forget to buy your favorite drinks, invite you friends over, and enjoy the game this Sunday.