People Are Drinking Less, but Dont Blame Millennials

“While some of this trend has been driven by millennials, we are really starting to see the ‘millennial effect,’ where their behaviors influence relationships, regardless of age and lifestyle, all around them,” Heidi Dillon Otto, portfolio director of Distill Ventures LLP’s North America team, said in an email. Distill Ventures is the venture capital arm of Diageo PLC, the British spirits maker, which said Wednesday that it had acquired a majority stake in the non-alcoholic spirits maker Seedlip. 

Federal data doesn’t necessarily show that drinking rates are plunging, however.

Fifty-five percent of adults ages 18 and older said they had a drink in the past month in 2016, the most recent year available, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. That’s barely moved since 2002, when 54.9 percent of adults said the same.

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