Is The Alcohol-Empire Cracking?
Alcohol may be losing its grip, and that’s a win for your body, your marriage, and your children.
Something is shifting right in front of us, and the alcohol industry can feel it.
For decades, the script was the same…
Having a baby? Drink.
Getting married? Drink
Getting divorced? Drink
Drink because you Won
Drink because you Lost
Drink to mourn at Funerals
Drink to celebrate Birthdays
Got a new job? Drink to Celebrate
Got fired from your job? Drink to Cope
Just existing in society? Go ahead and grab that drink, you’ve earned it…
The brilliance of their marketing is that Alcohol didn’t just sell a product; it sold an experience and an identity.
It convinced grown men that poison in a glass was “deserved,” and taught entire friend groups that blacking out was a personality trait.
The numbers are telling a different story these days, as globally, the trend is moving toward less drinking.
Folks at the International Wine and Spirits Record have forecast global beverage alcohol volume declining in 2025 (the value of these companies is declining too), with major markets like the U.S. and China driving that trend.
In the U.S., beer shipments have been down, industry reports note consumer moderation in alcohol spending, and the overall theme from what I have read is that moderation and sobriety are being framed as the new direction set by social standards. Which, in my view, makes this a permanent trend, not a temporary blip in the stock or economy.
Alcohol doesn’t “take the edge off”, it takes pieces of your soul.
The reason I want to see this industry decline is simple:
Alcohol has been marketed as a harmless social lubricant, but science has been screaming for years that it’s not harmless, and in fact, it is destroying people’s minds, bodies, families, and lives for decades...
What we’re seeing is what happened to cigarettes play out before our eyes…
In January 2025, the U.S. Surgeon General issued an advisory detailing the link between alcohol consumption and increased cancer risk to over seven cancer types (including breast, colorectal, liver, mouth, throat, esophagus, and larynx).
The National Cancer Institute has been pretty blunt about…
Alcohol is a Group 1 carcinogen (the same top-tier classification used for things like tobacco and asbestos). And the World Health Organization has stated that when it comes to cancer risk, there is no “safe” level where risk magically switches off.
That’s the part people don’t want to accept; alcohol isn’t “a treat,” it’s a drug the government is profiting off, which is why they’ve kept it legal and free from the demonization big tobacco experienced.
Do you know how the government profits from booze?
It costs money, and they get a cut.
It costs sleep, and loss of sleep wrecks health; sick citizens don’t revolt; they pay into the healthcare system, which the government is getting a cut of.
It costs emotional stability and peace in your home; you know who profits off broken families?
That’s right, the government.
I’m 16 days sober as I write this, and what’s wild is how your brain starts calling things by their real names again.
When you stop drinking, you realize how much of alcohol culture is built on group denial.
People brag about being so drunk they puked, laugh about hangovers like they’re badges of honor, shrug off regret like it’s just “a crazy night,” and normalize being half-alive on Saturday and useless on Sunday…
People act like drifting through life foggy and inflamed is just part of adulthood.
It’s not, that’s the conditioning from the ads you see on TV Commercials, online, in movies, on shows, in magazines, and at all public events.
And the fact that the alcohol industry is taking hits right now?
Good.
When a product depends on addiction, ignorance, and social pressure, a decline is not a tragedy; it’s a correction.
Not one drink in 2026
In our marriage, my wife Jackie and I have decided we will not have a single drink in 2026, not a toast, not a “special occasion,” not a “we deserve it” and we didn’t keep it vague or secret.
We’ve shared that decision with our children because we want them to understand what alcohol really is, a drug that has a body count, a price tag, and a history of destroying people who thought it was harmless.
We want our children to be aware of the real negatives, cancer risk, money loss, addiction potential, and the physiological suffering that comes with long-term use.
This isn’t provided as a lecture, but rather gifted like mental armor.
A kid who understands the truth is harder to manipulate with marketing.
My hope is that in our kids’ lifetimes, “getting wasted” won’t be cool; it’ll be embarrassing.
That’s where I think this is going.
The “cool” factor is fading.
Children are tired of seeing drunk adults, and they have access to other adults who share that it’s not normal to be drunk, or a wasted space of a human being who wants to do nothing but “sit and recover”.
More people are choosing clarity.
More people are realizing that being fully present is a flex, and they’re waking up to the fact that you don’t need alcohol to have confidence, you need a spine, a purpose, and a life you don’t constantly want to escape.
The industry sees it too, which is why it’s pivoting hard into non-alcohol options and “moderation-friendly” products. When the machine starts reinventing itself, it’s because the old model isn’t working as well as it used to.
And I’m glad, because the healthier this trend becomes, the fewer people will have to learn the hard way.
If you’re reading this and you feel the pull…
Alcohol doesn’t just steal your health; it steals your future self.
It steals the version of you that wakes up clear-headed, keeps promises, doesn’t need a chemical to relax, celebrate, socialize, or survive a bad day.
The decline of the alcohol industry is a sign that more people are choosing that version of themselves.
I’m choosing it too, one day at a time as they say, and in 2026, Jackie and I have drawn a hard line, not one drink in 2026.
Not because we’re afraid of missing out, but because we’re done missing ourselves.
- Zachary Small
PS: Follow on TIKTOK for daily videos, some of which are centered around sobriety.