For years, Dry January has been an opportunity for people to cut back on the amount of alcohol they drink. However, in recent years the popularity of this start of year tradition has ballooned in the U.S. alongside a broader sober curious movement led by young people that has redefined tastes. The shift has not only impacted peoples’ lives but changed the very fabric of the alcohol industry itself, says Malcolm Purinton, an assistant teaching professor of history at Northeastern University who studies the history of beer, brewing, technology and trade.
January has always been a bad month for the alcohol industry, Purinton says, especially compared to the summer and the fever pitch season between Thanksgiving and New Year’s. Dry January has exacerbated that seasonal dip in sales. “The sober part, the completely dry, does have a marked effect on sales,” Purinton says. “That decline is noticeably worse than it used to be in the United States and Western Europe.” There is typically a little bit of a jump in sales in February but “not as much as you would expect,” he adds.
