It’s hard to forget the early days of the pandemic, as well as all those hours spent scouring the internet for cocktail recipes to recreate at home while we were unable to hit up our local watering holes. But even though in-person drinking and dining has resumed, bars and restaurants have yet to return to their 2019 sales levels. According to new data from the International Wine and Spirits Record (IWSR), analysis shows that beverage alcohol consumers are still displaying a clear preference for at-home consumption, indicating that this pandemic-era behavior has become entrenched in modern drinking culture.
The data indicates that while many on-premise establishments around the world rebounded in 2022 following record lows in 2021, most markets have yet to witness their sales return to pre-pandemic levels. Of the 15 countries leading the beverage alcohol market — Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, South Africa, Spain, Taiwan, the U.K., and the U.S. — only Mexico has been able to meet (and even surpass) pre-pandemic volume on-premise.
