September 2025: Monthly Market Updates from Sightlines

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Non-White Americans Increase as a Portion of Regular Drinkers

As debate continues around the meaning of a recent Gallup poll about alcohol consumption, updated government data offers additional context and nuance about who is and isn’t drinking.

The 2024 results of an annual survey by the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) were released in late July, and offer further insight into which Americans are changing their relationships to alcohol. The high-level findings back up what the Gallup poll found: Broadly, a lower percentage of Americans report past-month alcohol use in 2024 compared to the year prior. Yet the demographic shifts within this paint a more nuanced picture. 

Drawing on both the Gallup poll and SAMHSA data, we see that declines in alcohol use are steepest among young, White, Republican-leaning men. Meanwhile, Hispanic and Asian drinkers show upticks in past-month drinking compared to 2021. 

Those increases are especially notable given that 2021 was still well within the era of COVID-induced at-home indulgence. That some groups of Americans report increased rates of past-month alcohol use compared to that time is remarkable.

What does this mean for cidermakers? Non-white women are the future of alcohol consumption in the U.S., and that future is coming quickly. Women and Hispanic drinkers in particular are increasing as a share of regular drinkers at the same time that white men are driving declines. It’s not just about marketing to these more diverse drinkers, it’s about centering their voices and preferences.