Feel like your drinking habits changed during the pandemic? You would be right.
There are hundreds of thousands more Australians drinking than there were before the COVID-19 lockdowns, even though alcohol consumption has fallen from the heights of the pandemic.
Michael Madrusan, who owns The Everleigh in Fitzroy, says there has been a cocktail renaissance during the pandemic. Credit: Joe Armao
Data from Roy Morgan’s Alcohol Consumption Report shows that in the 12 months to March, more than 13.7 million (or two-thirds) of Australians aged over 18 consumed alcohol during a four-week period, compared to 13.07 million in the same period before the pandemic hit.
Associate Professor Michael Livingston, an alcohol policy researcher at Curtin University’s National Drug Research Institute, said people’s drinking habits had changed, but it was unclear why.
“What we would theorise from the data we do have so far, especially in states like Victoria and NSW where we had such long periods of isolation, is that our drinking habits have shifted,” Livingston said.
“Routines changed for many people in those two years, such that drinking frequency increased. We’ve got lots of data from surveys that suggest people drink more often – not necessarily more heavily – but certainly more regularly, and potentially, those are habits that have just kind of stuck.”
Like many Australians, Claire Thwaites and her husband noticed their drinking escalated during Melbourne’s 2020 lockdowns, as they made more frequent trips to the bottle shop at the end of the street.
“It felt like the beginning of the end of the world so all the rules went out the window,” Thwaites said.
“But as time dragged on we realised we needed to be more sensible. A few months in, we set some firm boundaries around only drinking on weekends.”
It is a habit the couple have tried to maintain post-lockdown, and Thwaites notes that the pandemic had fundamentally shifted her drinking habits.
Roy Morgan’s national survey found while wine remained the most popular alcohol of choice overall, beer consumption has dramatically plummeted.
Almost 900,000 Australians have ditched beers in a further reflection of a long-term cultural downward trend, as they switched to other drinks such as wine and spirits.
Those in the hospitality sector also say they are observing increasing numbers of punters abandoning the pints and ordering cocktails.
Bar owner Michael Madrusan saw a change in drinking habits during the lockdowns of 2020 and 2021. Among other changes, people were consuming fewer beers.
“They don’t need to drink 10 pints any more,” said Madrusan, whose hospitality group owns The Everleigh in Fitzroy. “They’re happy with two martinis instead.”
Stuck inside for months on end, people began mixing their own cocktails at home for the first time, discovering new drinks and exotic flavours.
Madrusan said the diversity of drink orders was what he found most interesting in a post-lockdown world.
“It has certainly made my job more interesting because it challenges our teams,” said Madrusan, who is also the founder of popular bars Heartbreaker and Bar Margaux.
“There was this insane cocktail renaissance. The drinker became more discerning than ever.”
Australians are consuming less beer but more ready-to-drink spirits. Credit: Paul Jeffers
Experts also warn the lingering effects of the pandemic have altered drinking behaviours in Australia, and sparked a worrying and ongoing increased consumption of alcohol among some people.
Ready-to-drink cans such as “hard seltzers” – a combination of alcohol with flavoured carbonated water – hit the Australian market in significant numbers just before the pandemic struck in 2020. COVID supercharged sales as consumers sought out beverages they could drink at home.
The research found the ready-to-drink (RTDs) option was the standout alcoholic beverage of choice during the pandemic. About 2.1 million Australians consumed an RTD over a four-week block before the pandemic, whereas more than 4.2 million people drank them in the past year.
Professor Steven Allsop, one of Australia’s leading alcohol experts, believes convenience and affordability is behind the appeal of RTDs.
“It is a convenient way to drink because they don’t have to take a gin and a tonic along with them, they are already pre-mixed,” Allsop said. “Often there are also price promotions, where you can buy six and get two free, that attract people.”
Many ready-to-drink cans are also advertised as low-calorie options and target young people and women, which concerned Livingston due to the lack of regulation.
He also had concerns that increased drinking could continue in the long term post-COVID.
Last month, a surge in Australians seeking help for alcohol use during the pandemic prompted calls for a two-hour safety pause between when people can order liquor and have it delivered to their home, amid a concerning rate of alcohol use among younger Australians and healthcare workers.
However, alcohol experts take heart at the growing ranks of “sober curious” people, and that people aged 18 to 25 are leading the global charge of the non-alcoholic movement.
“A lot of the heavy drinking occasions dropped off during the pandemic when pubs and bars weren’t open,” Livingston said. “The worry is we now end up with people drinking more than we had before it all started.”
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