There is discourse both illuminating and not about the push / pull of beer and wine and spirits and whom is in the lead. Who has the market share?
To me, the three work in concert. A distiller has to use a barrel once? Well a brewer will take that barrel. Wine spritzers beget hard seltzers beget RTD’s. Craft brewers spawned craft distillers. Heck, for a hot second, there was a whole wine / beer hybrid thing.
I wonder why the three alc players don’t push together? We could possibly see uniform state laws if that happened. Uniform tax rates too. But they often work against each other instead of being co-conspirators.
And consumers seem stuck in lanes too. Wine drinkers say beer is too complicated. Beer and spirits drinkers say the same but I say enjoy the banquet. I do not go for seltzers or wines but gin and bourbon are great. I sneer at beer slushies damn a mint julep tastes grand.
There seems to be sharp elbows out when welcoming high-fives should be the action. I want all the beverages on the menu.
Peel the Label is an infrequent series with no photos or links. Just opinion.