Is Gen Z really the generation of moderation?

Last week, The Drinks Business reported on new IWSR research that challenges one of the drinks industry's most commonly repeated assumptions: that younger consumers are turning their backs on alcohol.

According to IWSR, 74% of legal drinking age Gen Z consumers across 15 key markets now drink alcohol, almost in line with the wider adult participation rate of 76%. In the UK specifically, Gen Z participation has risen from 66% to 76% over the past three years.

That does not mean moderation is going away, in fact the research also points to people drinking less often, and drinking less per occasion, across generations.

Gen Z may not be rejecting alcohol, but they are approaching it differently. They are more likely to drink cocktails, more likely to pay attention to health guidance, and more likely to drink in larger social groups.

That sounds more like a generation rewriting the rules around when, where and why they drink, rather than opting out of drinking altogether.

The opportunity is not to keep talking about Gen Z as one big sober-curious audience. It is to understand the occasions, formats and cultural cues that actually matter to them.

Moderation does not necessarily mean absence increasingly, it means more considered choices, more selective occasions and a different relationship with the category.