It’s really true. People like to “drown their sorrows.” The beer business always creates advertisements that feature people having fun. The impression is that everything is great. Not always true! The beer business does good in a bad economy.
Sometimes people don’t know how to cope with their bad financial situation, so they head for a bar or a six pack at the store.

Based on this premise, it might seem that the beer business is exploiting bad luck. That’s not the intention, but you can bet the people running those alcohol businesses know a bad economy will not hurt sales.

It’s always amazing that a bar will be full of unemployed people. These little neighborhood businesses seem to have some kind of comp revenue that is completely reliant on folks down on their luck. Once again, this is mostly perception. But one can’t help but wonder where that beer money comes from in a bad economy full of unemployment.

For the most part, the beer business wants to be viewed as a positive entity. It wants to be seen as fun. An industry that caters to athletes, weekend warriors and family picnics. Maybe it’s the happy perception the business creates that draws unhappy people to the product. In that case, there have to be budget beers.

Even the biggest companies provide budget beers. This kind of business diversification insures that all economic classes can enjoy beer. People who are victims of the bad economy probably don’t drink premium beers.

The downside of a business that sells alcohol is that those who are drinking to forget are drinking too much, and that puts everyone at risk. The bartender who served the last beer can be in trouble for doing it, the drinker who drives could have his life destroyed, and the reputation of the beer company might suffer if something really bad happens.

The best business model would be to stick to the happy times.