Is Wellness The New Happy Hour? As Socializing Changes, $22 Billion In Liquor Sits Unsold

What happens when socializing no longer revolves around drinking?

For decades, corporate America has followed a familiar script: leave the office at 5 p.m., and a department head would grab colleagues and head toward a venue for discounted drinks to let the workday dissolve into cocktails. Today, that ritual is quietly – but decisively changing.

Today happy hours are no longer the cultural force they once were. And the data behind it tells a bigger story: wellness-first. The wellness industry overall is experiencing significant, sustained growth, topping $6.7 Trillion in 2025, and projected to approach $10 trillion in the next few years. As this demand for health and wellness lifestyles reshapes socializing, the global alcohol industry is sitting on an estimated $22 billion worth of unsold spirits, the largest inventory backlog on record over the past decade.

Alissa Wilmina, a wellness facilitator from Washington DC, who also teaches yoga and Pilates, dedicated herself to a career in health and fitness after becoming a certified wine sommelier at 26. When asked about why she switched careers, Alissa was clear, “I wanted to control my future. I wanted to take care of my health BEFORE I get sick. This doesn’t mean taking all the joy out of eating or living, but wellness has now become a conscious awareness and effort to make healthier choices for my future well-being.”

The Quiet Decline Of The Traditional Happy Hour

The post-work bar rush has been disrupted by three powerful shifts.

For one, remote and hybrid work has weakened the natural transition from office to bar. With fewer employees physically together, spontaneous group gatherings are rarer and harder to organize. The social gravity that once pulled colleagues toward a social drink has dissipated.

Secondly, people are heading home earlier, prioritizing sleep, workouts, and family time, while others are replacing late-night drinks with coffee socials or wellness-themed meetups.

Lastly, socializing itself is being redefined. For younger generations in particular, activity-based communities—run clubs, fitness classes, pickleball leagues—are replacing alcohol-centered bonding. With the emphasis shifting from “let’s drink” to “let’s do something together.”

Layer that on top of an overall reduction in corporate inclusion, and the old happy hour model begins to look increasingly outdated.

A Spirits Industry With Too Much Supply

While consumer habits have shifted, alcohol producers expanded aggressively during the pandemic, when at-home drinking surged. According to the Financial Times, five of the world’s largest spirit companies – Diageo, Pernod Ricard, Campari, Brown-Forman, and Rémy Cointreau – are now collectively sitting on $22 billion of inventory of aged spirits across whiskey, cognac, tequila, and rum.

The Stoli Group recently announced plans to sell off two of its U.S. brands’ inventory. Diageo has chosen to pause production at both its U.S. and Scottish distilleries. Jim Beam has announced it will not produce whiskey at one of its major distilleries for the entire year of 2026. Brown-Forman has cut its workforce, sold a cooperage, and closed a Scotch distillery. While Cognac producers have had exports slow as trade tensions between France and China force price reductions to move inventory. Even tequila, once the fastest-growing spirits category in the U.S., is not selling at the same pace as a few years ago.

When Wellness Replaces Alcohol

Underlying these shifts is a deeper cultural change: people are simply drinking less.

“You only live once. But how will we live that one life? Changing to a consciously aware, healthier lifestyle has serious benefits. And you can also do more as you age if you’re in better health,” said Alissa. “Actually being healthy, not fake healthy, is now the new handbag. It’s an important pivot and moment for our society – especially for the younger generations.”

Gallup reports that only 54% of Americans now choose to drink alcohol, a level not seen in the past 90 years. And health awareness has played a central role. Wellness markets across the globe have seen strong growth, with North America, Europe, and the Middle East and North Africa recording the largest gains.

At the same time, alcohol is increasingly being understood as a depressant that disrupts sleep, heightens anxiety, increases inflammation, and raises long-term risks for liver disease and cancer. And the rise of “sober curiosity” has reframed abstention not as deprivation, but as performance optimization. For many professionals, alcohol is now viewed as an obstacle to clarity, fitness, and productivity.

As we approach the end of January, movements like Dry January have accelerated this reset. The month-long abstinence challenge encourages people to reassess their relationship with alcohol after the holidays – swapping cocktails for herbal teas or functional beverages, while socializing without alcohol.

For consumers, the short-term effect may be discounted spirits. Yet for the industry, the long-term question is more existential: In a wellness-first era, the future of social connection may look less like a bar tab and more like a sharedexperience. And the $22 billion sitting in aging warehouses suggests the industry hasn’t fully caught up yet.

“This shift is happening no matter what. Social clubs are now becoming wellness clubs. Instead of drinking together, let’s run a 5k together. Alcohol will always be around, as a sommelier, I still love my wine and always will. Although now it’s fewer glasses of wine and more about allotting hours of rest. There’s a real mindset shift.” Alissa stated.