We’ve all had at least one toxic relationship with a lover or boss who complained that we never did this one thing, but then after we finally did that one thing, they wouldn’t stop yammering about the shoddy way we did it. Good friends and therapists told us to dump the person, find a new job, just get out.
Now the world has put Gen Z in a very similarly noxious headlock. The wine and spirits industry has been complaining nonstop about how they’re not drinking alcohol with enough enthusiasm. Yet, when they finally do, insiders chafe at the manner in which they do.
The latest gripe in point? Hand-wringing over 20-something-year-olds icing down their beers. According to a survey from electronics company LG, 30% of U.K. drinkers aged 35 and under prefer to sip their brew with ice. This trend has gone viral with a number of TikTok tutorials on best frosting practices and news segments exploring the practice.
As with all things on the internet, haters have come out with comments like “da hell is with these people?!,”, ”crimes against beer,” and “utter woke nonsense.”
This latest grievance comes right on the heels of the firestorm over Gen Z’s taste for Jalapeño Sauvignon Blanc (yep, they add sliced jalapeños to their glasses of Sauvy B) and their insistence to pay-as-they-go for drinks at bars, instead of starting a tab.
However, the biggest alcohol-related complaint about Generation Z (people born between 1997 and 2012 qualify, according to the Pew Research Center) is that they’re not holding up their end of the bar tab. But is that even accurate? Or is it just the latest iteration of irrational generational panic?
Is Gen Z actually killing the drinks industry?
The numbers are a bit muddy.
A recent survey from Gallup showed that adults under the age of 35 who sometimes drink dropped from 72% in 2003 to 62% in 2023. It found regular drinking is down, too, with 61% of the cohort report having a drink in the past week, down from 64% in 2011 to 2013 and 67% in 2001 to 2003. Though not as startling as some insider pros may suggest, these stats signal a generational retreat from alcohol.
But more recent numbers from IWSR Bevtrac paint a different picture.
The survey covered 15 markets, and found that Gen Z adults of legal drinking age who had alcohol in the past six months rose from 66% in March 2023 to 73% in March 2025. In the U.S., the swing was ultra-extreme: from 46% reporting some alcohol use in the past six months to 70% saying they had two years later.
The what (a wide variety of alcohol) and where (bars, restaurants, clubs) were interesting, too. In direct contrast to criticism that the youth are sitting at home alone on their smart phones, this data seems to reflect a push toward more communal, social drinking behavior, like that of their predecessors.
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