Angelo Warren has never poured as much hard liquor in his 10 years of bartending as he has over the past few months. Even this January, when there would typically be a pullback, has been pretty busy. His bar does a lot of corporate events where attendees drink for free, and people who would typically take it easy around their bosses are cutting loose. “I’ve had to cut off hosts of parties because they’re drinking too much,” Warren, who lives in Chicago, says.
Outside of events, sales are barely down, and customers are leaning toward the heavy stuff. Last year was mocktail central; this year, he can’t remember the last time he made one. The night after we spoke, he snapped a picture of one of his order tickets to drive home the point — two shots of Grey Goose vodka, five shots of Jaegermeister.
Dry January is hitting a little different this year and, frankly, a little damper. Bartenders like Warren say fewer patrons seem to be partaking, and that drinkers seem to be giving themselves some grace on a month of complete sobriety. It’s not that we’re all becoming lushes — it’s that the culture around drinking continues to shift in nonlinear ways. More people are moderating and drinking less overall, which may alleviate the desire to take a full month off. The rhetoric around drinking has cooled off, too, moving from “ALCOHOL WILL KILL YOU,” to “OK, it’s not great for you, but also, if a little helps you socialize, by all means.” Many Americans hit the bottle too hard during the pandemic, and it makes sense they felt the need to recalibrate. But that time is past, and like so many trends, Dry January has become a bit passé.
“Last year, we saw peak adoption, and often when that happens, it becomes uncool again,” says Adam Teeter, the cofounder and CEO of VinePair, a digital media company focused on drinking culture.
Warren himself usually participates in Dry January. This year, he’s doing a lighter version of it — he allows himself booze on weekends after work only, and he subs in nonalcoholic beers while still enjoying some shots with friends. He tells me he’s too stressed to skip out on alcohol completely. It’s a sentiment many people can relate to. If you’re looking for an excuse to have a drink, the possibility of the United States invading Greenland can be one.
“Dry January has been very wet,” he says.
Dry January is packing less of a punch than it has in recent history. A late 2025 survey from IWSR, which covers the alcoholic-beverage industry, found interest in a monthlong abstention from alcohol is stalling among Gen Zers across the globe. Google search interest in the term in the US is down. Consumer insights firm CivicScience says there was a slight uptick in American drinkers who said they wanted to participate in Dry January this year, but the number of people who dropped off over the course of the month nearly doubled. Respondents also reported lower commitment to making a long-term behavioral change.
Perhaps counterintuitively, moderation may be a cause for the sobriety slippage. Americans are drinking at record low rates, and even if they’re not giving up the bottle altogether, many people are limiting alcohol intake. They’re “zebra striping,” by alternating alcoholic and nonalcoholic drinks, or “bookending,” where they start and end the night with NA options. Others are leaving drinking as a thing they only do a little of on weekends.
“Dry January is becoming less significant as a different thing because in general we’re seeing so many more people not drinking or drinking less,” says Harry Kaufman, who runs that bar program at Odo, a Japanese restaurant in New York.
Data from payments company Square shows that nonalcoholic beverage sales are up by 19% during the first two weeks of January compared to a year ago. At the same time, same-store sales at breweries were up 7%, bars 10%, and clubs and lounges 34%. Essentially, as NA options become a greater part of drinking culture overall, people may not feel the need to approach alcohol in such an all-or-nothing manner. If you only drink a couple of times a month or alternate between alcoholic and nonalcoholic beers, you may not be too worried about imbibing a bit at a friend’s January birthday party. People are drinking less overall, but they’re also drinking less apologetically.
The more conscious consumption efforts are “limiting the amount of people who feel the need to take an entire month off,” says Tom Brander, the beverage director at Wilder, a restaurant in Philadelphia. Despite being featured in a few news articles and television segments about Wilder’s nonalcoholic selection over the last few weeks, gross sales of those options have actually decreased this year compared to 2025. However, total alcohol sales are trending higher. “We are seeing less people opting out of drinking,” he says.
The public conversation around alcohol has also softened. A year ago, the surgeon general put out a warning that alcohol causes cancer, which ignited an online frenzy (and probably a few calls from worried parents). Media coverage around Dry January, Sober October, and Gen Z skipping drinking was at its loudest. This year, Dr. Oz is telling us some level of drinking is fine, as long as we’re not doing it for breakfast. Physically, alcohol may not be good for you, but we’ve got a loneliness crisis on our hands that an occasional glass of wine at happy hour may work for some people in the socializing mood. (Of course, not everyone.)
“Perhaps last year, 2025, was peak noise or rhetoric on alcohol and health,” says Nadine Sarwat, an analyst who covers beverages and cannabis at Bernstein. “It’s difficult to say, are we now stabilizing or reversing?”
January is always slow in bars and restaurants, regardless of a sobriety challenge. The weather is cold, the holiday whirlwind is winding down, and people’s bank accounts are in need of reprieve. If you overspent on Christmas gifts, you may be inclined to say no to beers with the boys on NFL Sunday at your local watering hole and even skip the six-pack at home to try to get yourself back into the green. This year, there are other considerations influencing drinking decisions as well — GLP-1s are helping some people reduce drinking, while economic uncertainty and continued inflation means budgets are even tighter.
America’s relationship with alcohol is evolving, and it’s hard to know where we will land. Gen Z is drinking less for now, but as we get farther away from the pandemic and more of them have a typical college experience and move away from their parents, that may change. And even if they aren’t drinking alcohol, many of them are consuming plenty of other substances, such as cannabis. Much of the time, what determines someone’s drinking habits is their finances. One of the reasons baby boomers drink so much is that they can afford it.
Jonathan Hunt-Glassman, the CEO of Oar Health, which provides medication-assisted treatment for alcohol use disorder, tells me experiments like Dry January can be a “learning opportunity” for people to examine their drinking habits. Is it harder for me to take a break than for others? What are the situations I really struggle with? And while complete sobriety may be the answer for plenty of people, it’s not for everyone. About two-thirds of Oar’s members join with the goal of drinking less, not stopping completely. “We’ve always believed that moderation is a legitimate goal,” he says.
Like it or not, alcohol is embedded in many parts of life — work, dating, celebration. For some people, sobriety is essential, but Dry January has become more of a mass cultural product than an actual clinical tool. It’s OK to move away from moral binaries and symbolic purity toward an approach that’s more manageable. The moment is messy; maybe that means fewer drinks, heavier pours, and less guilt.
Emily Stewart is a senior correspondent at Business Insider, writing about business and the economy.
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