Tahoe bucks national trend of declining alcohol sales

Alcohol consumption and sales on the South Shore of Lake Tahoe are going up, exactly the opposite direction of national trends.

Wine sales were up 6 percent at Cork & More in 2025 compared to 2024. All alcohol sales increased 10 percent at Lake Tahoe Golf Course in the same time span. More adult beverages are being bought at Tahoe Blue Event Center than predicted. Booze sales at Dart Beverage Center and King’s Beverage Center are holding steady.

“We live in a unique culture. I think here alcohol is a celebratory thing,” Adam Henriques of Meyers said while having a beer on the deck at his hometown bar Divided Sky. “It’s a great community space.”

His buddy Erik Norberg, who was there with his dog Rockit, agreed, saying he enjoys the social aspect of drinking at this neighborhood bar.

Bartender Mark Kline believes mountain towns are a little different than other areas, what with a steady influx of tourists bringing in new potential partiers every weekend. Even so, Divided Sky benefits from having a strong year-round local clientele.

Krissy Love, bartender at Brooks’ Bar & Deck, echoes Kline’s perspective of those on vacation help keep the taps flowing. Locals tend to come out for happy hour for discounted food and drinks. In summer, this bar acts as the 19th hole.

Friends toast with all alcoholic drinks at Brooks’ Bar in Stateline. (Image: Kathryn Reed)

Tahoe perspectives 

 Lake Tahoe Golf Course’s clubhouse restaurant is open year-round even when snow covers the course. Indoor golf simulators and snowmobiling are the sports activities this time of year.

“We have a younger crowd. It seems they come to Tahoe to drink. Maybe when they are at home, they don’t drink as much,” Kevin Sommerfield, general manager of the facility, said.

Bachelor parties also help with increased alcohol sales figures. Groups are known to drive alcohol consumption.

“Alcohol sales at the Tahoe Blue Event Center have been higher than budgeted by a couple percentage points,” spokesman Bill O’Malley said.

Sherri Hopper, a clerk at King’s Beverage Center, said, “Nothing much has changed in the alcohol world. Bars are less popular because it’s so expensive to go into a bar.”

She said it helps being located next to a drinking hole because her experience is when they are done spending money at the bar, they go to King’s for a bottle to take home.

Cork & More, which turns 50 this summer, has long had one of the best wine selections on the South Shore. Sales are boosted with tastings and a monthly wine club. While the club is mostly locals, out-of-towners also participate.

“I think people come up here and they are with friends, and they just want to enjoy nice wines,” Karla Brennan said. She and husband Jeff have owned the shop for nearly 10 years.

She credits the wine manager’s expertise for the rise in wine sales—even in Dry January. Still, she acknowledges younger people are not buying wine, calling it a “generational thing.”

Mark Kline, bartender at Divided Sky in Meyers, pours a beer. (Image: Kathryn Reed)

What the numbers say

In the nearly 90 years Gallup has asked people in the United States about their alcohol consumption, 2025 was the year with the fewest number of affirmative responses at 54 percent.

The percentage of alcohol consumers was 58 in 2024 and 62 in 2023, according to Gallup. Young adults and women are leading the movement.

Health concerns—physical and mental—are a big reason people are just saying no. More studies are coming out about the short- and long-term dangers of alcohol.

When people say yes to alcohol, beer is the No. 1 choice (38 percent), then liquor (30 percent), followed by wine (29 percent),

Pollsters don’t believe marijuana is being substituted for alcohol because those usage numbers have been consistent the last four years.

While that might be true for the country as a whole, those in the Golden State have a name for people choosing pot over alcohol—California Sober, or Cali Sober.

Bo Young Northcut, a sommelier for Caesars and former general manager for Gordon Ramsay Hell’s Kitchen in Stateline, believes people younger than 30 are choosing marijuana over alcohol.

Even so, she doesn’t believe the bottom line of area food and beverage establishments is being affected much.

“We don’t have young people. We have close to or after retirement. Those people are not changing their lifestyles, they are not going to cannabis,” Northcut said.

She also pointed out how an older demographic usually has a more stable financial situation, so the spend on a bottle or couple cocktails isn’t as impactful as it might be to others.

None of the Stateline casinos responded to inquiries, but plenty of people are gambling with one hand and drinking with the other. 

Brooks’ Bar at Edgewood Tahoe has plenty of alcohol choices. (Image: Kathryn Reed)

Looking for alternatives

While alcohol purchases continue at a good clip locally, non-alcoholic drink consumption is growing as well. N/A beers as they are known, as well as mocktails, usually cost as much as the leaded varieties because of the work involved on the manufacturing end to remove the alcohol.

One week in December non-alcoholic beers were the No. 1 seller at Divided Sky, something that had never happened before.

Brooks’ sells some N/A beers—with older, male golfers requesting them the most.

Lake Tahoe Golf Course is planning to increase its N/A beer selection, as it only has one available now.

“The first year we were open, we didn’t carry non-alcoholic beer, but have started in the last two years. We have a variety of N/A options from Athletic and an N/A seltzer from Golden State,” the event center’s O’Malley said. “N/A sales make up less than 1 percent of food and beverage revenue. So, although it is an option for guests coming to events, it is not a popular option and alcohol sales are higher than projected.”

Beer is the only N/A option at King’s liquor store, with several choices available because this is something customers have asked for.

“We have trouble keeping them on the shelves,” Nate Riffle, owner the Hangar brewery said of N/A beers. “The liquid has improved over the years—it actually tastes like a beer now—so I’m sure that has helped. There is also the pendulum effect of the sober crowd. We see customers that go back and forth between dry spells and drinking. A few long-term sober folks grab those all the time.”

Note: A version of this story first appeared in the Tahoe Mountain News.