How “Drinkflation” Affects the Price of Beer“酒飲通脹”對啤酒價格的影響

How does inflation impact the already shifting industries of alcohol and nonalcoholic beverage offerings？

通貨膨脹對已經(jīng)在轉(zhuǎn)型的酒精和非酒精飲料行業(yè)有何影響？

The cost-of-living crisis has seen the prices of many goods and services rise sharply， but food and drink prices have been particularly hard hit.

生活成本危機見證了眾多商品和服務(wù)的價格大幅上漲，食品和飲料的價格上漲得尤其厲害。

Some food producers have responded by reducing the size of their products， while keeping prices the same—a phenomenon known as “shrinkflation”.

一部分食品生產(chǎn)商采取的應(yīng)對策略是縮減產(chǎn)品規(guī)格，但價格保持不變--------------------------------------------------------------——這種現(xiàn)象就是所謂的“縮水式通貨膨脹”。

When several major brewers were reported to have reduced the strength of beers， including Fosters lager1 [cut from 4% alcohol by volume （ABV） to 3.7%] and ales2 such as Old Speckled Hen and Spitfire， it led to accusations of “drinkflation” and short-changing of customers.

據(jù)報道，幾個啤酒大品牌降低了啤酒的酒精含量，其中包括富士達的拉格啤酒（酒精含量從4%降至3.7%），以及“花斑老母雞”和“噴火戰(zhàn)機”等品牌的艾爾啤酒。這一做法引發(fā)了人們對“酒飲通脹”和欺騙消費者的指責(zé)。

Duty on beer is levied on the basis of alcohol content， so a 0.3% reduction in ABV equates to a saving of around 4p on a pint3. Brewers can pocket this if they keep the sales price the same. If this seems like small beer4， consider the fact that we drink around 7.8 billion pints each year in the UK， meaning that a 0.3% cut across all beers would see industry revenue rise by ￡290 million a year.

啤酒的稅錢是根據(jù)酒精含量計算的，因此酒精含量降低0.3%相當(dāng)于每品脫啤酒的稅錢減少約4便士。如果啤酒售價保持不變，省下來的稅錢就能裝進啤酒廠商的腰包。單看好像沒多少錢，但想想英國人每年大約喝掉78億品脫的啤酒。也就是說，如果所有啤酒的酒精含量都降低0.3%，那么整個啤酒行業(yè)的收入每年將增加2.9億英鎊。

Brewers and the British Beer and Pub Association have pointed to rising production costs and squeezed profit margins as the justification for these reductions in strength. But concerns remain that the great British pint is becoming another casualty of the cost-of-living crisis.

啤酒廠商和英國啤酒與酒館協(xié)會共同指出，生產(chǎn)成本上升和利潤空間縮小是啤酒酒精含量下降的原因。然而，人們擔(dān)心英國啤酒產(chǎn)業(yè)將是生活成本危機的下一個犧牲品。

But this is not a new phenomenon. Brewers have been cutting the strength of major beer brands for well over a decade. In many cases this is done with minimal publicity and without many consumers even noticing.

不過，這也不是新鮮事。十年來，英國啤酒廠商一直在降低主流啤酒產(chǎn)品的酒精含量。大多數(shù)情況下，這件事無人聲張，很多消費者甚至都沒有注意到酒精含量降低了。

HMRC collects alcohol taxes on behalf of the UK Treasury and requires all alcoholic products above 1.2% to advertise their alcoholic strength on the label. But beer producers are allowed a little wiggle room around this， provided the value on the label is within 0.5% of the true strength.

英國稅務(wù)海關(guān)總署代表英國財政部征收酒精稅，要求所有酒精含量超過1.2%的產(chǎn)品在標(biāo)簽上標(biāo)明酒精含量。然而，啤酒廠商在這方面有一點點操作空間，標(biāo)簽上的數(shù)值與實際酒精含量的差額在0.5%以內(nèi)就可以。

This is a concession to small producers who may find it hard to produce every batch to exactly the same ABV but don’t want to have to produce new labels with each small variation.

這是為了照顧小啤酒廠，因為他們很難生產(chǎn)出各個批次酒精含量都完全相同的產(chǎn)品，但又不想為了每批次的細(xì)微差異而制作新標(biāo)簽。

Molson Coors took advantage of this leeway in 2012 to reduce the strength of Carling from 4% to 3.7%， but continued to label and market it as 4%. This only came to light when HMRC took the company to court for paying duty at the lower rate. Ultimately Carling won the court case， but this calls the strength of the contents of your can or pint glass into question.

2012年，摩森康勝公司利用這個操作空間，將旗下卡林啤酒的酒精含量從4%降到3.7%，但仍貼著4%的標(biāo)簽在市面上銷售。直到英國稅務(wù)海關(guān)總署將該公司告上法庭，指控其按低稅率繳稅，此事才曝光。最終，卡林啤酒贏了官司，但這件事讓人們對罐裝或品脫杯裝啤酒的酒精含量產(chǎn)生了質(zhì)疑。

Changing tastes

口味變化

It is also important to point out that long-term trends in alcohol consumption have not favored beer producers and so they may be looking for ways to recover lost revenues. In 1970， UK adults drank an average of 181 pints of beer per year. By 2021 that had fallen to 120. Over the same period， average wine consumption increased from 5 to 28 bottles per year.

同樣有必要指出的是，酒類消費的長期趨勢對啤酒廠商不利，因此他們可能正在想盡辦法來挽回?fù)p失。1970年，英國成年人人均每年喝掉181品脫啤酒。到2021年，這一數(shù)字下降到120品脫。同期，葡萄酒的人均消費量從每年5瓶增加到28瓶。

These changes in drinking patterns have run alongside a gradual shift away from drinking in the pub to drinking at home. A couple of decades ago we drank two-thirds of our beer in pubs and bars， according to data from the British Beer and Pub Association—today it’s less than one-third.

飲酒品類發(fā)生上述變化的同時，人們也逐漸從在酒館喝酒轉(zhuǎn)向在家中喝酒。英國啤酒與酒館協(xié)會的數(shù)據(jù)顯示，幾十年前，三分之二的啤酒都是在酒館和酒吧里喝的，而如今這一比例不到三分之一。

COVID lockdowns and the closure of pubs for much of the pandemic have only served to accelerate these trends， as has an ever-widening gap in the price of drinks in the pub compared to the supermarket.

疫情那幾年的大部分時間里活動受限、酒館倒閉，加速了飲酒模式的轉(zhuǎn)變，酒館酒飲和超市酒飲的價格差距越來越大也起了推動作用。

There has also been a massive shift in the age profile of drinkers. Alongside big falls in alcohol consumption among young people， who historically go to the pub far more， there have been corres-ponding increases in drinking by older age groups， who tend to favor drinking at home.

喝酒人的年齡結(jié)構(gòu)也發(fā)生了巨大的變化。年輕人的飲酒量大幅下降，過去他們?nèi)ゾ起^的次數(shù)要多得多。與此同時，年長之人的飲酒量卻在相應(yīng)地增加，他們傾向于在家喝酒。

So the cost-of-living crisis has arrived at a tough time for the brewing industry. Yet， in spite of these challenging headwinds， the price of alcohol has risen much more slowly than other goods. And so， although average disposable income has fallen， alcohol is more affordable than at almost any point in the last 30 years.

因此，生活成本危機的到來讓釀酒行業(yè)的處境更加艱難。盡管存在種種具有挑戰(zhàn)性的不利因素，酒類價格的上漲速度仍比其他商品慢得多。因此，盡管平均可支配收入有所下降，但酒類的價格幾乎比過去30年里的任何時候都要實惠。

All of this means that it’s little surprise to see brewers looking for ways to increase their profits. Making small reductions in alcoholic strength is one way they can do this.

綜合來看，啤酒廠商想方設(shè)法提高利潤也就不足為奇了。小幅度降低酒精含量就是他們的辦法之一。

But are consumers being cheated？ People’s perspective on this will depend on their motivations for drinking beer. With shrinkflation， consumers are paying the same amount for a chocolate bar or a bag of crisps， but getting less. With “drinkflation” consumers are still getting the same amount of beer， it just contains slightly less alcohol.

但是，消費者是否被欺騙了呢？人們對此的看法取決于他們喝啤酒的動機。在“縮水式通貨膨脹”的情況下，消費者雖然以同樣的價格買巧克力或者薯片，但得到的分量卻比過去的少。在“酒飲通脹”的情況下，消費者得到的啤酒分量不變，只是酒精含量略有減少。

So， only people who are drinking for the specific purpose of getting drunk are being “short-changed”. For people who are drinking beer because they like the taste or who see beer as an important part of a social ritual， the lower alcohol content is more likely to be a positive， given that people consume less alcohol when drinking lower-strength beer and the health benefits of reduced alcohol intake.

因此，只有為喝醉而喝酒的人才會“吃虧”。對于喜歡啤酒的味道或者將啤酒視為社交儀式重要組成部分的人來說，酒精含量低更有可能是件好事，因為喝低度啤酒，攝入的酒精量就會減少，而酒精攝入量降低對健康有益。

In line with this， the low-alcohol and alcohol-free beer industry is growing. Most shops and many bars now offer at least one alcohol-free beer option. The UK market has also seen the launch of several lower-strength， carb and calorie versions of existing brands， such as Heineken Silver.

與此同時，低醇和無醇啤酒行業(yè)正在發(fā)展壯大。現(xiàn)在，大多數(shù)商店和許多酒吧都至少供應(yīng)一款無醇啤酒。英國市場上已有幾款由現(xiàn)有品牌推出的低酒精含量、低碳水化合物、低熱量啤酒，如喜力星銀。

This puts us in an unusual situation. Reducing the alcoholic strength of beers is in the commercial interests of brewers， but it also aligns with trends in consumer demand and is likely to be a benefit to public health by reducing overall alcohol consumption.

這讓我們處于一個不同尋常的境地。降低啤酒的酒精含量符合啤酒廠商的利益，也符合消費者需求的走向，還可能通過降低總體飲酒量來促進公眾健康。

It’s incredibly rare for these， usually competing， interests to be pulling in the same direction， so perhaps the trend is something worth celebrating for almost everybody. Cheers to that.

這幾方通常相互沖突的利益朝著同一個方向發(fā)展非常罕見，所以這股“酒飲通脹”趨勢或許對幾乎所有的人來說都值得慶祝。那就為此干杯吧。

1 lager拉格啤酒，低溫底層發(fā)酵啤酒，味淡，通常多泡沫。因名字源自德語的“貯藏”，所以也稱“貯藏啤酒”。 2 ale深色或淺色麥芽啤酒。

3 1品脫約等于568毫升。 4 small beer（相比較之下）無足輕重的人（或事物）。