Compared with our forebears, Americans barely drink now: a mere 2.5 gallons per capita in 2022. The more striking change, though, is that in a Gallup poll released in August, only 54 percent of respondents said they drank at all—the lowest portion since the analytics company started asking the question in 1939. Although doctors surely approve, this downturn is bad news for those of us who use alcohol for its intended purpose—improving the company of others—to say nothing of its off-label uses in dancing, youth-sports spectating, karaoke, etc.