Millennials truly peaked with drinking culture. We inherited the golden era: cheap pitchers, Thirsty Thursdays that turned Wednesdays into warm-ups, ladies’ nights with $5 cosmos and free cover, and dive bars where last call meant “one more round?” No one was filming every sip for TikTok judgment. We had flip phones, zero calorie-tracking apps, and hangovers cured by greasy brunch.
Then came the great sobering: wellness influencers, Uber’s rise killing DUIs but also spontaneity, endless lawsuits killing happy hours, and HR departments turning every office into a minefield. Post-2010, “mindful drinking” replaced fun. Bars swapped sticky floors for Instagram walls and mocktails at $14.
We never realized how good we had it—unapologetic, analog excess. Can’t go back because society traded joy for safety theater and performative virtue. Gen Z sips oat milk lattes at 11pm. We’ll always have the stories. Raise a (reasonably priced) glass to what was.