"The only thing you have to fear is, fear itself." – President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, during his first inaugural address.

That seems to be the general theme of a survey by Wine Opinions which there was "scant evidence of intention among U.S. wine drinkers to decrease their wine consumption during January, let alone refrain entirely from alcohol consumption."

Of the 1,697 respondents to the survey, 83% were "high frequency" wine drinkers and 17% were occasional wine drinkers. Seventy-six percent said they didn't plan to change their wine-drinking pattern at all. Just 5% said they wouldn't drink bev/al at all during January.

As for the others, 8% said they would cut back on beer or spirits, but would drink wine, 6% said they probably would drink more wine than last year and , and 8% said they would probably drink less.

Yes, the bev/al industry is facing that ancient Chinese curse –"interesting times." GLP-1 drugs are expected to reduce alcohol consumption. Yes, the anti-alcohol crowd is screeching again. But perhaps, most importantly, in its projections of the future, the industry forgot that no tree grows to the sky. Now, some of that capacity is being cut back, which means the "new normal" may be the old normal.

But it's also true that the pie may have shifted. We have a suspicion that while we will continue to hear of craft breweries, wineries and distilleries closing, we will also hear of them opening. Which means anyone looking for a return to the days when bev/al simply meant Big Alcohol is likely to be disappointed.