Why the hot new alcohol trend is cutting back — or even quitting

For Liz Mantel, the wake-up call came when she lost her job last September.

She had worked for years as a client manager in advertising, an industry where, she said, “boozing is a prerequisite for the job.”“Agencies have bars in the office, and you’re always entertaining clients,” said the 30-year-old from Williamsburg, Brooklyn. “[Before the pandemic,] every day included alcohol of some kind — for the job, for dating, for friends.” Then she lost her job because of the pandemic. Her romantic relationship came to an end. And suddenly she wasn’t spending boozy nights out with friends and colleagues anymore. Mantel decided it was time to “get off the hamster wheel, be more mindful and reassess what I’m doing to my body.”