I was reading a press release about the alcoholic beverages market. It says the sector is expected to grow at a 5.1 percent compound annual growth rate through the forecast period. No dates given, no breakdown by region or category — just that number, floating there like a cork in lukewarm tea.
They don’t say who’s buying, or why. Or whether that growth includes the guy who drinks three beers every night because his dog died, or the woman who orders a martini just to hear the ice click, or the monk in Laos who once told me, 'Garry, even water becomes holy if you hold it long enough.'
The report doesn’t mention corks, or necklaces, or people who stop counting after the third glass. It just says 5.1 percent. Like that means something real.
