It's so bad that beer sales are down.

Beer Sales Drop in Current Recession

As you can see, there has generally not been much of a relationship between alcohol purchases and changes in GDP -- the correlation is essentially zero. Nor have alcohol purchases historically been any kind of lagging or leading indicator.

But something was very, very different in the fourth quarter of 2008. Sales of alcohol for off-premises consumption were down by 9.3 percent from the previous quarter, according to the Commerce Department. This is absolutely unprecedented: the largest previous drop had been just 3.7 percent, between the third and fourth quarters of 1991.

Beer accounts for almost all of the decrease, with revenues off by almost 14 percent. Wine and spirits were much more stable, with sales volumes declining by 1.6 percent and 0.9 percent respectively.

It's a very bad recession when people even stop drinking beer.  And it's no surprise to me why beer sales are down and wine and spirits are off by a lot less.

Beer is, after all, the typical middle class drink.  Wine and spirits tend to be purchased by more affluent people.

If you're Warren Buffett, you're still drinking your single malt scotch.

If you're a UAW line worker, you're probably cutting back on the beer because you're not sure if you're going to have a job in a month.