We’re now in midst of a new era for food, wine, and beverages, and have the Millennials to thank for it. The Millennials are drinking much more alcohols than the previous generations and they are highly engaged with the alcoholic beverages.

Millennials are increasingly spending more of their money and time on the event-based experiences. As a matter of fact, almost over 3 in 4 Millennials or 78% of them would choose to spend their money on the desirable even or experience than buying a desirable items, and 55% of them would say they will spend more on the events much more than before – a trend that only shows no sign of them slowing down. So, how to harness the buying power of this generation?

Within the beverage and food industry, this would translate to more beer and wine events. The Millennials, more than any other generations, are actively seeking a new and unique way in order to come together to try, taste, embrace, and learned the latest developments in crafting beers, spirits, wines, and foods.

Recognizing the continued growth and high demand for alcohol events, one online ticking event service company has conducted a worldwide survey with over 5000 attendees of at least 1 festival with focus on wine or beer to better understand who are the modern festival goers of today and how Millennial audiences, in particular, might be different from the older generations. The results of the survey revealed interesting and new insights about the Millennials, who are defined as the young adults between 18 and 33 years of age, which should be of great interest to anyone in location-based entertainment or the restaurant industries, because these festivals are increasing in number as the newest form of the out-of-house leisure competition. Here are the following edited excerpts from the research report:

1. Food and Drink is the Keystone to the Millennial Social Life

Nothing brings the Millennials together much better than the opportunity to bond over a glass of wine of beer, as evidenced by 80% of Millennials surveyed who claimed they attended 3 or more beer or wine events in the past a year, and the 44% (almost half) attended 5 or more. These kinds of events vary from the seasonal parties and tasting to the special pop-ups and events, to a range of different beer and wine festivals of all sizes and shapes.

The high attendance of Millennials at these kinds of events only indicates their yearning for the live experiences. Instead of just sitting down on a single course meal at restaurants with very expensive drink, they’re acting as craft beer connoisseurs, looking for the best tasting experiences with many different items served. The events provide the millennial audiences the best opportunity to look behind the scenes of the products they are drinking or eating: 8 out of 10 Millennials said that they’re interested in knowing how their foods are produced than the brands that are typically disclosed.

The beverages events provide the Millennial a perfect chance to mix their love of live experiences with their passion for quality, unique drink, and food.

2. Millennials Love Festivals and This is the Best Way to Harness their Buying Power

97% of the Millennial who attended beer or wine festivals still plan to attend similar events for the next coming years. 40% of them want to attend much more than they did in past.

The young festivalgoers are not just attending the event because they have nothing else to do, but they are genuinely enthusiastic about these. A majority of the respondents or about 89% of them said that attending these beer or wine festivals is something that they’re looking forward to, get really excited about, and 67% of them said that these kinds of events is among their favorite things to do.

The Millennials prioritize the food and beverage festivals because they’re given a chance to make and connect with friends. 59% of respondents said that beer and wine festivals provide them a great way to experience life that they are really looking for, and that kind of experience always involves their peers. In addition to that, almost half or 45% of the Millennials said that being in a festival is about being part of the social scene, and 61% of them feel that they have missed out if they will see the photos of their friends at the festival nearby that they did not attend.

The bonding experience does not end with a festival, either: 64% said their happy talking about the event with their friends and family afterward.

3. Social Media Is How The Millennials Make Their Plans

We are now living in an age where people heavily depend on social media in order to stay informed about the newest updates, from the gossips to big events that everyone is going to attend next week.  Of course, the study has reinforced this trend, and the Millennial in the aggregated reported the social media as the best way to find out information about the festivals of all kinds. A lot of people also say that they heavily depend on the work of mouth buzz, which is the 2nd most popular in aggregate, take place both online, social media, and by interacting with others.

The study also found out that the alcohol festivals, in particular, are seen as worthy to be posted, with 85% of the respondents post pictures online about their most favorite moments, and 84% are likely to post the drinks and foods itself.

After attending a beverage festival, 99% of the Millennials said they will recommend the brewery, winery, food or restaurant afterward.

More Beer and Food Festivals are the Answers

Beer festivals are in greatly high demand among the Millennials, especially as the trend in craft beer and wine continues to increase in number. Nearly half of the Millennials or 47% rank the beer festivals as the first among their most preferred event choices – that was four percent more than the Gen Xers and sixteen percent more than the baby boomers. In general, Millennials appreciate the more locally sourced ingredients and products and are less trusting of the huge corporations more than any other generations.