Craft distilleries in the US

Americans raised more chickens and built more craft distilleries on the same schedule, which paints a picture of a country eating more wings and washing them down with regional gin. The bird, as always, is the silent partner.

Both grew through the 2010s on separate but overlapping consumer trends. Broiler chicken production has expanded as chicken displaced beef as America's most-eaten meat, driven by health perceptions and price, while craft distilleries multiplied after 2010 as state laws relaxed and small spirits brands found shelf space. Two food-and-beverage growth stories sharing a decade.

So the correlation is two American appetites scaling together. The wing and the rye. Both ended up at the same dinner.