Spotted this interesting article:
The Buzz in Stockholm Is Craft Beer With Less Buzz https://nyti.ms/2GbsKQG
A bar opened in Portland recently called Sessionable, with the idea of low alcohol beers to promote pub culture of sitting with your friends at the bar and have a pint or three and still being able to walk home without puking. People already seem to be shying away from 8%, 100IBU double IPAs.
That said, I dont think calorie count will deter people from high ABV beers. Let's be honest... does it deter people from McDonalds? There will always be a market for double IPAs, barleywines and imperial stouts. I recently had Mocha Wednesday from The Bruery and it clocks in at 19%. That to me is a little excessive, but it was a delicious beer.
Just wait till you see the plummet in high gravity sales when breweries are forced to release calorie info on the label.
I think that unless they're pretty dumb most people buying high gravity beers have to realize the calories are higher.
This is a generalization I realize, but I think that *most* people don't care/pay attention to the calories in anything. Food/Beer/Wine whatever. A lot of people only pay attention when they are trying to lose weight or change eating habits. You would think 1000 calories would stop people from their daily triple mocha frappa whatever, but it doesn't.