ORLANDO, Fla. -- A surprising new trend is emerging among beer drinkers due to the economic slump.

Many beer drinkers are brand loyalists, but now it looks like price is weighing heavily on beer purchase decisions.

John Williams, president of Wayne Densch Incorporated, said his company has noticed the trend first-hand.

"I have friends of mine who say it must be great to be in the beer business -- recession proof. They drink when they're happy, they drink when they're sad, and that's unfortunately not necessarily the case," Williams said.

Williams and his family have owned the Budweiser distributorship in Sanford for decades, but over the past three years they've noticed beer sales slipping and people seem more willing to put aside preference to protect their wallet.

"A brand loyalist who will only drink one type, a lot of them are in fact buying less. Others who wish to maintain their consumption habits, a lot of them are actually trading down," Williams said.

Beer drinkers echoed Williams' statements.

"It's a luxury, so we don't use it as much as we used to, but we still buy it," a beer drinker said.

"I don't buy as much as I used to with what's going on with the economy and stuff," another consumer said.

Williams said some of the drop-off in sales can be linked to the local building boom that went bust.

"We are traditionally a blue collar kind of product," Williams said. "Less construction meant less construction workers and that meant less consumer for our product."

Williams noted that the Orlando Magic's playoff run has helped boost sales.

It seems that people are willing to spend between $9.99 and $11.99 for a six-pack of beer, Williams said.

Williams said women tend to be more likely to shop based on price than brand.