RICHMOND, Va. (WTVR) – You may think more people would turn to alcohol to cope during tough times.
And that might be true.
But according to the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC), more people buying more expensive liquor can indicate improving economic times.
For the 15th year in a row, the Virginia ABC set a sales record – grossing $769 million (up $35 million) in the 2013 fiscal year. Profits rose $2 to $134 million during that time.
“The growth in sales is attributed in part to expanded Sunday sales and the opening of six new stores across the state,” ABC Chairman J. Neal Insley said in a statement. “We are also noticing a trend of customers ‘buying up,’ or purchasing more top-shelf brands, a hopeful indication of a recovering economy,” he said.
So what are the most popular liquors and brand in the state? Here’s that info, according to the ABC:
ABC’s top-selling brands
- Jack Daniel’s 7 Black (Tennessee whiskey)
- Smirnoff 80 (domestic vodka)
- Jim Beam (straight bourbon whiskey)
- Grey Goose (imported vodka)
- Crown Royal (Canadian whisky)
ABC’s top-selling alcohol
- Vodka
- Whiskey
- Cordials
“Corn whiskey (legal moonshine) saw the sharpest increase in sales, jumping 123 percent from $1.7 million to $3.8 million,” according to the ABC.
