2008.02.08
Bartender (hic) I'd like another...
Another view of that liquor sales data. Alert reader Jay wondered what this liquor sales for Virginia look like when you rank our favorite distilled spirits by gallons sold, rather than dollars spent.
Unfortunately, I haven't found the 2007 data by gallons yet, but I do have 2006. What you'll quickly see is that the picture's different when you look at it by volume. We might spend more on good whiskey, but what we drink the most of is good ol' knock you on yer butt and wake you up with cotton mouth cheap-o vodka.
See for yourself. The numbers represent thousands of gallons sold. Yep, that's 450,000 gallons of Aristocrat vodka, comrades.
So, if you were an enterprising feature writer for a big city rag like The Roanoke Times, what's the "Hey, Martha!" tidbit you'd pull out of this data?
This isn't that surprising. All VA Bars and restaurants have to buy their liquor from the ABC just like anyone else. All those Vodka Tonics, and fake Martinis have to have vodka, and aristocrat is the cheapest. Sure most bars also buy premium vodkas, but I'd wager most (but not all) bar-goers do not specify their Vodka brand! I would love to see this data split between commercial interests and your every day customer.
Comment by scott rc — February 9, 2008 @ 2:16 am
Thanks, Matt. This is interesting.
Comment by Jay — February 9, 2008 @ 1:47 pm