Area counties, state show increased alcohol sales last fiscal year

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

Area county alcohol sales all increased in 2020 from the previous fiscal year, according to the Iowa Alcoholic Beverages Division.

The increase ranged from 8% in Butler County to 21% in Chickasaw County. Floyd County showed a 12% increase in sales of distilled spirits, commonly referred to as hard liquor, as opposed to beer or wine.

Neighboring Cerro Gordo County actually showed the smallest increase in total liquor sales, at 7%, although Cerro Gordo is unique in that a larger proportion of its retail sales come from people visiting from outside the county than is the case in other area counties.

Not including Cerro Gordo, the highest per capita sales of alcohol was more than two gallons per person in Howard County. That’s for every person of every age. The lowest was 0.6 gallons per person in Butler County. Floyd County’s per capita sales were 1.6 gallons per person.

2020 per capita liquor sales for area counties were:

• Bremer – 1.8 gallons.
• Butler – 0.6 gallons.
• Cerro Gordo – 3.1 gallons.
• Chickasaw – 1.0 gallons.
• Floyd – 1.6 gallons.
• Franklin – 1.1 gallons.
• Howard – 2.1 gallons.
• Mitchell – 1.0 gallons.
• Worth – 1.0 gallons.

Those figures are simply the gallons sold in the county in 2020, divided by the 2018 total population of the county, and do not take into account liquor bought in the county by people from other areas, nor do they take into account liquor that county residents may have purchased in other counties.

The Iowa Alcoholic Beverages Division (ABD) released its annual report on Friday. It covers the state fiscal year from July 1, 2019, to June 30, 2020, and includes the first four months of the COVID-19 pandemic when the state restricted the hours and circumstances under which bars and restaurants could operate.

Despite those restrictions — and perhaps because 2020 was becoming a year that many people would like to forget — total sales in the state still increased more than 8% from the previous fiscal year.

Total liquor sales in the state were $367.3 million, an increase of 8.2 percent over fiscal year 2019-20.

The increase in sales wasn’t just because of higher prices, either. Total bottles sold increased from 25.9 million in the previous fiscal year to 28.3 million in the year ended June 30.

Iowa is one of only 10 states that controls the wholesale sale of liquor, including setting wholesale prices. Another seven states own the liquor stores directly, as used to be the case in Iowa until 1987.

Annual profits generated from the wholesale liquor operation go into the general fund for state expenditures, including education. A portion is also used to fund substance abuse treatment efforts and distributed to cities and counties for local use.

According to the annual report, more than $133 million dollars was transferred to the state’s general fund in the last fiscal year.

“This report demonstrates that ABD continues to provide a significant return on investment to the citizens of Iowa,” said division Administrator Stephen Larson. “Despite the challenging times during the pandemic, the citizen-owned distribution model generated over $133 million dollars that will be used by the Legislature for programs that benefit all Iowans, regardless of whether they choose to consume alcohol.”

ABD also collects money through taxes on beer and wine and through liquor licenses. Revenue from those categories was down in the last fiscal year from the previous year, because part of the governor’s coronavirus proclamation was allowing businesses to partially defer their tax payments and license fees because of COVID-19.

The annual report includes a wealth of charts, graphs, tables and other data.

For example, the top distilled spirits by category and gallons sold in Iowa were vodka, whiskey, cordials, rum, cocktails, tequila, brandy and gin. But despite vodka being the largest category, the largest single product sold in the state was a whiskey, once again Black Velvet.

Five of the top 10 brands sold in the state last year were vodkas, and four were whiskeys. One spiced rum also made the list.

The Top 10 brands sold in Iowa by gallons in the last fiscal year were:

1) Black Velvet Canadian Whiskey.
2) Tito’s Handmade Vodka.
3) Captain Morgan Original Spiced Rum.
4) Hawkeye Vodka.
5) Fireball Cinnamon Whiskey.
6) Five O’Clock Vodka.
7) McCormick Vodka.
8) Crown Royal Canadian Whiskey.
9) Smirnoff Vodka.
10) Jack Daniels Old #7 Black Label Tenn Whiskey.

The Top 10 Iowa native brands were:

1) Blue Ox Vodka.
2) Templeton 4-Year Rye.
3) Cedar Ridge Bourbon.
4) Swell Vodka.
5) Blue Ox Silver Rum.
6) Prairie Fire.
7) Slipknot Iowa Whiskey No. 9.
8) Red Fox Vodka.
9) Iowish Cream Liqueur.
10) Sir Winston Peach.

The Top 10 retailers by dollar volume purchased from the state were:

1) Hy-Vee Inc., $132.0 million.
2) Fareway Stores Inc., $26.5 million.
3) Walmart Inc., $23.2 million.
4) Sam’s Club, $18.5 million.
5) Casey’s Marketing Co., $14.4 million.
6) Central City Liquors Inc., $12.1 million.
7) Costco Wholesale Corp., $7.0 million.
8) Kum & Go LC, $6.6 million.
9) Target Corp., $4.0 million.
10) Wilkie Liquors, $3.2 million.

Iowa Alcoholic Beverages Division Fiscal Year 2019-20 Report