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Liquor sales up but beer and wine down in 2021 – Daily Montanan

['Keith Schubert', 'More From Author', '- January']

Date: 2022-01-19 00:00:00

Montanans are buying more swanky liquor — but a little less beer and wine.

Despite the reopening of most bars and restaurants in 2021, Montanans still kept up with pandemic habits, albeit at a lower rate, by purchasing more hard liquor in 2021 than in 2020 — at the same time, residents brought home roughly 1% less beer and 5% less wine.

Last year, according to data from the Montana Department of Revenue, the state saw a 5% increase in liquor cases shipped but a 9% increase in sales, meaning Montanans were not only buying more liquor but also pricier liquor. David Jackson, chief operating officer of the National Alcohol Beverage Control Association, said he is seeing that trend around the country.

“People are still drinking, and the pandemic didn’t really end, but a few things have changed” he said. “People are drinking more expensive liquor at home because they aren’t spending as much money on going out as they used to.”

Liquor sales have also been disrupted by the dogged supply chain issues caused by the pandemic, Jackson said: “Trucks just aren’t showing up.”

The state reported 52,220 more cases of liquor shipped and $16 million more in sales in 2021 compared to 2020, or roughly 5% and 9% more respectively. But those numbers pale in comparison to the 14% increase in sales and cases shipped from 2019 to 2020. Hard cider sales also increased in 2021 with 104,217 more liters sold, or 7.5% more from 2020, and $3,858 more tax dollars collected.

“The numbers were probably comparable. I don’t think there was much growth in 2021, the bars and restaurants as they came back to be open their volume increased from 2020,” said Mark Lewis, owner of Montana Liquor, a store in Bozeman.

While liquor and hard cider sales increased, beer and wine sales trended in the opposite direction. In 2021 compared to 2020, Montanans purchased 7,526 fewer barrels of beer and 679,277 fewer liters of wine — leading to a $236,082 decrease in tax dollars collected by the state for the two alcohols.

And even though bars and restaurants have re-opened in the past year, sales still aren’t where they were prior to the pandemic.

“Just comparing this last year to 2019 before the pandemic hit, my sales [in 2021] are down probably 20 percent. I think there are still a lot of people that are leery of being at big social events,” said Tom Heisler, owner of the Pit Stop Tavern in Black Eagle, just outside of Great Falls. But he said, “my sales from 2020 to 2021 probably doubled.”

At the same time, he said all of his expenses from C02 to glassware to insurance to cable bills have increased: “It’s pretty tough in this industry right now to try and make ends meet.”

John Iverson, government affairs director for the Montana Tavern Association, said staffing, not alcohol sales, are the top concern for his members.

“When members call me, they’re not talking about how little or how much alcohol they are selling, they are complaining about employee shortages,” he said.

Heisler said in the last week he has had 12 interviews scheduled and only two interviewees showed up.

“That seems to be the new normal for now,” he said.

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