I keep seeing all these press releases come across my desk about things related to, or caused by, the COVID-19 pandemic. Things other than sickness, death, unemployment, financial ruin etc., etc., etc.
You know what the number one — I think — most popular thing folks are writing about, and measuring, and doing surveys about, and studies on, and stuff like that on is? Booze! Hooch! Eye of the Dog! Satan’s Nectar! Firewater! Liquid Courage!
You get the point.
Good folks, bad folks, church goers, and those that aren’t so religious, alike, are turning to a nightcap or day-cap or whatever kind of cap one wants to call it to ease the tension of the times.
That probably means that sales of aspirin, BC Powders, Alka-Seltzer, Pepto Bismol, and all those other go-to hangover remedies are seeing a spike in sales as well.
That’s also one of the reasons the bars in Mississippi and most states have a limited time frame in which they can offer any of the above mentioned libations to patrons.
When folks get hammered, tanked, wasted, plastered, buzzed, sloshed, or even three sheets to the wind — all the same thing — they let their guard down and the chances of contracting COVID-19 goes up. Way up!
So, the liquor stores are selling out, and I guess making a killing, and their patrons are turning to drinking all sorts of different things that they used to never drink in the comfort of their own homes.
According to one press release by Ibotta, a cash-back app that helps people save money with their everyday purchases, beer sales are down slightly but hard liquor and wine sales are soaring.
Their report shows that alcohol sales are up 33% overall, with the following data for each subcategory.
• Liqueur: Up 75%
• Brandy: Up 43%
• Tequila: Up 40%
• Whiskey: Up 39%
• Vodka: Up 26%
• Gin: Up 14%
• Rum: Up 14%
Wine sales are up 12% for all types combined, with the following subcategories.
Flavored: Up 73%
Fortified: Up 51%
Red: Up 12%
Rice Wine: Up 37%
Rose: Up 24%
Sparkling: Up 5%
White: Up 9%
Personally, I find those numbers a little surprising. Not because sales are up, but because of the large increase in the types of hooch I consider kind of odd.
Liqueur? Geez, who drinks liqueur?
Brandy? Geez, same as Liqueur!
I have some knowledge of the others.
Same in the wine department. What is flavored wine? That must be the stuff found in Mississippi grocery and convenience stores. Not on my palet-pleasing list, I suppose.
I had to Google “fortified” wine. “Fortified wine is a wine to which a distilled spirit, usually brandy, has been added. In the course of some centuries, winemakers have developed many different styles of fortified wine, including port, sherry, madeira, Marsala, Commandaria wine, and the aromatised wine vermouth.” Yuck!
I’m familiar with the others — particularly sparkling, white, red and rose in that order — but I thought rice wine was reserved for cooking. Maybe that’s rice wine vinegar. Live and learn.
For the record, I also had to Google all those different names for liquor and being liquored up. I did know some of them already, but not all of them. And whether or not that knowledge comes from experience or not...well I’ll leave that up to your imagination.
Cheers to getting though the pandemic. More so, cheers to the end of the pandemic, whenever that might be!
