The alcohol beverage department of the US State of Iowa said that last year, sales of wine, beer and spirits in the state soared, bringing 88 million USD of tax revenues to the financial department of the state, an increase of 4% over the previous year.
Tom Duax, owner of the local Central City Liquors liquor store, said: "Our business is still growing rapidly. Even though the current economy is sluggish, people have not cut back on alcohol consumption."
The Iowa alcoholic beverage organization said that compared to the previous year, wine sales increased by 3%, spirit sales rose by 6%, and beer sales only went up by 2%. In the one-year period ending on June 30th this year, each adult in the state consumed an average of 1.7 gallons of wine, 2 gallons of spirits, and 37 gallons of beer.
Doug Alberhasky, manager of John's Grocery in Iowa City, indicated that in the past four or five years, locals have been consuming more and more high-alcohol-content products.