Vermont's Independent Voice
Browse News
Browse Arts + Life
Browse Food + Drink
Browse Cannabis
Browse Music
Browse Movies
Browse Events
Browse Classifieds
Browse Personals
When you buy your Jack Daniels, WhistlePig or Kahlua in Vermont, you’re actually buying it from the state’s Department of Liquor Control. The department licenses 80 agents across the state to sell its liquor, in exchange for a commission on each sale.
Ken Picard’s story dives into the byzantine business of liquor control and explores whether it makes sense for the state to be involved in hard alcohol sales; wine and beer aren’t so tightly regulated. As part of that investigation, Seven Days decided to find out which types of alcohol the liquor outlets were actually selling, and how much cash they raked in each year.
It wasn’t too surprising that Winooski’s Beverage Warehouse turned out to be the top liquor seller in the state last year, with nearly $4 million in sales. Pearl Street Beverage in Burlington came up second, and Beverage Baron in Barre ranked third. More fascinating, though, was each store’s breakdown of best-selling booze. Who knew Dr. McGillicuddy's Fireball was such a hot item? Or that so many people bought those small, 0.05-liter bottles called “nips?”
No doubt you’ll notice interesting things, too, so go ahead and explore this map, which shows sales and most popular bottles at each of Vermont’s liquor outlets.
View the data here.
About The Authors
Hilary Niles
Bio:
Hilary Niles is an independent data journalist based in Vermont.
Hilary Niles is an independent data journalist based in Vermont.
Andrea Suozzo
Bio:
Andrea is the data editor at Seven Days. She crunches the numbers for data-driven stories and creates graphics and interactives to explain those numbers.
Andrea is the data editor at Seven Days. She crunches the numbers for data-driven stories and creates graphics and interactives to explain those numbers.
Latest in Business
Related Stories
Comments
Showing 1-1 of 1
Comments are closed.
Since 2014, Seven Days has allowed readers to comment on all stories posted on our website. While we’ve appreciated the suggestions and insights, the time has come to shut them down — at least temporarily.
While we champion free speech, facts are a matter of life and death during the coronavirus pandemic, and right now Seven Days is prioritizing the production of responsible journalism over moderating online debates between readers.
To criticize, correct or praise our reporting, please send us a letter to the editor. Or send us a tip. We’ll check it out and report the results.
Online comments may return when we have better tech tools for managing them. Thanks for reading.
Speaking of...
-
Coronavirus Numbers in Vermont: A Seven Days Tracker, Updated Daily
Mar 30, 2020 -
Under 21? No Problem. You Can Buy a Vermont Liquor Gift Card
Nov 27, 2019 -
Seven Vermont Liquor Rules Designed to Save Us From Overindulgence
Nov 5, 2019 -
WTF: Are Yellow Jackets Drunk This Time of Year?
Oct 9, 2019 -
A Friend of a Friend Gets Aggressively Sexual When Drunk
Sep 11, 2019 - More »
