In N.C., liquor sales rise - the cheap kind

By Connie Sage

As jobs disappear and bank accounts dwindle, North Carolinians are drinking more booze. But they've switched to cheaper brands, and they're ordering fewer drinks at restaurants and bars.

The shift means less money for the state and localities.

Liquor sales were up 4 percent in April compared to the same month a year ago, said Michael Herring, administrator of the North Carolina Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission in Raleigh.

But so-called "value" brands are now more popular. Sales of Aristocrat Supreme gin, for example, were up by 103 cases. Higher-priced Tanqueray gin was down by 43 cases, he said.

Sales of low-end Aristocrat Supreme vodka - the No. 1 seller in the state - were up by 262 cases, Herring said. Midrange Pinnacle vodka sales were up 1,700 cases, but top-shelf Grey Goose dropped 307 cases.

Each liter of alcohol is taxed $3.75. Of that, the state gets 55 percent and local ABC boards keep 45 percent, Herring said.

Statewide, total alcohol sales through the ABC were $61.2 million for the 2007- 08 fiscal year, down $2.5 million from the previous year. Profits are expected to be down again for the current fiscal year, ending June 30, Herring said.

"People who are staying home, not going on vacation, and not eating out will have an impact this year," he said.

Dare County had the highest profit in northeast North Carolina in the 2007- 08 fiscal year, at $1.7 million.

Thirteen state ABC boards out of 156 tallied more than $1 million in profits in the last fiscal year. Currituck County recorded a $604,413 profit, followed by Pasquotank County at $302,744. Camden County's profit for the same period was $45,144, compared with the town of Hertford at $44,419; Chowan at $39,714; and Gates County at $10,355.

Not every county is making money selling booze.

Hyde County's two stores - one on Ocracoke Island and the other in Swan Quarter - lost a total of $17,907 in the last fiscal year. Bertie County's two stores lost a combined $22,080. Northampton County's four stores lost a total of $6,654.

Herring, who has worked for the ABC for 28 years - 15 of them in the top job - said revenue dipped during the 1980s recession, too. In 1985, ABC shipped 3.7 million cases from its warehouses; by 1995, that number had dropped to 2.9 million cases because of excise tax increases - two federal and one state.

With the state's population boom and an improved economy, business picked up, he said, and by 2008, the state had sold 4.5 million cases of alcohol.

With the economic downturn, both the state and federal governments again are looking at increasing taxes on booze.