What are Pennsylvanians drinking during quarantine? Fireball shots, sweet wines, and a lot of vodka.
Vodka was a big hit, according to Liquor Control Board data for March. Value is important, to a point.
Those little bottles of Fireball, jugs of Tito’s vodka, and marked-down moscatos.
A look at Pennsylvania’s top-selling wines and spirits for March, as society began to social distance from the coronavirus, shows that value is important. Quality? In some cases, yes.
First off, note that the Liquor Control Board set sales records before Gov. Tom Wolf shuttered the Fine Wine & Good Spirits stores on March 17. The state sold a month’s worth of product in those first 16 days. The online system returned April 1, though with plenty of fits and starts, and curbside pickup and home delivery were instituted Monday.
In that abbreviated month, Pennsylvanians bought more than 300,000 “airplane” bottles of Fireball, a cinnamon-flavored whiskey that might best be described as the love child of whiskey and those little Red Hots candies. The 50 mL size, which sells for a buck, is used as a mixer (think rumchatas) or simply as a shot. In its most recent report, the LCB reported selling about 5.5 million of them a year.
Occupying second through fourth places on the March sales list were three sizes of Tito’s, the corn-based vodka made in Texas. Tito’s is an easy choice, with a decent price point and — adherents insist — minimal hangovers. The state sold about 240,000 bottles, with the 750 mL bottle ($18) taking second place, followed by the 1.75 liter ($36) and the 1 liter ($25).
Classics mostly filled out the rest of the top 10: Jameson Irish whiskey; Crown Russe vodka (also an American brand that at $10 a bottle is about a third of the price of Tito’s); Captain Morgan Original spiced rum; Jack Daniel’s Old No. 7 Black Label Tennessee whiskey; airplane-size bottles of New Amsterdam vodka (popular among the college crowd); and Hennessy VS cognac.
Offering a toast from his bunker, Inquirer food critic Craig LaBan thinks people are “clearly trying to numb the quarantine with sweetness, spice, and fire."
“There’s a lot of vodka martinis going down with all that Tito’s, and I’ll give people credit for not just buying the cheapest vodka out there,” he said. "We have our standards, you know — except for those 318,136 little airline bottle shots of Fireball, the mere thought of which makes my stomach lining wince. Big shout-outs, though, to all the folks keeping Old No. 7 and Hennessy on the list.”
As for the wine side, LaBan regards the top sellers as “almost all inexpensive sugar bombs — more tailgate fuel than the stuff of wine club round tables.”
Nine of March’s top-10 wines were on sale.
The top-seller was a Californian from Gallo called Apothic. It’s a red blend of zinfandel, syrah, merlot, and cabernet sauvignon. Reliable and inoffensive, it counts legions of suburban moms in its fan base. Headed to a BYOB with lots of friends? This might be the bottle left at the end. You’ll just say, 'Whatever. Let’s drink it, too.” It was selling for $10.99, a $2 discount.
Barefoot took second and fourth places on the list with utterly sweet moscato wines that, on sale at $6.99, are some of the cheapest prices in the State Store.
Speaking of a cheap, sweet deal: Cavit pinot grigio ($6.99) was fifth.
Chardonnays discount-priced at $12.99 were in third (Kendall-Jackson) and sixth (Woodbridge by Robert Mondavi), and two cabernet sauvignons were in the top 10 (Mondavi’s at $12.99 in eighth, followed by Josh Cellars’ at $14.99 in ninth).
All those mimosas: La Marca prosecco ($14.99) finished in seventh, while Roscato Rosso Dolce ($10.99), the lone wine on the list not offered on discount and, incidentally, one of the top sellers at Olive Garden, was 10th.
“I am pleasantly surprised that prosecco made it in,” said Liz Flamini, a Philadelphia sommelier who works at Pizzeria Beddia.
She is steering friends to amaro these days “to help digest all those quarantine snacks.” Fernet is her go-to, while the sweeter Averna is a good intro to the herbal liqueur.