What Spirits Do Locals Like Best?

SEBRING - Liquor store shelves are well stocked to meet the added demand as Highlands County residents continue spreading holiday cheer.

Cheawanda K. Harris, liquor store manager at Winn-Dixie in Avon Park, said on Thursday that business jumps during the holidays and New Year's Eve is the business' biggest shopping day of the year.

Liquor-purchasing habits change during the holidays. Prior to Christmas, Winn-Dixie stocks miniature 1.5 ounce bottles of alcohol which fly off the shelves as stocking stuffers, said Harris.

Joe Bustmante, store manager at the Sebring Publix Super Market, said medium-priced bottles of champagne sell big just before New Year's, but not at all the rest of the year.

Pre-mixed egg nog sells well during the holiday season, but it's not always the same stuff it was years ago. Matt Bevins, assistant manager at Albertsons Liquor, said holiday egg nog was most often a mixture of straight bourbon, and typically evolves into a common mixture of five types of liquor and egg nog.

Bevins then discussed year-round buying habits.

The most popular alcohol sold is vodka, with rum running a close second, according to Bevins. Most rum is mixed with diet and conventional colas, but many drinkers prefer a coconut rum with pineapple mixer.

Finances play a role. Bevins said half-gallon sizes of liquor sell best. He said California products are king for wine buyers with more expensive French and other foreign wines trailing behind in sales.

Harris said tequila sells big, with much of it made into margaritas. Whiskeys, bourbons and scotch sell more often to those 40 and older, and flavored drinks, including Schnapps, are more popular with a younger crowd, said Bevins.

Coffee drinkers like to drink a bit of Kaluha or Bailey's Irish creme with a dose of caffeine, said Bevins.
Most liquor stores sell a variety of items, such as lottery tickets, cigars and several types of both non-alcoholic and alcoholic mixers.

Sweetbay, in Sebring, sells new corks, playing cards with dice, cashews and other nuts, drinking glasses, napkins, tomato juice and several varieties of margarita mix flavors.

Howard Johnson, salesman at Albertson's, said male customers account for 60 percent of business.
Two to three bottles a month of Albertsons most expensive offering, Johnnie Walker Blue Label scotch whiskey, sells for $249.99 for a fifth. The least expensive bottled beverage at Albertson's costs 89 cents for 1.5 ounces of vodka.