Blog
Sloshing Through The Pandemic
“Sales at Northern Virginia ABC stores have soared during the pandemic, and apparently we love our Tito’s vodka. Data provided by the state Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority show sales at its Northern Virginia stores during the first week of the pandemic (March 15-22) increased 65 percent over the same week in 2019 and have continued to show double-digit percentage increases most weeks since” (InsideNoVa.com, May 11, 2020).
Just the top four hard liquors (March/April 2020 sales):
- Domestic vodka (Tito’s Handmade): 137,820 bottles for $3,486,964
- Tennessee whiskey (Jack Daniel’s 7 Black): 57,443 bottles for $1,367,800
- Irish whiskey (Jameson Irish): 43,210 bottles for $1,261,941
- Cognac/Armagnac (Hennessy VS): 40,192 bottles for $1,257,708
Keep in mind, this does not include beer and wine sales. This news comes after wine-drinking in the U.S. grew from 2015 to 2018 (from 772 million gallons to 805 million, the last figure representing just a smidge under 3 gallons per resident).
In the interest of being fair and balanced, consider the following from The Hill, Jan. 13, 2020:
“The number of Americans drinking wine dropped for the first time since 1994, according to industry tracker IWSR, [which reported] that the volume of wine consumption in the United States decreased 0.9 percent in 2019. It now represents 11 percent of the total beverage alcohol market in America. This decrease ... is primarily attributed to a generational shift as millennials increasingly turn to alternatives like hard seltzers, cocktails and non-alcoholic beer. ‘Millennials are just not embracing wine with open arms compared to previous generations.’”
Awww, that’s too bad.
After pondering for many years the attraction to alcohol, my own conclusion is that people desire it to fill an emotional and/or spiritual void: to fit in; to look sophisticated; to emulate their idols; to dull emotional pain; to cope with stress; etc. As attested in both sacred and secular writ, alcohol is the source of untold misery throughout the entire history of mankind.
Every sensible person, Christian or otherwise, ought to avoid it like the plague (pun intended). But right on cue, as life hits a major speed bump, Americans reach for their bottles.
Alcohol will never fill the role that prayer, wisdom, patience and other aspects of godly character are designed to play in coping with life’s trials. It masquerades as a cure-all while it poisons and enslaves. Has there ever been a more moronic oxymoron than “adult beverages,” when drinking them makes one act like a child?
“Wine is a mocker, intoxicating drink arouses brawling, and whoever is led astray by it is not wise. ... At the last it bites like a serpent, and stings like a viper. Your eyes will see strange things, and your heart will utter perverse things. Yes, you will be like one who ... (says) ‘They have struck me, but I was not hurt; they have beaten me; but I did not feel it. When shall I awake, that I may seek another drink?’” (Prov. 20:1; 23:32-33, 35).
