There wasn't much to do during the pandemic but drinking alcohol was one of the activities you still could, and probably did do. The Iowa Alcoholic Beverages Division has released its 2021 annual report showing just how much money Iowans spent on booze, and how much they drank in the last year. Get ready, because it's a lot.

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On Tuesday, the Iowa Alcoholic Beverages Division (ABD) released its fiscal year 2021 annual report. According to officials, liquor sales topped $400 million for the first time with a total of $415.8 million and an unprecedented 13.2% increase over the previous fiscal year. The 2020 fiscal year saw $367.3 million in liquor sales, which was also a record at the time.

How much alcohol can $415.8 million get you? According to officials, the ABD sold more than 6.5 million gallons of liquor in the fiscal year 2021.

If you were curious about what liquor sold the most in the last year, it's the same liquor Iowans have been buying the most of since 2012. ABD officials say that Black Velvet continued to hold the top spot as the most popular brand in FY21.

Hy-Vee
Hy-Vee
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Considering you can get a 5th of Black Velvet from Hy-Vee for $10.99, you can see why the whiskey continues to be at the top.

Tito’s Handmade Vodka and Captain Morgan Spiced Rum round out the top three as was the case in the previous fiscal year. When it comes to a locally distilled liquor, Blue Ox Vodka was the most popular Iowa brand for the third year in a row.

The 2022 fiscal year is looking to beat FY21's record. As of the end of November 2021, FY22 liquor sales have seen an increase of 5.7%.

Fiscal Year 2021 began July 1, 2020, and ended June 30, 2021.

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To find the best beer in each state and Washington D.C., Stacker analyzed January 2020 data from BeerAdvocate, a website that gathers user scores for beer in real-time. BeerAdvocate makes its determinations by compiling consumer ratings for all 50 states and Washington D.C. and applying a weighted rank to each. The weighted rank pulls the beer toward the list's average based on the number of ratings it has and aims to allow lesser-known beers to increase in rank. Only beers with at least 10 rankings to be considered; we took it a step further to only include beers with at least 100 user rankings in our gallery. Keep reading to find out what the best beer is in each of the 50 states and Washington D.C.

 

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