In perhaps another indication of how 2020 has been a year most people want to forget, Iowans spent a record amount of money on liquor this past year.
The increase came during the 2020 state fiscal year, which ran from July 1, 2019, through the end of June this year â a period that includes the first four months of the COVID-19 pandemic that resulted in stores, bars and taverns operating under tight restrictions.
Despite the pandemic, or perhaps because of it, total liquor sales in Iowa during the 2020 fiscal year were $367.3 million, an increase of 8.2 percent over the previous year, according to the new annual report from the Iowa Alcoholic Beverages Division.