Fireball and Jack Daniel's Old Number 7 are Pa.'s top-selling boozes
More than 1 million bottles of the shot girl favorite were sold last year, at an average cost of $16.68 a bottle.
Fireball, the cinnamon-flavored whiskey, was the top-selling spirit sold in Pennsylvania in the last fiscal year, according to the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board in its annual report released Dec. 8.
More than 1 million bottles of the shot-girl favorite were sold last year, at an average cost of $16.68 a bottle.
Jack Daniel's Old Number 7 Tennessee Whiskey (750 mL), with sales of $20.2 million at an average price of $22.25, achieved the highest dollar sales among individual products.
The LCB reported $2.34 billion in total wine and spirits sales in the last retail year, which ended June 28, 2015. That is a 4.2 percent rise over the previous year.
Vodka is huge. The vodka product category, with nearly $261.9 million, led sales statewide, representing 13.17 percent of total sales for the year - more than double the sales of No. 2-ranked bourbon. Sales of vodka were up nearly 2 percent year over year.
Bourbon sales, at $126.6 million, were up 11.4 percent year over year.
The No. 3 category, flavored vodka, dipped 3.3 percent year over year.
The flavored-whiskey category, which includes Fireball, saw a 27 percent rise. Fireball itself showed an 88 percent yearly sales gain. The state cheekily notes that the state's six major professional stadiums could be filled four times by placing a bottle of Fireball sold on every seat.
Kendall-Jackson Vintner's Reserve Chardonnay (750 mL) was the top-selling wine (602,987 bottles and $7.9 million in sales. It was followed by Cavit Pinot Grigio (1.5 L), and Woodbridge Chardonnay (1.5 L).
A few notes:
The hour with the most dollar sales during the retail year was 10 a.m. on Saturday.
The state store with the most sales - $44.7 million - was at 2238 Washington Ave. in South Philadelphia. It's the wholesale center that sells to the bars and restaurants in Philadelphia.
Fireball Cinnamon Whisky (750 mL), Jack Daniel's Old Number 7 Tennessee Whiskey (750 mL), and Nikolai Vodka (375 mL) were the top three items in unit sales. Jacquin's Vodka was fourth. Captain Morgan Original Spiced Rum, which was last year's sales leader, dipped to fifth place.
The LCB says that only five of Pennsylvania's 67 counties accounted for almost half - 48 percent - of the sales. Allegheny was the top-selling county, followed by Philadelphia, Montgomery, Bucks, and Chester.
December 2014 and November 2014 were the highest sales months of the retail year, with 12.69 percent and 9.08 percent of annual sales, respectively.
Fulton and Juniata Counties showed the highest sales increases over the prior year, with 11.34 percent and 9.12 percent growth, respectively.
The brand to watch is Tito's Vodka, which saw a 60 percent year-over-year sales gain.
See the report here.