O Clock Vodka News Today

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com Move over, Black Velvet. There’s a new No. 1 liquor brand in the state, and its name is Tito’s. After holding the spot of top brand of spirits in Iowa for about 10 years, Black Velvet Canadian Whiskey gave way to Tito’s Handmade Vodka, which outsold BV by about 40,000 gallons in the fiscal year ending June 30. Black Velvet took over the No. 2 position, …

Like the heart, home apparently also is where the booze is. The arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic in Iowa last March and a subsequent temporary shutdown of Iowa’s bars, restaurants and hospitality industry and mitigation directives to slow the viral spread meant more Iowans were working and drinking at home — which translated into record liquor sales for fiscal 2020. Officials in the Iowa Alcoholic Beverages Division say in a report released Thursday that liquor sales totaled $367.3 million ...