‘Every Night Is Friday Night’: Home Booze Sales Defy Reopening

(Bloomberg) -- Bars and restaurants are slowly reopening, but many Americans are content to keep drinking on the couch.

Sales of liquor for home consumption surged when bars and restaurants closed in March amid nationwide quarantine rules. A cold beer or a crisp chardonnay helped ease Americans' mounting anxiety about the pandemic, not to mention the stress of juggling work and parenting duties from home all at once.

But even as drinking establishments in some states welcome a limited number of customers back in their doors, that hasn't stunted the astronomical growth of liquor delivery services like Drizly, where sales are still about 400% above historical levels.

“Sales have continued to distribute across the week as more consumers are home during the work week,” Drizly said on its website. Or, as an analyst at Evercore ISI put it: “Every night is Friday night for people.”

It's not just six-packs of Bud fueling the growth. Drinkers are willing to splurge on more expensive products, using the funds they normally would have spent going out.

The forced quarantine accelerated existing trends, like making cocktails at home. The group of spirits that includes vermouth, a key ingredient in martinis and negronis, has grown faster than other categories of late, while sales of bitters have also climbed inordinately, according to Drizly, which works with more than 2,600 retailers in North America.

“Cocktail culture is coming home,” the company said.

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