At least some individuals in McKean County could easily pass off as wine connoisseurs, or of whiskey, vodka and rum.
McKean County tops other counties across the four-county region in the amount of alcohol purchased in 2015-16 at Pennsylvania Fine Wine & Good Spirits stores, according to information compiled by The Center For Rural Pennsylvania, as well as a report issued by the state.
For McKean County, there ended up being $4.35 million in total sales at the four Fine Wine & Good Spirits stores in the county, according to The Center For Rural Pennsylvania. Meanwhile, Elk County’s two stores saw $2.68 million in total sales; Potter County’s two experienced $1.30 million; and Cameron County’s sole store realized $0.44 million.
All of these results do not come as a surprise to Barry Denk, director of The Center For Rural Pennsylvania.
“First of all, in total sales, given the population of those counties, and even factoring purchases from tourists or others (hunters, etc.) who are not full-time residents, I would expect those counties to be in the lower brackets for total sales,” he said.
Elizabeth Brassell, director of communications at the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, said she was not caught off guard by The Center For Rural Pennsylvania’s report, saying that rural counties obviously have less wine and spirits sales in comparison to urban counties.
With per capita store sales, McKean County came in at $102; Elk, $87; Potter, $76 and Cameron, $94, according to The Center For Rural Pennsylvania.
“Even per capita sales, with Potter just being over the $100 mark, are comparable to other rural counties with smaller populations,” Denk said.
The state also recently released its report on wine and spirits and found that McKean County’s sales increased by 0.73 percent; Elk, 4.56 percent increase; Potter 1.13 percent increase; and Cameron 1.10 percent increase. Specifically, McKean County saw whiskey as being the top seller with $1,080,144 in sales; vodka, $697,563; and rum, $519,650.
All told, sales in rural Pennsylvania have been rising for several years — for 2010-11, the total was $102 per capita and for 2015-16, that ended up being $114.
“As far as Pennsylvania, I think it is fair to say there is a segment of the population that enjoys their wine and spirits,” he said. “Over the years, the Center has become well known for the data we collect and provide. Much of it relates to very important issues such as healthcare, education, employment, etc. Sometimes, it’s data that coincides with a certain time of the year, a major event in the lives of Pennsylvanians, etc. Our objective is to present, in a visually appealing and informative way, data about things that are a part of, or affect in some way, our lives.”
Across the state, vodka brought in the most sales with $269,307,595 in sales, a 12.74 percent increase over 2014-15. Bourbon came in second with $135,689,394 in sales, a 6.42 percent. and the third was flavored vodka with $99,493,308 in sales, a 4.71 percent increase.
There are Fine Wine & Good Spirits stores in Bradford, Kane, Smethport and Port Allegany. Elk County has stores in Ridgway and St. Marys; Potter, Coudersport and Galeton; and Cameron, Emporium.
