THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, September 5, 1994 TAG: 9409050070
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: By PATRICK K. LACKEY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 78 lines
Virginians might be remembering more because they're not drinking enough to forget.
Today's Virginia imbibers would have to increase their liquor consumption by almost half to match 1982 totals.
The decline in consumption of distilled spirits continues every month - in remote rural areas and traffic-clogged cities, in sections rich and poor - despite population increases.
Statewide liquor sales have dropped from 9.3 million gallons in fiscal 1982 to 6.8 million gallons in fiscal 1994, which ended June 30.
Meanwhile, state wine and beer sales have been fairly level since wine sales peaked in 1986 and beer sales peaked in 1987.
Drinkers face toughening drunk driving laws and enforcement, higher taxes and increasing health concerns. Also, drunkenness has become more socially unacceptable. Fewer and fewer partiers finish their nights with lampshades on their heads. Or if they do, fewer people laugh.
``One or no drink containing beverage alcohol, instead of two or three, is becoming common at social occasions,'' said the trade publication Jobson's Liquor Handbook 1994, ``and the three-martini lunch is virtually extinct.''
``What we've seen over the last decade,'' said Catherine Giordano, chairwoman of the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, ``is a gradual lowering of consumption, whether it's people becoming more educated in terms of responsible use of alcohol or whether it's a lifestyle choice. Consumers are gravitating to products with less alcohol.''
The decline in liquor sales does not distress Giordano.
``We control the sale of alcohol in the community known as the Commonwealth of Virginia,'' she said. ``We don't promote the sale.''
A national study showed that on average each adult Virginia ABC store customer bought 1.49 gallons of distilled spirits in 1993. That is 21 percent less than the national average of 1.88 gallons.
The only drier states than Virginia were Utah, Kansas, Iowa, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Of the seven lowest states in alcohol consumption, all but Kansas are ``control states,'' where the state government sells liquor.
By definition, distilled spirits are liquor obtained by distillation, usually containing at least 25 percent alcohol. Examples are whiskey, brandy, gin, rum and vodka.
A big reason for the decline in spirits sales, said Giordano, has been tax increases.
``The No. 1 reason is taxes,'' said Elizabeth Board, spokeswoman for the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, with headquarters in Washington. ``The tax rate has increased substantially on spirits, but not beer and wine. We are taxed nationwide at twice the rate of beer and three times the rate of wine.''
And Virginia taxes spirits at a rate far above the national average.
According to 1993 figures from the Distilled Spirits Council, 59 percent of the cost of a typical 750 milliliter bottle of 80 proof spirits in Virginia goes for taxes, compared with the national average of 44 percent.
The difference: Virginia state and local taxes account for 36 percent of the price, 15 points higher than the national average for state and local taxes.
For a $9.35 bottle, a Virginian pays $2.15 in federal taxes, $3.39 in state and local taxes, and $3.81 for the contents.
It's enough to drive a person to drink.
But driving drunk got tougher on July 1, the first day of fiscal 1995.
The blood alcohol content at which a driver is legally drunk dropped from 0.10 percent to 0.08. Drivers under 21 cannot have consumed any alcohol.
So the bottom in spirits sales probably has not been reached. ILLUSTRATION: DISTILLED SPIRITS
Graphic
JANET SHAUGHNESSY/Staff
SOURCE: ABC
KEYWORDS: ALCOHOL LIQUOR by CNB