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Press Releases - Department of Liquor Control

Montgomery County Alcohol Beverage Services Releases List of Top 10 Selling Beer, Wine and Spirits for 2020

For Immediate Release: Monday, January 11, 2021

Corona Extra is the top-selling beer in Montgomery County, Barefoot wines are the leading wine sellers and Tito’s Handmade Vodka is the most popular spirit. Those products headed their respective lists of the top-selling products according to 2020 sales results released by Montgomery County’s Alcohol Beverage Services (ABS).


Corona Extra has been the top-selling beer brand in Montgomery County for the past five years and Barefoot has been the best-selling wine brand over the same period. Tito’s has been the best-selling liquor brand in the County for the past three years.


The lists are based on sales dollars through the ABS warehouse to private restaurants, privately owned beer and wine stores and the 26 County-operated retail stores.


The top 10 beers by sales:

  1. Corona Extra
  2. Heineken
  3. Modelo Especial
  4. Bud Light
  5. Miller Lite
  6. Coors Light
  7. Budweiser
  8. Stella Artois
  9. Sam Adams
  10. Michelob Ultra


The top 10 wine brands by sales:

  1. Barefoot
  2. Black Box
  3. Kendall Jackson
  4. Sheffield
  5. Turning Leaf
  6. Woodbridge
  7. Sutter Home
  8. Yellow Tail
  9. Bota Box
  10. Franzia


The top 10 spirits brand by sales:

  1. Tito’s Handmade Vodka
  2. Hennessy
  3. Jack Daniel’s
  4. Johnnie Walker
  5. Patron
  6. Jameson
  7. Bacardi Rum
  8. Maker’s Mark
  9. Grey Goose
  10. Smirnoff


While the top 10 brand list is similar to last year’s list, ABS reports seeing some substantial growth in other categories.

“Customers continued to turn to mainstream brands during the pandemic, but local brands have seen an exponential jump this past year,” said Melissa Davis, senior marketing officer for ABS.


This past November, ABS partnered with the Maryland Distillers Guild to promote Maryland Spirits Month. The retail stores offered 10 percent discounts on Maryland-produced spirits during the promotion campaign. Helped by the campaign, Maryland-made spirit sales in ABS stores increased by $57,007 (288 percent) for November 2020 compared to sales in November 2019. More information on this program can be viewed on ABS’s Maryland Made and Keeping it Local website pages.


ABS is the alcohol wholesaler of beer, wine and spirits for Montgomery County. ABS operates 25 beer, wine and spirits stores and one spirits-only store in Poolesville. It manages alcohol licensing, enforcement and education for more than 1,000 businesses. Generating more than $35 million in net income annually, ABS profits are used to pay down County debt with a large portion deposited in the County general fund to pay for resident services that would otherwise be funded by County tax dollars.


Learn more about ABS by visiting the website and by following ABS on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.


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Release ID: 21-019
Media Contact: Emily Detitta 240-372-2282