Less Alcohol Discounts This Holiday Season

Be careful when you’re giving a toast this holiday season, the alcohol in there is pricey this year. Alcohol companies are not offering as many discounts this year as in 2009, although the holiday season is crucial to the industry: a full 40 percent of sales occur in the last months of the year. Instead of slashing prices, Brown-Forman Corp., maker of Southern Comfort and Jack Daniels, will be making “gift-friendly” products. Alcohol companies' sales fell during the recession, with “high-end” brands dropping as much as 3.1 percent and “super-premium” labels dropping 5.1 percent.