The Iowa Alcoholic Beverages Division reports liquor sales for December hit a record for a single month at $42.8 million.

That is an increase of 18.48% compared to December of 2019. The pandemic pushed the liquor sales for the last fiscal year that ended in June to a yearly record and an increase of  8.2% compared to the previous fiscal year.

The department reports sales continued to rise through December — with the number of cases already sold in the new fiscal year up by nearly 19 percent.