Devastating. It is a word that is probably overused and overly dramatic. But as it applies to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on alcohol sales generally, and on restaurants and hotels in particular, it is an accurate and, yes, often used description.

According to IWSR, the global beverage alcohol sales analysts, overall sales of alcohol were up slightly in 2019, after being down slightly in 2018 and prior years. By all accounts, this trend continued into the very early part of 2020, but came to a screeching halt in March 2020.