The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board has seen an increase in sales despite the downturn in the economy.Pennsylvanians might be thirsty for an escape from all the bad news.
In the period between July 1 and mid-November -- a time of the worst economic pain in at least a quarter-century -- the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board logged a sales increase of 5 percent.

The board runs 600-plus stores that sell wine and spirits across the state. Sales during the four-and-one-half month period increased to $663.5 million from $632.1 million during the same period a year earlier.

Lower Paxton Twp. resident Donna Robison said she has not stopped buying wine. She serves it with dinner or when entertaining friends, and during the recent downturn she has bought less expensive wine.

But she said she would be surprised if liquor sales continue to increase after the holidays, given the state of the economy.

"Things are worse now than I've seen in my lifetime," she said. "Maybe even my mother's lifetime."

Experts disagree on whether alcohol sales are recession-proof.

"It is complicated," said David J. Hanson, a researcher on alcohol use and a retired sociology professor at State University of New York at Potsdam. "It is really hard to find any correlation between alcohol consumption and the economy."

Robert J. Pandina, a professor and director of the Center of Alcohol Studies at Rutgers University, said alcohol was recession-proof.

He said, "There is, in downturn times, data that supports the fact that there is an increase in sales."