Business Notes Alcohol

For liquor dealers it was like Christmas in September. On Oct. 1, the federal excise tax on distilled liquor jumps by a hefty 19%, and last week bargain hunters were rushing to beat the revenuers. At Vendome Liquor in Beverly Hills, one customer bought 26 cases of Very Old Barton bourbon. At New York's Sherry-Lehmann, a patron who normally buys a case of J&B Scotch each month got a long winter's worth: 15 cases of J&B and 15 of Smirnoff vodka.

The tax, part of a bill passed last year, is pegged to alcoholic proof. For example, the tax on a gallon of 100-proof whisky or vodka jumps from $10.50 to $12.50. But retailers are also using the occasion to give themselves a pre-Christmas bonus. The price of a liter bottle of Chivas Regal at the Liquor Barn in Glendale, Calif., is going from $21.48 to $25.56. The tax and price increases on lower-proof alcohols, including most liqueurs and brandies, will not be as much, and beer and wine are not affected at all. Amid last week's good times, however, liquor dealers feared that sales would soon plummet. Lamented Hollywood's Thaddeus Hutchinson: "I'm going to take a big dive come October."