Top 100 Retailer: Success Across Ohio for OHLQ
Editor’s Note: We’re recognizing our Top 100 Retailers in the beverage alcohol retail industry from the past year, including the OHLQ, and our 2025 Retailer of the Year, Garfield’s Beverage.
Ohio Liquor (OHLQ) works with 481 liquor stores across the Buckeye State. OHLQ excels in a number of areas, especially in brown spirits, for which the state has garnered a positive reputation among whiskey enthusiasts.
“Whiskey fans are passionate, extremely knowledgeable and very engaged, and we treat that with respect,” says Anne Dimmick, Senior Director, Commercial Strategy and Growth, JobsOhio Beverage System. “They want more than just the bottle — they want to know the story and meet the people behind the product. The whiskey community in Ohio is incredibly engaged, and we make a point to meet them where they are — whether it’s through special releases, in-store events or conversations with the distillers themselves. That feedback loop helps us stay ahead of trends and deliver experiences that people genuinely care about.”
“It’s not just about the bottle,” she adds. “It’s about connection, community and creating something worth coming back for.”
For instance: Single Barrel Saturday, which most recently took place November 16, 2024. This was Ohio’s largest single day release of single barrel products, according to Lorraine Terry, VP, JobsOhio Beverage System. “It included 36 different items from 14 brands,” she says. “OHLQ released 38,268 bottles of unique, sought-after products at 231 locations across Ohio.”
In one day, these locations sold 29,784 bottles, or 78% of all the special release products. By the end of the day, OHLQ saw $2,042,965 in incremental sales, resulting in total daily retail sales of $7,316,635. “To put this in perspective, last year at this same time, two Saturdays before Thanksgiving, statewide retail sales were $5,853,482,” Terry says. “Single Barrel Saturday drove a 25% increase in sales for the day.”
2024 marked the third time that OHLQ has held Single Barrel Saturday. Among the notable improvements this time was the event’s efficiency. “This year’s Single Barrel Saturday featured a smaller, more curated selection,” Terry explains, “which contributed to the one-day sell-through going from 69% last year to 78% this year.”
This event also saw a significant positive impact on engagement with consumers on both OHLQ.com, as well as email subscriptions. The number of consumers who signed up for the daily-reveal emails was 35,073, up 57% from last year’s event, according to Terry. The Single Barrel Saturday webpage had 236,613 views on the day of the release — a 14% increase from 2023.
“These results underscore OHLQ’s ability to captivate consumers and drive significant sales growth through strategic, high-impact events,” Terry adds.
Along that subject, OHLQ recently launched a new email CRM platform with a subscription campaign. This initially garnered more than 35,000 subscribers, and grew the channel to more than 221,260 subs, according to Kristen Castle, OHLQ Director of Brand and Marketing Strategy. The campaign enjoyed an “81-84% open rate and a 21-24% click-to-open rate, far surpassing industry standards,” Castle says.
Email content included new product offerings, exclusive releases, seasonal recipe content, highlights of events and responsibility initiatives.
“By leveraging a strategic email CRM platform, OHLQ transformed digital engagement, growing from 35,000 to over 221,000 subscribers by the end of 2024,” Castle says. “Email subscriber opt-in rate was over 78%. Additionally, we added more than 27,000 OHLQ.com accounts to our consumer reach.”
In terms of social media, OHLQ in 2024 successfully created and published 938 social media posts and ads, resulting in a total of 155,321,735 impressions. This also led to more than 1,702,707 additional visits to OHLQ.com from social media, a 240% increase over the previous year, Castle reports.
Altogether, the result was an extremely successful 2024 for OHLQ.
“Our success is because of the trust and partnerships amongst suppliers,” says Jackie DeGenova, Superintendent, OHLQ. “We appreciate that they choose to bring their products to Ohio, and we are proud of our marketing, nimbleness, timeliness to market, attention to detail and care for their products.”
DeGenova adds, “With the recent challenges in the retail spirits market, we’re focused on evolving in ways that really matter: Opening new channels to better meet people where they are and how they want to shop, increasing awareness of and access to new products and optimizing our selection at each location to best serve the local customer. Of course, we’ll keep offering the events and releases our customers love, but we’re also finding new ways to make the shopper experience more engaging. And you can be sure there will be a few surprises.”
Kyle Swartz is editor of Beverage Dynamics. Reach him at kswartz@epgacceleration.com. Read his recent pieces, 8 Beverage Alcohol Trends in 2025 and Our 2025 Spirits Growth Brands Awards Winners.
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