Alberta led the county in increased sales of beer and wine last year, according to the latest figures from Statistics Canada.

The numbers form April 1 2014 to March 31 2015 showed Alberta`s beer sales had jumped 4.6 per cent over the previous year, compared with the national average of 3.1 per cent.

Wine sales were up 9.5 per cent, close to double the 5.1 per cent national average.

Alberta spirit sales were up 3.1 per cent, which was the third highest jump in sales in the country, behind Quebec and B.C.

So were more people turning to booze during the economic downturn?

Halia Montemayor Valladares, economist and chair of International Business and Supply Chain Management at Mount Royal University, doesn`t think it`s quite that simple.

She said as a general rule – people do drink more during an economic downturn. The real story, she said, has more to do with the changing tastes of millennials.

`Fortune magazine had an article that said millennials are drinking more wine than boomers, and more wine than ever before,` she said.

The article notes millennials on average are drinking 3.1 glasses of wine per sitting.

Beer is still the top selling alcoholic beverage in Alberta when it comes to dollars spent. Albertans spent $1.1 billion on beer compared with $565 million on wine.

The net income of the Alberta liquor authority totaled $765.7 million dollars last year – up 2.5 per cent.