photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World photo

The Budweiser Clydesdales and their team of drivers are pictured at the Douglas County Fairgrounds on Oct 14, 2021.

There’s the smell of a national championship in the air in Lawrence.

Yes, the KU men’s basketball team has been making the nets pop a bit more regularly, but the national championship vibe comes from an even more reliable activity in Lawrence — the popping of a cold Budweiser.

Lawrence-based O’Malley Beverage, which is the distributor of Budweiser and Anheuser-Busch products throughout northeast Kansas, recently won the 2025 Ambassador of Excellence National Champion award from Anheuser-Busch. The award marks the second time that O’Malley has been named the top distributor in the nation. The company also won the award in 2019.

The victory might spark a big celebration: Perhaps 12,000 pounds big.

The national championship will put Lawrence on the short list of cities that may get a special visit from the famous Budweiser Clydesdales. Mr. Google tells me each Clydesdale weighs about 2,000 pounds, and usually six of the majestic animals are used to pull the iconic red Budweiser beer wagon.

Some of you may remember the Clydesdales were in Lawrence following O’Malley’s last national championship, with hundreds of Douglas County residents getting to see the animals up close at a special viewing at the Douglas County Fairgrounds.

photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World photo

The Budweiser Clydesdales are pictured on Oct. 14, 2021 at the Douglas County Fairgrounds. The famed team of horses was in town for an event honoring volunteers who helped with the community’s pandemic response.

Kevin O’Malley, owner of O’Malley Beverage, told me this week that he indeed has requested that the Clydesdales return to Lawrence, but he can’t promise when that will happen.

“2026 is the 150th anniversary of Budweiser, so the hitch will be in high demand,” O’Malley said of the Clydesdales and the Budweiser Beer Wagon.

Indeed, when O’Malley won the national championship award in 2019, it wasn’t until 2021 that the Clydesdales made their special appearance in Lawrence.

The folks at O’Malley likely have some suggestions on how you could kill the time while waiting. The company — which has its headquarters and distribution center along North Iowa Street in the industrial park that also includes the manufacturing plant for Kibbles ‘N Bits, Lawrence Paper Company, Amcor and others — distributes more than 30 different Anheuser-Busch products, in addition to distributing for numerous craft brewers.

The company distributes throughout Lawrence and Douglas County, and also to five other surrounding counties. In terms of what it had to do to win the national champion award, it had to be basically perfect in several areas. The Ambassador of Excellence program awards up to 1,000 points to distributors based on how well they perform in day-to-day operating processes, volume of sales, and program and distribution initiatives.

O’Malley received a perfect score of 1,000 points to win the national championship award. It was the second year in a row that O’Malley received a perfect 1,000 point score, but it fell short in a tie-breaker last year.

“I’m so proud of Team O’Malley,” Mike Bourneuf, the company’s general manager, said. “Every member of our team had an impact on this success. The AOE program demands relentless focus and execution, and our crews face the challenges head on.”

The company has been in Lawrence since 2005, when O’Malley’s family expanded into the region after having operated a similar beer distribution business in St. Joseph, Mo. since 1985.

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While 2025 was a national championship year for O’Malley, there are signs that it may have been less than a banner year for liquor stores and bars. A quick look at the taxes the state charges on liquor shows that liquor sales were generally down in Douglas County in 2025.

The tax that the state provides the most data for is the liquor enforcement tax, which is a special 8% sales tax that is charged on liquor store purchases, and also is charged to bars and restaurants when they buy their liquor from a wholesaler, like O’Malley’s. So, that tax ends up touching most liquor sales that happen in the state.

What the numbers show for 2025 is that liquor enforcement tax collections in Douglas County fell by 4.4% in 2025 compared to 2024.

If you have been following the national news, this shouldn’t come as a shock. There have been a lot of data points that suggests Americans are drinking less, after alcohol consumption was on the rise during the pandemic. One of the more recent ones came in August, when the polling organization Gallup released the results of its annual survey on alcohol consumption.

That survey found that 54% of Americans reported drinking alcohol, down from 58% in 2024 and 62% in 2023. The 54% figure fell just below the previously recorded low of 55%, which dates back to 1958.

The Gallup survey also found that the number of drinks being consumed in a week has fallen significantly. The survey asks respondents for the number of drinks they have had in the last seven days. The 2025 survey reported an average of 2.8 drinks in the last week. That was the lowest figure since 1996. It also is down significantly from 3.8 drinks a year ago, and well below the all-time high of 5.1 drinks per week in 2003.

If those numbers are remotely accurate for Lawrence, it isn’t hard to see how liquor sale numbers are down in Douglas County. But, for whatever reason, the numbers do show that the decline in liquor sales has been steeper in Douglas County than in the state as a whole.

According to numbers from the Kansas Department of Revenue, liquor enforcement tax collections statewide were down by about 2.2% in calendar year 2025.

Again, public polling suggests Douglas County residents shouldn’t be surprised that alcohol sales are falling faster-than-average in Lawrence. The reason why? Lawrence, as a college town, is filled with Gen Z residents. Gallup has also done surveys on the drinking habits of adults 18 to 34 years old, which currently encompasses Generation Z. Gallup has found that from 2001 to 2023 that age group saw an 11% decline in the number of people who had consumed at least one alcoholic beverage in the last week.

Again, if that is remotely true in Lawrence, a 4.4% decline in liquor tax revenues should be no surprise.

However, don’t confuse a decline with the idea that the liquor industry in Lawrence has suddenly become paltry. The liquor industry is still a big business in Lawrence, and honestly, a big driver of the economy.

In 2025, Douglas County collected nearly $4.7 million in liquor enforcement tax revenues. That means there was nearly $59 million in liquor sales made through liquor stores and through wholesale distributors that sell to bars and restaurants.

While those numbers are down, they’re still paying a lot of bills in Lawrence.