Highest Nip Sales in Greater Danbury for 2025

Nips are extremely divisive in Connecticut. Some folks love to party and dig those little 50 mL bottles—they’re fun, portable and get the job done. Others say, “No matter what you do, drunks will throw them all over the ground.”

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To curb the littering of these bottles, the state rolled out the Nickel-Per-Nip program: five cents on every nip sold goes back to the town where it was purchased, supposedly to help clean roads, parks and sidewalks. Some say the program is a success, others say it hasn’t made a dent in the mess. Either way, each year I break down the leaders in nip sales here in the Greater Danbury Area. According to the Wine & Spirit Wholesalers of Connecticut, these figures reflect the April 1–Sept. 30, 2025, payout period.

Gathering numbers for all the towns can be tricky, so for a few we had to rely on figures from a prior period. The good news? We’re not splitting the atom here. One thing is consistent: Danbury dominates every year. I’ve compiled this list in one form or another since the nickel-per-nip program started, and there’s no contest—Hat City reigns supreme in Greater Danbury booze sales.

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There are a few shake-ups this year, though. 2025 marks the first time Ridgefield didn’t finish dead last in nip sales. Congrats, Ridgefield—you’re climbing the charts. Tip one back for me.

Fun Facts About Nips

• The “nip” (50 mL bottle) got its name in part because it’s the size of a “nip” of liquor—just enough for one or two drinks, and one of the smallest legal single-servings sold in many states.
• Connecticut’s Nickel-Per-Nip program means that every time you buy one, five cents goes back to your town for litter cleanup and environmental efforts—so yes, part of your trash problem is self-funded.
• Despite their small size, nips hold about the same alcohol volume as a 12-ounce beer; so in many binge-drinking stories, “two nips” is basically like saying “two beers,” but it hits faster.
• Some small towns actually track nips sold per capita, and surprisingly, when sales rise, litter counts often follow—which is exactly why the nickel charge exists.
• The nip became popular in the 1970s in part because it was cheap for retailers to stock and high-margin for brands targeting impulse buyers, making it the smallest legal liquor bottle in the U.S.