In his popular song “All Summer Long,” Kid Rock sings, “It’s the simple things in life, like when and where.” The simple things in life, like enjoying adult beverages and celebrating our nation’s holidays, have become synonomous with summer.

For most, Memorial Day officially marks the beginning of summer. For those in the beverage industry, it unofficially marks the beginning of the busy beverage season.

Throughout the year, most holidays will rack up a hefty beverage bill. But once summer hits, the industry sees an even more significant amount of money being spent on alcohol beverages for Memorial Day and the Fourth of July, as well as the almost-summer holiday of Cinco de Mayo.

In a December 2017 Insight from Nielsen titled “Americans Jump-Start the Holidays with Their Favorite Bottle of Vino,” the market research firm put together Top 10 lists of holidays that contain the highest beverage sales. Nielsen found that the three summer holidays (Cinco de Mayo, Memorial Day and the Fourth of July) are all Top 10 selling holidays in the wine, spirits, and beer/FMB/cider categories.

Within the wine category, the Fourth of July takes the fifth spot with total sales of nearly $618 million. Memorial Day has the eighth spot, and Cinco de Mayo has the 10th. In the spirits category, Fourth of July and Memorial Day jump to the third and fourth spots with Cinco de Mayo gaining one spot to No. 9. Lastly, in the beer/FMB/cider category, the Fourth of July claims the No. 1 spot with a total sales of more than $1.8 billion. Memorial Day is right behind it at No. 2, while Cinco de Mayo finishes the category in the number nine spot.

With the proliferation of new products, fresh flavor varietals and holiday packaging, beverage companies are giving consumers the tools they need to soak up the sun and sit under the stars “all summer long.”