Few industries are immune to the nation's recession.

And though it may not be entirely recession proof, the liquor industry has a better shot than most.

"Gotta have some outlet for, you know, all the pain and agony," said Steve Yagoda.

He says the stressful recession is turning people to alcohol, "It's probably helped a lot. It's driving everybody to drink."

But the store manager of Cash Wise Liquor in Duluth, Brandon Erickson, says there's something special about booze no matter the economic circumstances.

"In good times people enjoy their beverages and in bad times people enjoy their beverages. You know, whether it's to relieve stress or just to have fun," Erickson said.

The Minnesota Municipal Beverage Association and the Tavern league of Wisconsin tell me the liquor industry isn't recession proof, but may be recession resilient.

Although solid sales figures are hard to come by, customer habits have definitely changed.

"If you were to a buy a case of the beer at the bar, it would be roughly a hundred dollars and off– sale like Cash Wise it's, you know, 15–18 dollars," said Erickson.

Despite the brave talk many bars are affected, to some degree by the recession, but they're trying their hardest to stay above water.

According to the Minnesota Municipal Beverage Association, bars are re– evaluating their businesses– reducing hours of operation, changing insurance, and offering new sales promotions.

Although resilient, liquor stores have adjusted their habits as well.

"We have a lot more specials where we've discounted at least 10–20 percent on a lot of our items," said Erickson.

Liquor stores also report, people are buying less beer, instead drinking wine and liquor to get a better buzz for their buck.