The Client
Liquor Lux is an online liquor store based in California that ships rare and allocated spirits to most US states. Our Google Ads and Meta Ads for this liquor store turned $100K+ in ad spend into $460K+ in ad revenue from November 2024 to April 2026: $300K+ from Google and $160K+ from Facebook and Instagram.
The store specializes in hard-to-find bottles: allocated bourbon such as Blanton's, Weller, Eagle Rare and Pappy Van Winkle, top-shelf tequila, bourbon bundles and gift boxes. Our relationship started with a Google Ads audit for Liquor Lux in May 2022. In November 2024 we began building its campaigns.
"Four months of 2026 brought in more ad revenue than all of 2025."
The Challenge
- Alcohol is a restricted category. Google limits how alcohol can be advertised, and every state has its own shipping rules, so targeting has to follow where the store can actually deliver.
- High-priced, low-volume bottles. A single allocated bottle can sell for hundreds of dollars. One sale can make a month, and a few wasted clicks can break one.
- Collectors search by name. Buyers look for "Blanton's", "Pappy" or "Clase Azul", and every online liquor store bids on the same names.
- Seasonal demand. Gifting peaks in November and December, and the account has to be ready before the rush, not during it.
What We Built
1. Campaigns for the Store's Hero Bottles
In November 2024 we built a dedicated set of campaigns, Search, Shopping and Performance Max, for each of five allocated or premium labels the store was known for, so each bottle had its own budget and its own ads.
2. A Rebuild Around Performance Max
In September 2025 we rebuilt the account around a main Performance Max campaign for the store's top products and a second one dedicated to whiskey, both bid to maximize conversion value. The main campaign drove $180K+ in ad revenue at about 6x.
3. Value-Based Search With an A/B Test
Our Search campaigns covered buyer searches like "buy alcohol online", "order liquor online" and "liquor shipped to home". From September 2025 the main Search campaign bid on conversion value, and we ran an A/B test on it to tune the bidding.
4. Bottle-Specific Performance Max for 2026
In early 2026 we added Performance Max campaigns for two of the store's premium labels.
5. Targeting, Negatives and Assets
Nationwide targeting with state exclusions, 480+ negative keywords, and 10 asset groups with product images, logos, callouts and sitelinks.
6. Meta Ads: a Scale Campaign and a Prospecting Campaign
On Facebook and Instagram we ran two sales campaigns optimized for purchases: a Scale campaign built around single-bottle ads for the most wanted labels (Blanton's, Macallan, Pappy Van Winkle, Clase Azul, Elmer T. Lee, Weller), and a Prospecting campaign to bring in new buyers. Together they turned $34K+ into $160K+ in revenue, about 4.7x.
7. Daily Optimization via Ad Campaign Concierge™
Every campaign was reviewed daily through our proprietary Ad Campaign Concierge™ system: search-term mining, budget moved toward the bottles that sold, and bids tuned to purchase value.
The Results
Google Ads
- $300K+ in ad revenue from $70K+ in ad spend, about 4x ROAS
- 600+ orders from the ads
- $270K+ in the seven months after the rebuild, September 2025 to March 2026, at nearly 5x
- Best month: February 2026, $80K+ at about 9x
The Holiday Season and Beyond
December 2025 brought in $73K+ at about 6.5x, and the account kept going after the holidays: February 2026 was the best month of the engagement, $80K+ at about 9x.
Meta Ads: Bottle Ads That Sold
- $160K+ in revenue from $34K+ in Meta ad spend, about 4.7x, with 400+ purchases
- Scale campaign: $24K+ in spend at over 5x
- Prospecting campaign: $10K+ in spend at about 3.5x, finding new buyers
- Blanton's ad: $18K+ in spend at over 5x, 270+ purchases
- Macallan ad: over 13x. Pappy Van Winkle: about 8.5x. Clase Azul: over 5x.
Key Takeaways
- Give hero bottles their own campaigns. Allocated labels are what collectors search for, and a dedicated budget keeps them in front of those buyers.
- Let Performance Max bid on value. A $400 bottle and a $40 bottle are both one sale. Maximize conversion value puts the budget behind the bigger ones.
- Prepare before the holidays. The September rebuild had three months to learn before December, and December returned about 6.5x.
- Google Ads for liquor stores works year-round. The best month of the engagement came in February, not December.
- On Meta, sell the bottle, not the store. Ads built around one allocated label (Blanton's, Macallan, Pappy) returned 5x to 13x.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much should an online liquor store spend on Google Ads?
From September 2025 to March 2026, Liquor Lux spent between about $4,000 and $11,000 a month on our campaigns. Those seven months brought in $270K+ in ad revenue, nearly 5x the spend.
What ROAS can an online liquor store get from Google Ads?
Across the whole engagement, Liquor Lux averaged about 4x. After we rebuilt the account in September 2025 it ran at nearly 5x, December 2025 returned about 6.5x and February 2026 about 9x.
Does Performance Max work for an online liquor store?
It did here. Our main Performance Max campaign drove $180K+ in ad revenue at about 6x, and a second one dedicated to whiskey added $74K+.
Do Facebook and Instagram ads work for an online liquor store?
They did for Liquor Lux. Our two Meta campaigns turned $34K+ in ad spend into $160K+ in revenue, about 4.7x, with 400+ purchases. The Scale campaign ran at over 5x. Single-bottle ads did best: Blanton's returned over 5x on $18K+ of spend with 270+ purchases, Macallan over 13x, Pappy Van Winkle about 8.5x and Clase Azul over 5x.
Which bottles sell best through Google Ads?
Top-shelf tequila and allocated whiskey. Fortaleza Blanco tequila led with $29K+ in ad revenue, followed by aged Tennessee whiskey, Crown Royal XR and Pappy Van Winkle bourbon. In total, 130+ different bottles sold through our campaigns.
About This Campaign
Google Ads and Meta Ads for an online liquor store, built and optimized through our proprietary Ad Campaign Concierge™ system.
Industry: E-Commerce: Wine & Spirits Platforms: Google Ads (Performance Max, Shopping, Search), Meta Ads (Facebook and Instagram) Location: California (ships to most US states) Account Duration: November 2024 to April 2026. The engagement has ended.
Figures cover only the campaigns we built (the campaigns marked "LPA" in each account). Meta figures are purchase value and ROAS as reported by Meta Ads Manager for our Scale and Prospecting campaigns, 2025 to April 2026. Revenue is the value of the store's web purchase conversion action, online orders from the ads; add-to-cart and checkout steps are excluded. Our campaigns ran in November and December 2024 and from September 2025 to April 2026. All figures are approximate and rounded down, in US dollars.