A gas station and convenience store in Lincoln has sold the most cases of Twisted Tea in Maine for five years in a row.
The Why Not Stop, which has been owned and operated by Dani Raval since 2018, outpaced Maine’s typical Twisted Tea sales by a long shot this year. The store became the highest seller for the first time in 2020, and has repeated that feat every year since.
According to Raval, the store sold around 9,600 cases of Twisted Tea in 2024. That’s approximately 800 12-pack cases sold per month. He said that the store that sold the second-largest number of cases had just 30 percent of the sales of the Why Not Stop in 2024.
Raval didn’t have a direct answer as to why the store is such a popular place to purchase Twisted Tea. He did note that he tries to keep sales prices as close to the distributor’s prices as possible.
According to a report by Statista, the Twisted brand was the top-selling malt beverage in the United States in 2024, bringing in more than $1 billion in sales.
The sales milestone is recognized by Pine State Beverage, a Maine-owned distribution company. After totals for the year are tallied, the top-selling store is awarded a banner celebrating the accomplishment.
Raval plans to hold a celebration for the public in March or April. In years past, Twisted Tea’s “Truck Yeah” tour has stopped in Lincoln, hosting raffles and other entertainment.
Raval and his family have been involved with the store since it almost shut down in 2018. In 2021, they added a beer cave. The store carries Maine-made beverages alongside the typical beer and liquor products.
After seeing success with the Why Not Stop, Raval now owns 10 businesses in northern Maine. He also said he has plans to expand past convenience and food service businesses in the future.
He attributed the sales success to community building. Raval often works 12 hours, or longer, a day, and spends much of that time getting to know customers and spending time at his businesses.
“I know each and every customer’s name. Being connected with the community, it’s amazing,” he said. “When we got the store, it was like a customer every 30 minutes or so.”
Now, there is hardly a quiet moment in the business. As people walked in to make their purchases Thursday, calls greeting Raval could be heard regularly. Some customers have become friendly enough with the Raval family that they greet each other with “namaste,” a common Hindi pleasantry.
Lincoln is rebounding from the loss of the Lincoln Pulp and Tissue mill in 2015. The mill had been the town’s third-largest employer.
Nearly a decade later, the town has seen a small boom in business ventures, as well as an interest in housing that picked up during the pandemic. Home values are expected to rise around 6.5 percent in 2025 as the region continues to attract more people seeking rural homes.