Saturday, January 1, 2011

40 Drunkest Cities in America

Are you hungover on New Years Day, 2011? Lord knows I am. It's the one day of the year where binge drinking is socially acceptable, at least according to the Good Book - but what do they know, really?

Whenever I've traveled and gone out in different cities, I've always wondered whether the city I'm in is particular drunker (or more full of drunks?) than any other.

In the Bay Area, for instance, drinking is the most popular local sport - friends from there can invariably drink me under the table. Levels of drunkenness regularly approached the worst of my Fratterdays.

When I lived in Spain, however, blacking out was deeply frowned upon by the local people. Having a drink or two with your lunch on a Tuesday, however, was completely normal. This, of course, does not include Cadiz Carnaval, where the whole city shuts down so entire families can get debauched together for a solid week.

Drinking in Israel was a big disappointment. Not only is it the custom to nurse a beer or two for your entire evening, there's also a slight possibility the club you're in will be blown up by Palestinian terrorists.

So....is your city among the drunkest in the US? The study linked below measured the percentage of adults who are "binge drinkers" (more than four drinks in two hours) and the percent suffering from alcoholic liver disease.

Let's have a look at the rankings:

  1. Milwaukee, WI - colddddd
  2. Fargo, ND - even colder!
  3. San Francisco, CA - gays + sunshine = party people
  4. Austin, TX - live music, go figure
  5. Reno, NV - gambling :) sinners
  6. Burlington, VT - do they drink a lot of maple syrup, or what?
  7. Omaha, NE - BOW DOWN TO WASHINGTON, BITCHES!!! That should do something to their alcohol consumption, dontcha think?
  8. Boston, MA - let's get drunk in hahvahd yahd
  9. Anchorage, AK - is there a sarah palin shot up there?
  10. San Diego, CA - German for "whale's vagina"
Rounding out the list:

21. Spokane, WA - I would drink myself to sleep, too, if I were from here
24. St. Louis, MO - How my Dad manages to not do so is nothing short of a miracle
29. Chicago, IL - you have to drink if you're gonna eat a Chicago dog, those things are huge!
30. Seattle, WA - Goooo 206!
32. Portland, OR - microbrews are yummy :)



Via: The Daily Beast

4 comments:

  1. Way to go P-Town, Microbrews FTW! The dream of the 90's really IS alive in Portland.....

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  2. Trends I see:
    Cities with many College kids (Austin, SF, Boston, Milwaukee- booze most) The others are the extremes- nothing but sun, or nothing but snow (Fargo, Anchorage, St. Louis, Chi-town, Burlington, San Diego, Reno, and Austin fits here too). Not surprising. What I actually find surprising is that Seattle is even on the list. I think our stoner populations rival others thought...

    My 10 cents on Foreign Boozing:
    1- In Cuba, Rum is cheaper than Water, but the locals live on rations and have no cash= lots of wasted foreigners (if you're willing to risk your life to get in).
    2. Mexico- the tequila is safer than water, and I think Mexico actually means drunk in spanish (jk, obvi)
    3. New Zealand= Due to the uncontrollable amount of drunks, a "double shot" has actually been outlawed. This is good to know for future reference, because if you walk into a bar and order a "shot" it is actually a 'nip', or half shot. A "double" in New Zealand is actually the equivalent of our single, and a weak single at that. Also, the cap on beer % there is 4.5%. BIG thumbs down. G would be screwed.
    Ecuador- The people as a nation are quite small, and thus, cannot drink that much at all.

    I am not hungover today for the record. The only real benefit of taking it easy at home with mom and dog, splitting a bottle of champagne and 1994 cab sav. QUALITY liquor=ZERO hangover Something I'm still trying to teach you love birds ;).

    Happy New Year! Love you both. We'll have to go on a microbrewery tour of Portland soon, I believe there are 32 different ones there!

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  3. Thank you for the wonderful insights, Sav! Your comments about the US rankings are spot on :) For your weed comment, you could conceivably do a ranking of US cities' stonerdom by tabulating the number of medical pot dispensaries per capita on weedmaps.com. There are 13 in King County alone!

    On quality alcohol: I believe I am the only one of us who enjoys the Hennessy Beautiful, which as any mixologist will tell you, is the best drink in existence. David wins! That does sound like a sweet NYE, though. YES on the microbrewery tour, that is a must!

    Love you!

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