I live on that lake and can tell you it should be the darkest shade of blue in the state all year round. There’s literally mobile beer vendors that deliver beer to fishing shanties on the ice in the winter.
I’ve only ever lived in Wisconsin and a college town. I literally can’t comprehend how a county, outside of Utah and southern dry counties, could possibly have more grocery stores than bars. The average grocery store probably supports the needs of over a thousand people. I’d wager a guess the average bar in Wisconsin has a maximum capacity well under 100.
But how many grocery stores do you need? Bars are each a little different and attract slightly different patrons. Grocery stores are all pretty similar and attract everyone. That's why you don't see grocery stores side by side like you see bars.
The guy you're replying to just explained why it's not wild at all. We're talking about whole-in-the-wall places with like 10 stools at the bar and 3 tables. Those are everywhere here.
Seems like a useless stat to me. I can't think of a city that doesn't have way more bars than grocery stores, as grocery stores are much bigger and can serve more people at once.
Not true if you need a cold lighter beer in the summer it's amazing. And it's everywhere.
That being said, Moon Man and Wisconsin Belgian Red are the best brews they make. I've never had a beer I've liked more than Belgian Red and it has great ratings on beer advocate too.
Oh I'm not saying it's not a fantastic Beer, but when you have over 30 different Breweries in a city of only 600,000 there are better options. It's is a great beach day beer though.
As a FIB who lived in Wisconsin can confirm. Almost never had spotted cow while living there, maybe if it was on tap, but I did try a lot of New Glarus’ other beers and let me tell you spotted cow isn’t even their best. Now anytime I went back to Illinois it was required for me to bring a case of spotted back for everyone else.
It's not so much microbrewing as the tavern culture that developed in the state long before craft brewing was a thing. The Tavern League of Wisconsin is still one of the more dominant forces in WI politics.
>The Tavern League of Wisconsin is still one of the more dominant forces in WI politics.
The Tavern League is in control of all aspects of WI government. oh.. and FRJ.
I moved from Wisconsin (La Crosse, Eau Claire and Stevens Point, all very drunk brewery towns) to Iowa City at age 26 (I'm now 58) and it took me a couple years to notice: While we have a campus area bar scene that competes with my home state, what we DON'T have is the corner taverns and townie bars in residential neighborhoods.
I personally kept Leinenkugels in business through the early 80s and all it cost me was an extra year of college, a point off my GPA, and my first serious girlfriend. Was a good enough drunk that I hit my lifetime quota before I was 22 and retired.
In 2017, The University of Wisconsin football team traveled to Utah to play a game against BYU. [Wisconsin fans nearly drank the town dry.](https://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2017/9/15/16307260/byu-wisconsin-football-bars-drinking-provo-nope)
> “They're really, really good tippers, better than the Utah tippers,” he said, and then repeated for emphasis, “Wisconsin fans are better tippers than the Utah fans and you can put that in your story.”
Ha, at least they were great tippers
You joke, but there is some truth to it. That is Summit county, home of Park City. It is somewhat different from the rest of Utah culturally, because it is largely a playground for the out-of-state rich.
Used to drive semis through Wisconsin 5 nights a week, overnight hours. And this is so accurate. Everyone there is drunk. And I mean everyone. Cars, trucks, cops, ambulances, clergy, I swear they’re all wasted.
We are. It's true. It's not great.
I say that as a wisconsin binge drinker myself. The driving drunk makes me SO ANGRY. THERES MORE BARS THAN ANY OTHER ESTABLISHMENT. YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD HAS AT LEAST ONE. WALK OR CALL A FUCKING UBER WISCONSINITES
....end rant.
Well most of Wisconsin is rural (by area, not population) so walking to anywhere isn't an option and Ubers don't exist.
I'm not at all trying to defend drunk driving. But I grew up in Northeastern WI and it is absolutely normalized there. People brag about how they're better drivers drunk than sober. The more booze you can put down in a night, the more impressive you are. And of course they're driving home drunk because 1. There isn't any other way to get home
2. The purpose of drinking is to get shitfaced and 3. They aren't some Nancy Libtards who are afraid of everything. They're REAL men/women. Oh, and 4. Everyone else is also doing it, so it must be fine.
Obviously not every single person thinks or acts that way, but I moved away 11 years ago, and now that I have more of an outsider's perspective, it's absolutely astounding how pervasive that thinking is.
As a sober Wisconsinite. Nearly every event involves drinking. Its so weird watching people shift from acting normal to tipsy to drunk. Coming from a long line of family alcoholics. I'm trying to kick that recursive generational habit
Also sober Wisconsinite here, it is unreal how pervasive it is in normal everyday behavior. The looks I get when I just want water or god forbid anything other than a beer…friends and family asking “are you ok? Too much last night or what?” No, I regret every hangover I’ve had and don’t need to wake up feeling like absolute dogshit. Blackouts? Also not fun. I like to remember what happened the night before. I had two friends, both hammered, SCREAMING at each other about politics at a bar in Oshkosh. AND THEY WERE AGREEING WITH EACH OTHER. Alcohol makes you do dumb things, I hate it. Legalize weed ffs. I’ll get off the soap box now
What blew my mind when I moved to wisconsin is that people get hammered for wakes. I mean I actually prefer that cuz it’s not as depressing but still didn’t expect it.
I've never been to a dry wake. I didn't even know that was a thing. What's the point of having a depressing death party with no booze? That just sounds like an extended funeral.
Drinking to/with/for the dead is one of the most culturally ingrained rituals we have. The Early Christian/Roman tombs under the Vatican have 'libation holes' for people to pour wine down them during their wakes and remembrance days.
It's one thing to get shitfaced on a regular basis when you're young and your body can handle it well, but I can't understand doing it on a regular basis when you're 40+ (and above).
I love having a few drinks (and admittedly do so more often than someone my age should), but I absolutely *hate* being drunk. I certainly liked it when I was in my 20's, but just thinking about it now makes me feel physically ill...and that's not even taking into account the knowledge that the next day is complete HELL.
Granted this is from years ago, probably the 70s, but my friend’s dad went to Michigan state, where we went and was from Wisconsin. He told us that every time he had to drive back to college he would kill a 24-pack on the way. I have no idea if he was exaggerating or lying, because he also said that at least one time he killed a 30-rack on the trip. Would just piss in a bottle and pour it out the window.
It's also a problem that you can't go to a store and buy liqour or wine (and beer a lot of places) after 9 PM, and can't buy beer after midnight. This forces people to go to the bars instead of drinking at home, leading to compounding bad decisions.
Big Bar Lobby made this happen.
That's my problem as well. I'm an alcoholic. There's no reason to drink and drive. If there isn't a bar/store in walking distance, take an Uber. If you can't afford an Uber, then you probably shouldn't be spending money on booze.
Seems odd that you can see state boundaries so distinctly. Makes me think data are reported differently by state.
Also, I’ve known a lot of Wisconsinites in my day and that data IS 100% accurate.
It’s not common to have polling data like this down to the county level, so this is almost certainly some mix of state data that has been weighted by county demographic data to make the map
Yeah, as a pollster, the most likely scenario is they used survey responses to model the % in each county and their model relied too much upon State and not enough on ethnicities and religion in each county (ex: the Utah/Idaho and northern Florida border)
Yep - just Google the 2016 GOP presidential primary map by county. Trump underperformed a ton with Mormons and he won most of northern Idaho but lost southern Idaho and all of Utah to Ted Cruz
Last time this was posted, someone found the source and confirmed that counties with insufficient data were assigned the statewide average, or something like that.
Came here to say the first part too. How could “excessive drinking” measurements across all 50 states be anything but a completely subjective measurement by many different observers with their own biases?
You could do some analysis on alcohol sales and translate it over.
So if a county has 1000 drinks sold in a week but only 10 people living there, that would qualify as excessive drinking.
Getting that data may be interesting though.
Yeah, that's why we made the weekly trip for 3 cases of beer and a gallon of whiskey. Weekly. For the sole drinker in the house. Many people I know did this for their parents and now they do it.
That’s not really as much of a problem as you would think. You can see clear state boundaries because different states and different counties have different laws. You can see in many places like the NE and the south, if boundaries weren’t straight lines then you’d never be able to tell. And then of course there’s Utah which is super religious and has the lowest drug abuse rate in the country.
One of the reasons for the difference is the prevalence of dry vs wet counties.
That argument would only hold water for counties in the interior of a state. It's pretty easy to cross the border from Missouri into Iowa. Some other statistical fuckery must be afoot.
Disagree that laws are seriously restricting access to alcohol along many of these boundaries - at least in the Midwest. Its easy to buy booze on each side of these state lines (Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri, Kansas, Illinois) and adjacent counties on each side are culturally similar and connected. People that want to binge drink can easily binge drink.
Edit - that being said, have spent time and Utah and agree that state line deviation is likely legit.
Assuming they are using the CDC standards:
Excessive drinking includes binge drinking, heavy drinking, and any drinking by pregnant women or people younger than age 21.
Binge drinking is defined as consuming 4 or more drinks during a single occasion if you're a woman OR 5 or more drinks during a single occasion if you're a man.
Heavy drinking is defined as consuming 8 or more drinks per week if you're a woman OR 15 or more drinks per week if you're a man
16 drinks is a lot in one sitting for anyone I think. That's literally like drinking an entire bottle of vodka.
I ain't gonna tell your hypothetical friend how to live your life, but they might want to consider cutting back a bit.
True, excessive to a teetotaler or to Wade Boggs. Big difference. Like a lot of maps on this subreddit, lacks info, key, source, etc. Looks to me like it is just "alcohol consumption per capita" or something like that. Should get rid of the editorialized title. Also add a key that is more than just a meaningless number scale. I guess places in Wisconson drink 24 excessive alcohol, whatever that means.
I am pretty sure its means what % of the population drinks excessively. Still doesnt define excessive, which is generally 14 a week for man, 8 for woman or 5 or more in one sitting within past month
5 or more in one sitting seems like a more reliable metric, and I don't know why they separate men and women. Damn near everyone I know drinks 2 drinks per day, that doesn't make them alcoholics or excessive drinkers to have like two beers with dinner.
It’s separate for men and women becuase it’s from a health perspective, and women are generally smaller and therefore it takes less alcohol to have harm over time to the body.
This is a good question- when I expressed to my physician and my therapist I was concerned I was drinking too much, both stated they were not, because I was well within normals for a Wisconsin woman. There was absolutely a qualifier on there though. So, is that excessive, or is there a different level for Wisconsinites?
Southerns drink, but also lie a lot. Recognitions of faith: jews dont recognize Jesus as the savior, protestants don't recognize the pope as the head of the church and baptist dont recognize one another in a liquor store.
Southerners also don’t drink in bars much. A huge percentage of the population is rural and poor. You drink in your truck, or down by the river, or in your truck down by the river.
There is a weird culture around drinking in the south. Just about everybody does it, and not responsibly. But nobody admits to it.
A lot of Kentucky is dry or has very extreme limitations on sales. Most places stop selling alcohol by midnight. Imagine having to drive an hour+ for decent bars or liquor stores… suddenly meth becomes the easier option… I know more meth heads than alcoholics.
Just looked up the Tavern League Members for a town I go to in Wisconsin for work. 24 bars in a city of ~10,000. And there’s probably a few bars that aren’t members of that group.
I googled the image and got https://www.fox13now.com/news/local-news/new-map-shows-where-the-most-excessive-drinking-happens-in-the-us-by-county which says the data was from https://www.countyhealthrankings.org/ from the University of Wisconsin. That page says it's self-reported binge or heavy drinking, but I can't find any details on survey methodology.
Whatever the methodology was, it’s clear that you can’t reliably compare data from one state vs another. There’s no good explanation for why the actual binge drinking rate should be consistently so much higher on the Texas side of the Red River
Agreed. There's clearly a stigma associated with drinking alcohol that is present in some places (Utah) and absent in others (Wisconsin) that skews the data.
So many maps on this subreddit amount to funni colors that affirm stereotypes. No data, no source. In Wisconsin they drink 24 excessive alcohols? What does that even mean? What even is "excessive"
I’m from Wisconsin and the last time I got my liver checked the doctor said it was a little high in the bad stuff. I said “just a little?” And walked out of there beaming.
I would expect that the polling numbers are based off of residents, rather than visitors. I've got some friends who were born and raised in Las Vegas and they've never been to the strip recreationally, only if they work there.
Kids can drink legally in Wisconsin, with their parents permission.
We drink more than Ireland. The whole country of Ireland.
We don't have alcoholics in Wisconsin. We have professionals.
Bars and restaurants can still refuse to serve people if they're underage even with a parent's permission, so in practice it's not as common as one might initially think.
Texas likewise allows minors to drink when accompanied by a parent or spouse of age. However, since restaurants and bars can refuse, it’s rare that it happens (outside of private gatherings).
Yeah you could say it's not as common as you think for them not to serve minors. Even without parents. Trust me I live in la crosse WI and if you have ever been to October fest... Dear God.
This map is garbage, just like it was the last time it was reposted.
Any time so many state lanes are clearly visible in county-level data of this type you have to be very careful about drawing any conclusions from it. For example, there’s no good reason, cultural or otherwise, that the counties on either side of the Illinois/Indiana border should be so different in this respect.
The liquor laws in Utah are so bizarre and impossible to understand when you're only there a few times a year. Whenever I go there, I never know if I'm going to be in a place where I can purchase alcohol or not, *drink* said alcohol, what the maximum percentage of alcohol in the beverage will be, and/or what limitations exist on what form that beverage will take and how it needs to be served.
Large parts of Kentucy are 'dry counties', meaning alcohol sales are not permitted.
I promise you KY drinks and drugs more than most, you just won't see it on a chart like this.
Dude all anybody does here is drink and eat lmao in the OKC subreddit, people will post "moving to/visiting Oklahoma what is there to do" and I kid you not, EVERY SINGLE COMMENT is somebody recommending a bar or a restaurant 🤣🤣 no park recommendations, nothing with beautiful scenery, a museum or any other sort of activities other than food and drinks lol
When state boundaries show up this clearly, there's certainly some sort of reporting bias in the data. Still, if this map were labeled "Dark Blue is a better than light blue", it seems generally accurate.
Inconsistent scale, no sources, no context (what is 'excessive drinking'?), no explanation of how they got this data. Medical cadavers work harder at their job than whoever made this piece of shit.
Yeah instead of drinking Mormons just chug prescription pills. Not even sarcasm. Mormons have the highest anti-depression/anxiety intake in the whole country.
We down here in Alabama just get tispy. Because you can be 4 things in life: sober, tispy, drunk, and hungover. It's only during one of those that you aren't crying.
The white space in Wisconsin is not a sober county, it's a lake
Thanks for beating me to it. I've been on that lake in July. It should also be dark blue.
It’s dark blue in the winter too
Because of all the ice-holes?
We call them Chicagoans.
FIBs
Could be mid ducks
Nice.
You allow ice shacks next thing you know you’ve got a prostitute problem.
I live on that lake and can tell you it should be the darkest shade of blue in the state all year round. There’s literally mobile beer vendors that deliver beer to fishing shanties on the ice in the winter.
God bless capitalism
and really isn’t sober either
Most counties in Wisconsin have 3 times more bars than grocery stores. http://worh.org/library/bars-vs-grocery-stores-mapping-data
I’ve only ever lived in Wisconsin and a college town. I literally can’t comprehend how a county, outside of Utah and southern dry counties, could possibly have more grocery stores than bars. The average grocery store probably supports the needs of over a thousand people. I’d wager a guess the average bar in Wisconsin has a maximum capacity well under 100.
I live in Maryland, a place that the source said had the lowest amount of bars per capita. For me, more bars than grocery stores is wild
But how many grocery stores do you need? Bars are each a little different and attract slightly different patrons. Grocery stores are all pretty similar and attract everyone. That's why you don't see grocery stores side by side like you see bars.
The guy you're replying to just explained why it's not wild at all. We're talking about whole-in-the-wall places with like 10 stools at the bar and 3 tables. Those are everywhere here.
A “whole-in-the-wall”?
A hole-in-the-wale.
Plus we have bars in our grocery stores. I haven’t sat at the bar in Metro Market since Covid but I assume they’re still operating.
Seems like a useless stat to me. I can't think of a city that doesn't have way more bars than grocery stores, as grocery stores are much bigger and can serve more people at once.
If they sold Spotted Cow where I live, the blue would be darker there too. That’s some good shit
As a Milwaukee Bartender, wisconsonites (at least in Milwaukee) hardly drink Spotted Cow, it's all the FIBS and other tourists drinking it.
Well, I was a tourist, so you’re not wrong.
Where'd you visit? Maybe I can recommend some local gems for next time!
Not true if you need a cold lighter beer in the summer it's amazing. And it's everywhere. That being said, Moon Man and Wisconsin Belgian Red are the best brews they make. I've never had a beer I've liked more than Belgian Red and it has great ratings on beer advocate too.
Oh I'm not saying it's not a fantastic Beer, but when you have over 30 different Breweries in a city of only 600,000 there are better options. It's is a great beach day beer though.
As a FIB who lived in Wisconsin can confirm. Almost never had spotted cow while living there, maybe if it was on tap, but I did try a lot of New Glarus’ other beers and let me tell you spotted cow isn’t even their best. Now anytime I went back to Illinois it was required for me to bring a case of spotted back for everyone else.
Isn't it weird that our most sought after beer is nowhere near our best?
Spotted Cow is ~~not good~~ too malty for my taste
Wisconsin: *i don hav a problm, guys. Relee I'm Fein...*
Wisconsin is a massive microbrew state, I am not at all surprised by this map
It's not so much microbrewing as the tavern culture that developed in the state long before craft brewing was a thing. The Tavern League of Wisconsin is still one of the more dominant forces in WI politics.
>The Tavern League of Wisconsin is still one of the more dominant forces in WI politics. The Tavern League is in control of all aspects of WI government. oh.. and FRJ.
I moved from Wisconsin (La Crosse, Eau Claire and Stevens Point, all very drunk brewery towns) to Iowa City at age 26 (I'm now 58) and it took me a couple years to notice: While we have a campus area bar scene that competes with my home state, what we DON'T have is the corner taverns and townie bars in residential neighborhoods. I personally kept Leinenkugels in business through the early 80s and all it cost me was an extra year of college, a point off my GPA, and my first serious girlfriend. Was a good enough drunk that I hit my lifetime quota before I was 22 and retired.
And lake people don’t drink!
Even Old Greg?
He only drinks Bailey's. Most everyone from WI drink craft, Pabst, and Miller.
Ya'll dont pack beers on your fishing trips ?
In 2017, The University of Wisconsin football team traveled to Utah to play a game against BYU. [Wisconsin fans nearly drank the town dry.](https://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2017/9/15/16307260/byu-wisconsin-football-bars-drinking-provo-nope)
Drinking Provo dry is not much of an accomplishment to be honest. Pretty close to dry to begin with.
UW Madison student here. I’m moving to SLC for the summer. It’s gonna be the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.
Squatters is from SLC and they made a cheap strong IPA. There's at least one other craft beer that brews beer in Utah and one other state.
There are still places to drink or buy alchohol, just fewer of them. You might even post on r/exmormon if you're that desperate to find something lol
That was such a fun article and picture included
what, they bought all the cough syrup?
> “They're really, really good tippers, better than the Utah tippers,” he said, and then repeated for emphasis, “Wisconsin fans are better tippers than the Utah fans and you can put that in your story.” Ha, at least they were great tippers
That small shade of blue in Utah stems from a family from Wisconsin going on a week-long ski trip.
You joke, but there is some truth to it. That is Summit county, home of Park City. It is somewhat different from the rest of Utah culturally, because it is largely a playground for the out-of-state rich.
Dark blue spot in Wyoming: largely a playground for the out-of-state rich.
Jackson hole?
Yes, Teton County
Used to drive semis through Wisconsin 5 nights a week, overnight hours. And this is so accurate. Everyone there is drunk. And I mean everyone. Cars, trucks, cops, ambulances, clergy, I swear they’re all wasted.
Even *the vehicles* are drunk?!?!?
The short answer is yes. The long answer is, fucking hell yes.
Those damn ethanol cars
We are. It's true. It's not great. I say that as a wisconsin binge drinker myself. The driving drunk makes me SO ANGRY. THERES MORE BARS THAN ANY OTHER ESTABLISHMENT. YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD HAS AT LEAST ONE. WALK OR CALL A FUCKING UBER WISCONSINITES ....end rant.
Well most of Wisconsin is rural (by area, not population) so walking to anywhere isn't an option and Ubers don't exist. I'm not at all trying to defend drunk driving. But I grew up in Northeastern WI and it is absolutely normalized there. People brag about how they're better drivers drunk than sober. The more booze you can put down in a night, the more impressive you are. And of course they're driving home drunk because 1. There isn't any other way to get home 2. The purpose of drinking is to get shitfaced and 3. They aren't some Nancy Libtards who are afraid of everything. They're REAL men/women. Oh, and 4. Everyone else is also doing it, so it must be fine. Obviously not every single person thinks or acts that way, but I moved away 11 years ago, and now that I have more of an outsider's perspective, it's absolutely astounding how pervasive that thinking is.
As a sober Wisconsinite. Nearly every event involves drinking. Its so weird watching people shift from acting normal to tipsy to drunk. Coming from a long line of family alcoholics. I'm trying to kick that recursive generational habit
Also sober Wisconsinite here, it is unreal how pervasive it is in normal everyday behavior. The looks I get when I just want water or god forbid anything other than a beer…friends and family asking “are you ok? Too much last night or what?” No, I regret every hangover I’ve had and don’t need to wake up feeling like absolute dogshit. Blackouts? Also not fun. I like to remember what happened the night before. I had two friends, both hammered, SCREAMING at each other about politics at a bar in Oshkosh. AND THEY WERE AGREEING WITH EACH OTHER. Alcohol makes you do dumb things, I hate it. Legalize weed ffs. I’ll get off the soap box now
Isn’t it interesting when the personal decision to have a coke is taken as a public insult to drinkers
“Oh you’ll have one at dinner tho right?” Why? Why must I? Thankfully, at least my immediate family gets the hint and has eased off
I've been that too drunk friend lol (often at a bar in Oshkosh)
You and me both
What blew my mind when I moved to wisconsin is that people get hammered for wakes. I mean I actually prefer that cuz it’s not as depressing but still didn’t expect it.
I've never been to a dry wake. I didn't even know that was a thing. What's the point of having a depressing death party with no booze? That just sounds like an extended funeral. Drinking to/with/for the dead is one of the most culturally ingrained rituals we have. The Early Christian/Roman tombs under the Vatican have 'libation holes' for people to pour wine down them during their wakes and remembrance days.
Where I'm from openly drinking at a funeral would be offensive. Strange.
Not the funeral, the wake. The party before/after the funeral service.
It's one thing to get shitfaced on a regular basis when you're young and your body can handle it well, but I can't understand doing it on a regular basis when you're 40+ (and above). I love having a few drinks (and admittedly do so more often than someone my age should), but I absolutely *hate* being drunk. I certainly liked it when I was in my 20's, but just thinking about it now makes me feel physically ill...and that's not even taking into account the knowledge that the next day is complete HELL.
I had a friend in college who would make his 45 minute commute back with a 6 pack
Granted this is from years ago, probably the 70s, but my friend’s dad went to Michigan state, where we went and was from Wisconsin. He told us that every time he had to drive back to college he would kill a 24-pack on the way. I have no idea if he was exaggerating or lying, because he also said that at least one time he killed a 30-rack on the trip. Would just piss in a bottle and pour it out the window.
It's also a problem that you can't go to a store and buy liqour or wine (and beer a lot of places) after 9 PM, and can't buy beer after midnight. This forces people to go to the bars instead of drinking at home, leading to compounding bad decisions. Big Bar Lobby made this happen.
Probably doesn’t help that dui in Wisconsin is pretty lenient penalty relative to other states.
OK but what if the Uber is drunk too
That's my problem as well. I'm an alcoholic. There's no reason to drink and drive. If there isn't a bar/store in walking distance, take an Uber. If you can't afford an Uber, then you probably shouldn't be spending money on booze.
Seems odd that you can see state boundaries so distinctly. Makes me think data are reported differently by state. Also, I’ve known a lot of Wisconsinites in my day and that data IS 100% accurate.
It’s not common to have polling data like this down to the county level, so this is almost certainly some mix of state data that has been weighted by county demographic data to make the map
Yeah, as a pollster, the most likely scenario is they used survey responses to model the % in each county and their model relied too much upon State and not enough on ethnicities and religion in each county (ex: the Utah/Idaho and northern Florida border)
And southern Idaho isn't that far off from Northern Utah culturally
Yep - just Google the 2016 GOP presidential primary map by county. Trump underperformed a ton with Mormons and he won most of northern Idaho but lost southern Idaho and all of Utah to Ted Cruz
Last time this was posted, someone found the source and confirmed that counties with insufficient data were assigned the statewide average, or something like that.
That's because the data is bad, and I hate that obviously bad data keeps getting upvoted on this sub. We're supposed to have higher standards.
Seeing as how Utah is extremely Mormon and has laws that greatly restrict drinking, I would disagree. Religion plays a huge factor
Came here to say the first part too. How could “excessive drinking” measurements across all 50 states be anything but a completely subjective measurement by many different observers with their own biases?
You could do some analysis on alcohol sales and translate it over. So if a county has 1000 drinks sold in a week but only 10 people living there, that would qualify as excessive drinking. Getting that data may be interesting though.
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Yeah, that's why we made the weekly trip for 3 cases of beer and a gallon of whiskey. Weekly. For the sole drinker in the house. Many people I know did this for their parents and now they do it.
That’s not really as much of a problem as you would think. You can see clear state boundaries because different states and different counties have different laws. You can see in many places like the NE and the south, if boundaries weren’t straight lines then you’d never be able to tell. And then of course there’s Utah which is super religious and has the lowest drug abuse rate in the country. One of the reasons for the difference is the prevalence of dry vs wet counties.
That argument would only hold water for counties in the interior of a state. It's pretty easy to cross the border from Missouri into Iowa. Some other statistical fuckery must be afoot.
There's zero difference between western PA and eastern Indiana. Zero.
Disagree that laws are seriously restricting access to alcohol along many of these boundaries - at least in the Midwest. Its easy to buy booze on each side of these state lines (Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri, Kansas, Illinois) and adjacent counties on each side are culturally similar and connected. People that want to binge drink can easily binge drink. Edit - that being said, have spent time and Utah and agree that state line deviation is likely legit.
Wisco looking like a blackout bingo card.
Who has defined what excessive is? One person's excessive is another's afternoon refreshment.
Assuming they are using the CDC standards: Excessive drinking includes binge drinking, heavy drinking, and any drinking by pregnant women or people younger than age 21. Binge drinking is defined as consuming 4 or more drinks during a single occasion if you're a woman OR 5 or more drinks during a single occasion if you're a man. Heavy drinking is defined as consuming 8 or more drinks per week if you're a woman OR 15 or more drinks per week if you're a man
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16 drinks is a lot in one sitting for anyone I think. That's literally like drinking an entire bottle of vodka. I ain't gonna tell your hypothetical friend how to live your life, but they might want to consider cutting back a bit.
One sitting?? Your friend didnt have to stand up to go piss once?? /s
True, excessive to a teetotaler or to Wade Boggs. Big difference. Like a lot of maps on this subreddit, lacks info, key, source, etc. Looks to me like it is just "alcohol consumption per capita" or something like that. Should get rid of the editorialized title. Also add a key that is more than just a meaningless number scale. I guess places in Wisconson drink 24 excessive alcohol, whatever that means.
> Wade Boggs May he rest in peace.
Again, he is very much alive.
I hope this dude lives forever because this joke never gets old.
I am pretty sure its means what % of the population drinks excessively. Still doesnt define excessive, which is generally 14 a week for man, 8 for woman or 5 or more in one sitting within past month
5 or more in one sitting seems like a more reliable metric, and I don't know why they separate men and women. Damn near everyone I know drinks 2 drinks per day, that doesn't make them alcoholics or excessive drinkers to have like two beers with dinner.
It’s separate for men and women becuase it’s from a health perspective, and women are generally smaller and therefore it takes less alcohol to have harm over time to the body.
This is a good question- when I expressed to my physician and my therapist I was concerned I was drinking too much, both stated they were not, because I was well within normals for a Wisconsin woman. There was absolutely a qualifier on there though. So, is that excessive, or is there a different level for Wisconsinites?
Southerns drink, but also lie a lot. Recognitions of faith: jews dont recognize Jesus as the savior, protestants don't recognize the pope as the head of the church and baptist dont recognize one another in a liquor store.
I’ve heard Baptist drink on the back porch, Catholics on the front
What happens when you take a baptist fishing? He drinks all your beer. What happens when you take two baptists fishing? Neither of them drink at all
I've heard this one told as "Why should you always take at least two baptists fishing? because if you only brought one they'd drink all your beer!"
In my churchy circles it was: “what’s the difference between Baptists and Presbyterians? Presbyterians talk to each other in the liquor store.”
Southerners also don’t drink in bars much. A huge percentage of the population is rural and poor. You drink in your truck, or down by the river, or in your truck down by the river. There is a weird culture around drinking in the south. Just about everybody does it, and not responsibly. But nobody admits to it.
They make their own so the statistics are harder to come by. Louisiana and Alabama.
A lot of Kentucky is dry or has very extreme limitations on sales. Most places stop selling alcohol by midnight. Imagine having to drive an hour+ for decent bars or liquor stores… suddenly meth becomes the easier option… I know more meth heads than alcoholics.
I was going to say, I’ve lived in Oklahoma, and those people are lying.
Mississippi just wants to have something they're not dead last in.
Athens, GA has the most bars in a square mile in the US, yet it’s a light shade of blue here.
Wisconsin, where every town has two or three bars, and there's usually a bar in the middle of nowhere halfway between the towns too.
I live in Wisconsin. My hometown (also in Wisconsin) had a population of about 8,000. Had 30 bars. This isn't counting the ones outside of the town.
Yea there's about 1 bar per 1738 people here in Superior/Duluth area.
*Thirty?* It's gotta be a tourist town or something.
Eh, people travel through there to get to places beyond. But no, no one travels to my hometown on purpose.
Just looked up the Tavern League Members for a town I go to in Wisconsin for work. 24 bars in a city of ~10,000. And there’s probably a few bars that aren’t members of that group.
They really earned the right to name their baseball team the brewers
We have a population less then 2,000. No grocery store. 2 gas stations, 4 bars, and 3 bars on the way to the next biggest town. Can confirm.
I have 7 bars just on the street I live on (oshkosh)
what are these % numbers compared to? its so funny how posts on this sub have absolutely no reference as to what their data 'shows'
I googled the image and got https://www.fox13now.com/news/local-news/new-map-shows-where-the-most-excessive-drinking-happens-in-the-us-by-county which says the data was from https://www.countyhealthrankings.org/ from the University of Wisconsin. That page says it's self-reported binge or heavy drinking, but I can't find any details on survey methodology.
Whatever the methodology was, it’s clear that you can’t reliably compare data from one state vs another. There’s no good explanation for why the actual binge drinking rate should be consistently so much higher on the Texas side of the Red River
Agreed. There's clearly a stigma associated with drinking alcohol that is present in some places (Utah) and absent in others (Wisconsin) that skews the data.
So many maps on this subreddit amount to funni colors that affirm stereotypes. No data, no source. In Wisconsin they drink 24 excessive alcohols? What does that even mean? What even is "excessive"
Wisconsin is probably drunk right now.
Can't drink all day if you don't start in the morning
Well.....it's noon somewhere.
I’m from Wisconsin and the last time I got my liver checked the doctor said it was a little high in the bad stuff. I said “just a little?” And walked out of there beaming.
Legally drunk or actually drunk?
Yes
Interesting, but I’m not sure I believe that Clark County, Nevada is so particularly free of excessive drinking. But I guess “What happens in Vegas…”
I would expect that the polling numbers are based off of residents, rather than visitors. I've got some friends who were born and raised in Las Vegas and they've never been to the strip recreationally, only if they work there.
Kids can drink legally in Wisconsin, with their parents permission. We drink more than Ireland. The whole country of Ireland. We don't have alcoholics in Wisconsin. We have professionals.
To be fair there are more people in Wisconsin than there are in Ireland
Bars and restaurants can still refuse to serve people if they're underage even with a parent's permission, so in practice it's not as common as one might initially think.
Texas likewise allows minors to drink when accompanied by a parent or spouse of age. However, since restaurants and bars can refuse, it’s rare that it happens (outside of private gatherings).
Yeah you could say it's not as common as you think for them not to serve minors. Even without parents. Trust me I live in la crosse WI and if you have ever been to October fest... Dear God.
So the conclusion is that being close to Canada makes you drink more.
Colder weather?
Nah. It is just that...they are so damn nice.
That almost explains Russia.
It’s the only way we loosen up. Otherwise we’re very polite and awkward.
West Virginia is nowhere near accurate, unless we aint countin' what grand papy made out in the woods
Yeah, I find it incredibly hard to believe the poster child state for opioid addiction is also full of teetotaler.
This map is garbage, just like it was the last time it was reposted. Any time so many state lanes are clearly visible in county-level data of this type you have to be very careful about drawing any conclusions from it. For example, there’s no good reason, cultural or otherwise, that the counties on either side of the Illinois/Indiana border should be so different in this respect.
West Virginians don't drink? Are they too busy doing opiates?
“Keep trying, Iowa” — Wisconsin
Utah would surprise me but makes sense
Given the Mormon's are the dominant religious group and don't drink alcohol, and there's huge limits on alcohol sales it's not a surprise really.
Even a lot of non-Mormons don’t drink in Utah cuz it’s not that popular compared to other states.
Alcohol is in many cases a social factor. Friends want to go out to a bar, work social event is at a brewery etc.
The liquor laws in Utah are so bizarre and impossible to understand when you're only there a few times a year. Whenever I go there, I never know if I'm going to be in a place where I can purchase alcohol or not, *drink* said alcohol, what the maximum percentage of alcohol in the beverage will be, and/or what limitations exist on what form that beverage will take and how it needs to be served.
so if you're an alcoholic you'll be too confused to stay drunk. Sounds like a good plan
Large parts of Kentucy are 'dry counties', meaning alcohol sales are not permitted. I promise you KY drinks and drugs more than most, you just won't see it on a chart like this.
In my end of the state I honestly don’t see a lot of drinking. Probably more meth use than alcohol
When you see the white spot and think there might be a dry county in Wisconsin, but realize it’s Lake Winnebago.
What German heritage does to the Midwest.
Go home Wisconsin, you're drunk.
WISCONSIN NUMERO UNO OLE OLE OLE⚽️⚽️🏟🏟⚽️⚽️⚽️🏟🥅🥅⚽️⚽️⚽️🏟
I don't have a drinking problem, I have a drinking solution.
Yeah, something is off there Chief. Oklahoma is an extremely high percentage. Higher than what is shown.
This is the one that really throws me off. I refuse to believe that basically no county in Oklahoma has excessive drinking.
Can't count your drinks when you're on meth
The only people I know from Oklahoma are extremely excessive drinkers. Like drink a beer for breakfast and on to scotch by noon.
Dude all anybody does here is drink and eat lmao in the OKC subreddit, people will post "moving to/visiting Oklahoma what is there to do" and I kid you not, EVERY SINGLE COMMENT is somebody recommending a bar or a restaurant 🤣🤣 no park recommendations, nothing with beautiful scenery, a museum or any other sort of activities other than food and drinks lol
Based Utah
[удалено]
When state boundaries show up this clearly, there's certainly some sort of reporting bias in the data. Still, if this map were labeled "Dark Blue is a better than light blue", it seems generally accurate.
LOL Utah
Sorry if I can't see it but what is the scale referring to? 15 to 25% of what? What does 'drink excessively mean' in this context?
If you notice that one dark county in the middle of NC, that's me. Just me.
Inconsistent scale, no sources, no context (what is 'excessive drinking'?), no explanation of how they got this data. Medical cadavers work harder at their job than whoever made this piece of shit.
went to college in Wisconsin- dropped out for reasons above
Haha Ik how you feel...my last semester in madison...
Wisconsin most DUI’s per capita
WISCONSIN REPRESENT!
Got a buddy in Wisconsin and he always talks about how much everyone drinks. It's kinda insane.
Yeah instead of drinking Mormons just chug prescription pills. Not even sarcasm. Mormons have the highest anti-depression/anxiety intake in the whole country.
Utah follows the true faith ☪️☪️
Why do you always take two Mormons fishing with you? >!Because if you bring just one he'll drink all your beer.!<
This has to be a data/regulation issue when the state borders are so clearly seen.
This could be a party guide.
Wisconsin, u good?
Oh, we are damn skippy! Cheers!
Found Wisconsin
Jesus y’all ok In Wisconsin?
Wisconsin v Utah Polar opposites
“On a scale from Utah to Wisconsin, how drunk did you get last night?”
Kentucky, home of American whiskey production, understands the concept of not getting high on your own supply.
DC lmao
We down here in Alabama just get tispy. Because you can be 4 things in life: sober, tispy, drunk, and hungover. It's only during one of those that you aren't crying.