One More End-of-Year List: How Drunk Were We In 2010?

By Karl Klockars in Food on Dec 30, 2010 9:30PM

Not as drunk as Milwaukee, but arguably more drunk than last year, that's how drunk.

The Daily Beast is 2010's self-appointed arbiter of drunkest cities of the year, and our neighbors north of the Cheddar Curtain are this year's victors in the race towards cirrhosis. Milwaukee tops the list, followed by Fargo, ND and San Francisco. The rankings were determined by number of drinks per month, percentage of the population that are heavy or binge drinkers, and the ever-cheery "number of deaths per 100,000 residents from alcoholic liver disease," and a Happy New Year to you too.

Chicago clocks in at #29, where we apparently have 13 drinks per month, and a full 18% of us are binge drinkers. High five! According to the Men's Health list from last year, that's a huge leap up from their ranking of #85, despite the apples-to-oranges factors on their list focusing on DUI arrest rates, harshness of DUI laws and how MADD rated each city.

The Beast is calling this year's list the first in an annual program, so next year we'll presumably be able to see what kind of real progress (depending on what you define as progress) we've made in alcohol intake. But certainly up-and-coming microbreweries like Finch, Pipeworks and the newly-opened Haymarket wont help. Er, hurt. Whatever.

Whether you're out on the town tomorrow night or hiding in a closet with a bottle of rotgut whiskey - keep in mind that we've got a lot of work to do next year if we want to crack the top ten. We're coming for you, Milwaukee. Watch out.