When You See Montana’s Alcohol Consumption It Will Be Eye-Opening

It's no surprise that here in Montana we like to have a drink or two. What did surprise me is just how much we drink compared to the rest of the United States.  At least that's according to a recent map showing alcohol consumption for each state.

I came across this image on Reddit the other day and as I mentioned earlier, I was shocked at first at how much we drink here in Montana. That said there could be some variables that have us as high as we are.

It says we each drink 3.32 gallons a year.  Seems high, but that's really only thirty seven can of beers. That's less than one can of beer a week, which isn't all that much. That amount put Montana at number four in the nation. Number five if you count D.C.

In finding out more about this image, I found out that it's based on sales, not self-reported drinking habits. They just take the amount sold, and then divide by population and that gives the total.

It's why New Hampshire is so high with also a relatively small population.  There is no tax on liquor sales in New Hampshire as they are a "control" state and in charge of distribution and sales.  Neighboring states cross over into New Hampshire, buy their booze, then go back across state lines. It artificially bumps up their numbers. Same could go for Nevada as Las Vegas sells LOTS of booze to out of state visitors.

So, is that same thing happening with Montana? I'm not sure, we could have some Canadians coming down to the duty free store just across the border to boost our sales. Looking at the map I don't think neighboring states are coming here to buy, so it seems the numbers are all us.

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