Who's Shocked?

Special thanks to Gbradley for bringing this to my attention: Forbes ranked Milwaukee the drunkest city in the nation. I'm sure a number of Cheddarsphere bloggers also caught this and I missed it.

Milwaukee ranks high for its drinking habits across the board. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Survey 2004, more than 70% of adult Milwaukeeans reported that they had had at least one alcoholic drink within the past 30 days--the highest percentage on our list.

30 days without beer? Who has that kind of fortitude? It's hard to believe that 70% is a high number, really. One drink a month? Perhaps the rest of the country needs to see what a Wisconsin Winter looks like. We drink in Winter because we're depressed, then we celebrate in Summer.

Twenty-two percent of Milwaukee respondents confessed to binge drinking, or having five or more drinks on one occasion--also the highest on our list.

Have the people who conducted this survey ever been to a wedding?

And 7.5% of the population were reported as heavy drinkers--adult men that have more than two drinks per day, or adult women who have more than one drink per day.

Hey, I'm from around here and I would label that "problem drinking," not "heavy drinking."

Cheers, Milwaukee! I'm tipping one back right now.