Milwaukee has been ranked by Forbes.com as "America's Drunkest City" on a list of 35 major metropolitan areas ranked for their drinking habits.
Forbes said Tuesday it used numbers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to rank cities in five areas: state laws, number of drinkers, number of heavy drinkers, number of binge drinkers and alcoholism.
If Milwaukee hasn't changed from what I remember as a tiny tot who got dragged up there every summer vacation to see the relatives, they could've won it based strictly on number of bars alone. It was quite impressive to see how many intersections had a tavern on each corner...of course, if I lived there, I'd get bombed every chance I could, just like my relatives....
Minneapolis-St. Paul was ranked second overall; followed by Columbus, Ohio; Boston; Austin, Texas; Chicago; Cleveland; Pittsburgh and then Philadelphia and Providence, R.I., in a tie for ninth.
Hmm. Aren't they all "blue" cities? Maybe there's a connection?
Rick DeMeyer, 28, said Wednesday as he was celebrating his birthday at G-Daddy's BBC he could understand Milwaukee's ranking. "I have had people stay with me from London and Chicago, and they can't get over how much we drink," he said. "I guess we do."
"Sometimes we don't drink. My cousin Bob, he throws up a lot." | But officials at Visit Milwaukee, the area's convention and visitors bureau, contend that the city has come a long way in ridding itself of its beer-guzzling image.
"Oh, yasss! We do ever so many other things than guzzle beer! We got... ummm... birds. You can go birdwatching!" | Milwaukeeans have plenty of other ways to entertain themselves without drinking alcohol, said Dave Fantle, a spokesman for the group.
Hey! Youse in da back! Stop yer chortling!
He noted a new convention center and baseball park had been built and the Milwaukee Art Museum expanded in recent years. "We've gone from Brew City to new city," he said.
Last time I went to a convention, I... ummm... drank a lot. Maybe too much. And what's baseball without a few beers? |
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