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The United States is a land of infinite variety. One of our founding principles – federalism – posits that government is most effective when it’s closest to the people, which takes into account the fact that the states and regions of a country as big as ours have some pretty significant cultural differences from place to place. What works in Maine may not work in California, and what works in Florida may not fly in Alaska.

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Another thing about America is this: Many of us (me, for example) enjoy a little snort or a glass of beer now and then. And, as with so many other things, that tendency also changes from place to place. Turns out a website called Intoxistates.com has compiled a map of the United States by county (or, here in the Great Land, by borough), and graded them as to what percentage of their residents are big drinkers. While there is no information given on the definition of “excessive drinkers,” the results are nonetheless interesting – and sometimes surprising:

Now, having grown up in northeast Iowa, and having spent a lot of time in the summers of my youth bumming around in places like Prairie du Chien, LaCrosse, Chippewa Falls, and Eau Claire–all Wisconsin towns–I was a little surprised to see that state come in with the highest percentage of excessive drinkers. What’s up, Wisconsin? Are the famous breweries of Milwaukee skewing your average?

 Is Wisconsin just that depressing a place to live, that it literally drives one to drink? Because it’s always seemed like a pretty agreeable place to me – although, the aforementioned Eau Claire, I must admit, produced my first wife, who (as a

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famous man once said) did drive me to drink; it’s the one thing I’m grateful to her for.

Some of the drier areas on the map aren’t too surprising. Green, on the map, notes the lower percentages of excessive drinkers, and Utah of course is pretty green, as are the states of the Bible Belt – Oklahoma, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennesee, parts of Georgia, and Kentucky. I’ve spent a fair amount of time in Utah, and that seems pretty reasonable to me. But the South? These are places with a great old, home-brewing tradition, and that makes one wonder how much booze is produced and consumed, shall we say, surreptitiously? 

New Mexico, it turns out, is also a pretty dry place, and not just the weather.

But here’s where something has to be badly wrong: 14.1 percent of Clark County, Nevada, are excessive drinkers. The county, I must point out, includes Las Vegas. It may be that familiarity really does drink contempt, and that whatever survey was done doesn’t include visitors to Sin City.

My old stomping grounds of Allamakee County, Iowa, fare somewhat better than the rest of the state, with 18.76 percent of the county being excessive drinkers as opposed to the state average of 23.12 percent. Our present home in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough barely nudges above the Alaska average, with 19.92 percent of borough residents tippling to excess as compared to 19.61 percent statewide. Trust me, I’m doing my part to maintain the average.

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 Take a look at your area, and compare this map with your estimations, if you like. You may find the results interesting – or just plain wrong. And, as always, if you have any observations, the comments are all yours!