Local Newswire Report: Milwaukee falls from “America’s Drunkest City” to “America’s 3rd Drunkest City”

You have to hand it to the compulsive list makers at The Daily Beast: these folks know how to stir up some Internet shit. Take the annual “America’s Drunkest Cities” list, which is rolled out every year days before New Year’s Eve. Within minutes of the list going live, lushes from around the country take to the Intertubes to voice their displeasure with the rankings. (“Tuscon and Bismark are lightweights!”) And in case you were looking to get worked up, Milwaukee is ranked number three in 2011, down from number one in 2010. (Boston takes top honors this year.) You may begin your cries of “BULLSHIT!” now.

How does The Daily Beast calculate its rankings? According to the site:

The Daily Beast first analyzed data from Experian Simmons, a leading market-research firm, which provided data on the average number of alcoholic drinks per month the residents of more than 200 cities across the country reported to have consumed in a survey from earlier this year. As well, we considered the percent of the population that are either binge drinkers or heavy drinkers for each metro area, according to the most recent data available from the Centers for Disease Control. The average number of drinks was given twice the weight of the heavy- and binge-drinking population for the final rank.

As for Milwaukee’s numbers, they break down like this:

Population over age 21: 1,642,230
Avg. monthly drinks consumed per person: 15.7
Percent of population that are heavy drinkers:6.7%
Percent of population that are binge drinkers:18.9%

What does it all mean? Well, it’s clear we have some work to do in 2012. (Two extra hours of booze buying certainly won’t hurt.) Will Milwaukee be shut out of the number one slot again next year? In your dreams, Boston.