A Brouhaha Brewing

This is not Napa Valley or the famous French wine country: this is Wisconsin, a place where Eastern Europeans emigrated, bringing with them their love of a frosty, cold beer. No craft brews...no sipping, swirling, breathing, or checking the legs of a drink: it's quaffing beer after a hard day's work and swapping stories over the refills at the neighborhood bar (NOT "pub"). This is the culture here...straight from Germany, Belgium, and all those places.
I was born of teetotalers in a state quite removed from here, but, having lived here for a long time, I get the culture. That's why the latest news from The Beer Institute surprised me. As if it were not enough that the University of Wisconsin is not among the top party schools in the country anymore, the state itself can only manage fifth place in the nationwide per capita beer consumption totals! Unheard of! really.
This information was provided by said Institute, a body that also noted the average consumption of beer per capita in the U.S this year was 28. 2 gallons, up from last year's total of 20.8 gallons per person. To put this year's total in perspective, that amount of foamy drink is equivalent to drinking 2, 15.5 gallon KEGS per year. Heady stuff, indeed! And the fact that the total is up almost 8 gallons per person is amazing for a one-year jump...especially in a positive economy!
Whatever the reason for Wisconsin's dismal fifth-place ranking, facts are facts: we're just not keeping up with the traditions of The Fatherland. Of course, I believe (but don't quote me) that Wisconsin is either first or second in brandy consumption...so maybe bee has lost some of the luster here...it certainly doesn't "warm" the body like brandy.
But you want to know the top ten, don't you. Here it is in descending order, listed with the number of gallons drunk (so to speak) per capita:
10. Maine, 34
9. Texas, 34.4
8. Nebraska, 35.2
7. Vermont, 35.5
6. Nevada, 35.8
5. Wisconsin, 36.2
4. South Dakota, 38.9  (notice the significant difference between Wisconsin and S.D.)
3. Montana, 41 (another big jump)
2. New Hampshire, 43.9
1. North Dakota, 45.8

Thus, the difference between #5 and #1 is more than 9 gallons per person.
Of course, if I lived in North Dakota, I might be tempted to drink more, too. Just saying.