[_mdpn]

Speaking from experience (856 days sober, had my last drink a year after moving to Milwaukee), Milwaukee is a hell of a town for an alcoholic.

One of my favorite coffee shops is right near the PKWARE building off Pittsburgh Ave.

[okareaman]

I've been blind drunk in Milwaukee. I was attending the Naval training center just South. It was hell to wake up the next day with a raging hangover and have to march to chow in the cold wind coming off Lake Michigan in the winter. +2 years for me as well. I'm a much better programmer since I quit drinking.

[bogomipz]

I understand that Milwaukee has long been a center of brewing in the US but you're saying it also has a big binge drinking culture as well? Is that a historic relic of the big breweries were a substantial employer in the city?

[beart]

I suspect it's the climate and location. pretty much any mid sized great lakes city is the same way. It's ridiculously easy to turn into an alcoholic, especially in the winter.

[_mdpn]

It really does. There are two things that fit together for me:

First, access - I can think of twelve bars within walking distance of my apartment, four of which are on the same block, and a total of eight of which are within two blocks of my apartment. Almost every grocery store has a liquor store as a part (not separate store, just separate section with a register), and some stores, like WalMart, sell booze in the normal aisles. It's everywhere.

Second, culture - in Wisconsin, if you're under 21 but a parent, guardian, or spouse then you are allowed to be served, possess, or consume alcohol, so teenagers drinking at home as part of a party is completely legal in the state. Bars are so close to the house, and every area has their own, so social drinking, especially when the winter is cold and dark (in parts of the state in parts of the winter, the sun is set by 4:30 in the afternoon), is very popular. Many of the locals, if they're religious, come from a history of Catholic, Lutheran, and similar religions that were typically not parts of the temperance movement, and many of the cultures that settled the land - Scandinavian and German most commonly - are also known for their relationship to alcohol.

Third, recent developments - the part of Milwaukee I'm in was decimated when the manufacturing base was systematically hollowed out in the late 1980s through the current day. Desperation and escape are two motivators to drink, and there are parts of the community that I'm in that have been hit hard by that.

Lewis Black has a bit about drinking in Wisconsin. It is exaggerated, but only slightly so, in a way that I didn't quite understand before I moved here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WlwumGkSec

[bogomipz]

Wow. Ok Yeah that all makes good sense. Thanks for the Lewis Black link - "how do you know when its New Years?" Genius! Cheers.