Best (And Worse) States For Beer Tolerance

One’s tolerance to beer varies for all kinds of reasons, a person’s mass is a factor, as is the strength of the brew or the time of day you choose to drink…

But now Alcohol.org has released a state-by-state breakdown on how many beers it takes for Americans to feel drunk.

This from the organization which is not so surprisingly affiliated with American Addiction Centers…

“If you plan to enjoy a beer (or a few), you should be aware of how it affects you, specifically, so you know where to set a limit. With this in mind, we wanted to learn more about how tolerance levels vary across the nation, which are broken down by state.”

The survey asked 2,580 Americans across every state a simple question: How many 4.5% alcohol by volume beers does it take for you to start feeling drunk? Then averaged the count of beers from each respondent by state to arrive at the average number of beers for each state.

Arizona residents ranked highest in beer tolerance (4.04 beers), followed by Michigan (4.02 beers). And Wisconsin (3.88 beers) and Missouri (3.87 beers) rounded out the ‘Best Beer Tolerance Top 5.’ The states with lowest perceived tolerances are Hawaii (2.71 beers), Idaho (2.75), Arkansas (2.90), Montana (2.92), and California (2.96).

They also isolated respondents in each state who reported feeling buzzed after only one beer and broke things out that way as well…

Montana reported the highest number of residents who feel drunk after one beer at 38% totally shooting down the concept of hearty westerners and beer. Next on the list are Hawaii and Idaho, each with 32.7% so that didn’t help either.

On the other hand only 12% of Michigan respondents reported feeling drunk after just one beer (a decent shoeing from the craft beer-friendly state)…followed by North Dakota and Wisconsin (both 11.8%)  and Maine (11.5%).

The national average for the number of beers one can drink before feeling drunk is 3.45 beers, by the way.

So what’s your average?