The Beer Institute doesn’t often offer insights into Wisconsin’s alcohol environment, but when the Beer Institute’s Chief Economist Lester Jones discussed factors that can impact alcohol sales, his perspective led me to an unexpected conclusion.
The interview with the Beer Institute’s Chief Economist Lester Jones for the blog, 24/7 Wall St. focused on annual beer sales by state with a focus on the 10 states with the highest annual beer sales per resident over age 21. Wisconsin is #6 on the list, selling an average of 36.2 gallons of beer for every resident aged 21 or older, compared to the national average of 28.3 gallons. What caught my eye was the list of factors Lester outlined that can suppress or enhance beer sales and how we have unintentionally contributed to our hostile alcohol environment.
First, Jones noted that not all states allow beer to be sold at gas stations, convenience or grocery stores. Of course, Wisconsin allows alcohol to be sold almost anywhere and as a result it is sold almost everywhere. Numbers and ratios vary but it is clear Wisconsin has one of the highest – if not the highest – ratio of licensed alcohol outlets per person in the nation.
Jones also noted that some states don’t allow beer sales on Sunday. Wisconsin not only allows alcohol purchases on Sunday, but the last Legislative session added 2 extra hours per day, every day for off-premises alcohol sales.
Mr. Jones then described how beer taxes can keep down the price of beer and may actually encourage some people to drive great distances for cheap suds. With the third lowest beer tax in the nations – just $0.065 per gallon – Wisconsin certainly does its part to keep prices down and unintentionally, keep consumption up. In total, it was a depressing litany of self-inflicted wounds that all contribute to the astounding level of alcohol-related harm we see here each year.
With 112 breweries located within Wisconsin it shouldn’t surprise anyone that most of the beer produced in Wisconsin is sold in other states. Ironically, our beer is sold in states where alcohol taxes are higher, where there are fewer locations selling alcohol and more restrictive limits on the days and hours of sale. Our failure to treat all alcohol, including beer, as a legal but carefully regulated product contributes to the fact that in Wisconsin one in every four drinkers is a binge drinker, and one in every ten drinkers is considered a heavy drinker according to the 24/7 Wall St. report. In fairness, Jones was simply explaining why sales statistics varied from state to state; his comments were an economic, not public health or political assessment.
But his analysis leads to an important but often overlooked fact: A robust beer industry is not dependent on an unhealthy and hostile alcohol environment. The great breweries of Wisconsin’s past created a legacy for a new generation of craft brewers who represent the future of brewing in Wisconsin. We can have both a healthy alcohol environment and healthy brewing industry if we are willing to abandon the flawed belief we can’t have both and adopt the strategies other communities, states and nations are using to moderate alcohol misuse.