Overview: New Hampshire’s revenue from spirits, wine and beer has been declining for several years according to the Liquor Commission’s annual financial report, yet national data suggests high consumption levels. This discrepancy arises because statistics measure sales rather than local consumption, leading to inflated figures due to cross-border sales from neighboring states and tourist consumption.
The Full Story
The “Drunken Granite State Fallacy” is a common misconception found in online discussions and news articles. It suggests New Hampshire has the highest per-capita alcohol consumption of any state, a claim supported by government data but interpreted incorrectly. While legitimate data indicates more booze flows into the average consumer in New Hampshire than in any other state, the conclusion that locals consume this volume is a lie.
The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse’s surveillance report places the state at No. 1 with a per-capita ethanol consumption of 4.2 gallons in 2023, approximately 80% higher than the national average. However, the report emphasizes that these estimates are “apparent” and may be inflated by cross-border sales to buyers from neighboring states or tourist consumption in locations like Nevada and Washington D.C.
Financial data supports this skew. The New Hampshire Liquor Commission counts dollars rather than gallons. After a post-COVID jump in fiscal year 2021 to $230.8 million in liquor and wine revenue plus $23.7 million in beer tax, the state’s tally has declined about 4% a year to $207 million in liquor sales and $12.5 million in beer tax last fiscal year.
What This Means
The decline in revenue suggests that the high consumption figures are not reflective of local intake but rather economic activity involving cross-border trade. Mark Twain’s adage about lies, damned lies and statistics applies here; while the statistic is correct regarding sales volume, the conclusion regarding local drinking habits is a lie.
Consumer Takeaway
Readers should understand that per-capita ethanol consumption figures are not accurate measures of actual local intake. The data provided by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse explicitly notes inaccuracies due to cross-border sales and tourist consumption, meaning the 4.2 gallon figure represents apparent consumption rather than true local usage.
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