U.S. drinking up, but tastes, norms vary from state to state

In Manhattan, Millie Tourtelot keeps an eye out for restaurants with good wine lists or innovative cocktails. "I really like to enjoy what I'm drinking," says Tourtelot, 32. In Chicago, Mike Flanagan, 24, has a few beers in his apartment before downing a few more at a neighborhood bar with friends. Meanwhile, down in Grapevine, Texas, Jim Richards, 58, steers clear of alcohol entirely. He runs the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, which in 2007 banned its leaders from drinking.

Consumption of alcohol hit a 25-year high in 2010, when 67% of Americans reported drinking alcoholic beverages, according to a Gallup poll. That's a level unseen since the late 1970s, when 71% of Americans said they drank.

For many, it's social: Shana Pack, 45, of Glasgow, Ky., says her monthly "Martini Club" is "just an excuse for the girls to get together."

But the economy may also be a factor in the increase, says Jon Taffer, a bar consultant for almost 30 years.

The bad economy doesn't drive people to drink, but it gives them more time to do it, says Taffer, host of Bar Rescue, a Spike TV show in which he revives dying bars.

"People have lost their jobs, and they have more free time," he says. Plus, the jobless miss workplace camaraderie, so they seek social interaction at a bar.

Yet social drinking habits across the country vary more than barbecue recipes in the South. Where you live can influence how much alcohol you drink, as do age, gender, income and other factors.

Regionally, New Englanders and people in the far West and the Upper Plains states drink the most, according to the Beer Institute, a Washington-based trade group. Texas, the Deep South and the Mid-Atlantic (except for Washington, D.C.) were among the driest parts of the country.

Which state pours itself a drink most often? New Hampshire. People in the Granite State downed an average of 6.7 gallons of wine apiece and 3.8 gallons of liquor last year — more than double the national average, Beer Institute data show.

It's not because of long winters, says Shawn LaFrance, executive director of the Foundation for Healthy Communities, a New Hampshire non-profit. More likely, it's because the state is a popular vacation spot in the summer and winter. Plus, there's no tax on wine and spirits, which may encourage neighbors in Massachusetts and New York to cross the border when stocking up their liquor cabinets and coolers.

As for what we pour into our glasses, the Southwest, Southern California and the East Coast currently prefer spirits, while the taste for beer in the nation's heartland reflects its industrial and blue-collar roots, says Taffer.

Wine consumption is also on the rise: Americans drank more wine than ever last year, 2.3 gallons apiece. That's up 35% since 1994. Spirits climbed 18% to 1.5 gallons per person for the same period, while beer intake dropped 7% to 20.7 gallons, says the Beer Institute.

Wine and spirits are increasingly a part of the culture of young adults and Millennials — a challenge for the beer industry, says Benj Steinman, editor of Beer Marketer's Insights, a trade publication in Suffern, N.Y.

Indeed, there's now a double demographic push: Aging Baby Boomers can afford higher quality products, while their twentysomething children are also ordering cocktails, wines and microbrews, says Chris Muller, dean of Boston University's hospitality school.

Sex and the City, a TV show based in New York, gave cocktail culture a huge boost, and now the popularity of Mad Men, about ad executives in the '60s, is having a similar effect. Says Muller: "Don Draper single-handedly rekindled a love of old-fashioneds."

American wine tastes have also grown more sophisticated, says Tobin Ellis, a bar consultant who has revamped Tavern on the Green in New York City and Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Twenty years ago, we drank only burgundy, blush or Chablis, he says. "Now, even little old ladies know about chenin blanc," says Ellis. "People say, 'Give me a malbec, give me a merlot.'"

When to say 'when'

How can you keep your drinking from veering into dangerous or unhealthy territory? The American Heart Association calls for moderation — one or two drinks a day for men and one a day for women — if you drink at all.

The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism recommends avoiding more than four drinks a day and 14 a week to keep the risk of alcohol disorders low. For women, the limit is three drinks a day or seven a week. Those who drink more face greater risk of injuries, alcoholism, heart or liver disease or other health problems.A Gallup survey in July found that 17% of drinkers said they sometimes consume more alcohol than they think they should, the lowest level since it first asked in 1978. About a third of adults never drink alcohol, and 37% always drink within low-risk limits, says the NIAAA. But about 19% of adults drink more than either the single-day or weekly limit, and 9% drink more than both.

An ongoing study at the University of Chicago is looking at drinking habits of twentysomethings to predict drinking-related problems later in life. The study has found that heavy drinkers who express energetic and positive feelings during consumption, instead of feeling sleepy, are more likely to binge drink in the future, says Andrea King, lead researcher of the Chicago Social Drinking Project. And greater frequency of subsequent binge drinking — defined as consuming 10 to 14 drinks a week and five or more drinks at a sitting (four or more for women) — meant greater likelihood of alcohol abuse and dependence, the study found. Some studies have pointed to benefits from drinking alcohol; the best-known one is a small increase of "good cholesterol" (HDL), says the American Heart Association. But exercise boosts HDL cholesterol, too. And antioxidants in red wine are also found in grapes and red grape juice.

Cardiologist John Gordon Harold says moderate alcohol intake is indeed associated with reduced risk of heart disease. But it's not something he recommends to his patients at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. The dangers of excessive alcohol use are well-known.

His advice? "If you don't drink, don't start, because there are other healthy ways to prevent heart disease."