In a summer full of city ranking lists, Milwaukee has finally come out on top. Forbes Magazine ranked 35 U.S. metropolitan cities in the areas of state laws, drinkers, heavy drinkers, binge drinkers and alcoholism (America's Drunkest Cities).

In all areas, Milwaukee ranked in the top five including two first place finishes in the categories of drinkers and binge drinkers. The survey said that Milwaukee has its drinkers, 70 percent of respondents had a least one drink in a 30-day period. As for the binge drinking, 22 percent of respondents said they were prone to binge drinking or having more than five drinks on one occasion.

"Sometimes it depends on what the criteria is. I've read stuff before where they consider binge drinking three drinks, not in an hour but in a couple hours. Five could possibly be a little high," says Mark Eckert, owner of Von Trier, 2235 N. Farwell Ave. on the East Side. "Go out to dinner, you could have a couple glasses of wine. Is that binge drinking then? No, I don't think so."

He adds, "The city of Milwaukee is, I don't want to say Madison or something like that. Madison's something different because it's a bigger college town, but you've got a lot of college people here and when they go out, they may only go out once a week, but they'll have five or six drinks. You have to look at the whole situation."

Heavy drinkers were those respondents that admitted to having more than a certain number of drinks per day (two for men and one for women). The number of Alcoholics Anonymous meetings compared to the number of legal adults attributed to the alcoholism category. In both, Milwaukee was ranked third.

"I have customers who come in here three or four times a week, they have a couple beers. Do I think they're drunks? No," Eckert says. "I think that happens everywhere in Milwaukee. Maybe that's why everybody looks like it might be a drunk town. I personally don't think that is. We have a tendency to be out a little more than anybody else."

As for state laws, Milwaukee received a rating of four on a scale of eight. This ranking is "based on the state laws affecting alcohol sales and consumption in the area" with a rating of one being the least restrictive. Milwaukee falls in the mid-range.

Cities with reputations as being party cities didn't even breach the top 10. Las Vegas (No. 14), New Orleans (No. 24) and Miami (No. 33) had poor showings.

"They are talking just to residents. In the city of Las Vegas how many tourists come into that place?" Eckert asks. "I don't think Milwaukee is a drunk town. I think people go out a little more in Milwaukee and the Midwest, maybe because of our upbringing or something like that. Drunk city? No."

Forbes seems to think similarly since it throws in this paragraph at the end of the story: "Of course, just because a city ranks high on the list doesn't make it a den of debauchery. A top-drinking town could be populated by grandmas who imbibe a glass of wine every night to keep their heart healthy. And just because someone tips back a few beers doesn't make them irresponsible."

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