New Study Breaks Down America’s Favorite Reasons To Drink, See How Many Of These Sound Familiar

americas favorite reasons to drink

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As if we “need” a reason to drink *pffft* some folks still thought it would be interesting to do a study to figure out what America’s favorite reasons to drink actually are. Turns out they were right.

In an effort to see which occasions warrant the most cocktails, the team over at Alcohol.org asked over 1,000 Americans about their alcohol consumption during a variety of events.

Some highlights:

— The #1 occasion Americans choose to celebrate with alcohol: Their own birthday.
— 63% of Americans consider family time more enjoyable if drinks are often or always involved.
— Two drinks (at least) is what people say it takes to get through an office party.
— Party on: You’re expected to have five drinks minimum at a bachelor(ette) outing.

Why do so many of these sound familiar?

Here’s what else they discovered…

As far as events go, bachelor or bachelorette parties ranked the highest with an average of 5.1 drinks consumed per person. Wedding receptions were slightly lower with the average number of drinks consumed dropping to 3.8.

At every event analyzed, beer drinkers consumed the most, while wine drinkers consumed the smallest average number of drinks across all events.


They also studied our drinking habits as they relate to family because, duh!

About half of respondents said consuming alcohol during family gatherings made their family more tolerable. That percentage grew to a whopping 63 percent when looking at a family that often or always drank together.

Fulfilling the stereotype, uncles were the family members most respondents labeled as heavy drinkers. Since men typically drink more than women, and people also drink more with age, the combination of the two may be why there really is such a thing as the real-life drunk uncle.


Here’s a shocker: people like to drink then they are celebrating something. I know, right? Who would have thunk it? But which occasions lead to the most drinking?

83 percent agreed their birthday was the right time to tip one back. A friend’s engagement was next on the list, beating out a respondent’s own wedding anniversary by one percentage point.

67 percent of men believed the start of the weekend was an appropriate reason to drink compared to 64 percent of women.


As you can clearly see, alcohol most certainly has its time and place in relation to several occasions in our lives, however, if you struggle with an alcohol use disorder please do visit Alcohol.org to learn more about prevention, treatment, and recovery.

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Before settling down at BroBible, Douglas Charles, a graduate of the University of Iowa (Go Hawks), owned and operated a wide assortment of websites. He is also one of the few White Sox fans out there and thinks Michael Jordan is, hands down, the GOAT.