Raising the Bar (Bill)
The U.S. economy may be sputtering, but the current trend on the club scene features markups worthy of the dot-com boom.
By Sarah Preston
(page 2 of 3)
By the Numbers
In spite of (or maybe because of) the high prices out on the town, Illinoisans' consumption of alcohol is about average for the country. With the sixth-highest population of legal drinkers, Illinois ranks sixth in total beer consumption, sixth for wine, and fifth for distilled spirits. Here's how we compare with some other states and the country as a whole on a per capita basis. Total consumption figures are in millions of cases, 2005.
Illinois | Wisconsin | Indiana | Utah | New Hampshire | United States | |
| Beer consumption | 125 | 69.5 | 55.7 | 13.2 | 18.1 | 2,826 |
| Cases per legal drinker | 13.9 | 17.5 | 12.6 | 8.37 | 19.2 | 13.4 |
Wine consumption | 9.24 | 4.19 | 3.48 | .847 | 2.3 | 249 |
| Cases per legal drinker | 1.03 | 1.06 | .785 | .537 | 2.44 | 1.18 |
| Spirits consumption | 7.13 | 4.94 | 3.19 | .785 | 1.86 | 170 |
| Cases per legal drinker | .79 | 1.24 | .719 | .498 | 1.98 | .81 |
Source: Adams Beverage Group publications
This article appears in the January 2008 issue of Chicago Magazine.
Did you like what you read here? Subscribe to Chicago Magazine »
Comments are moderated. We review them in an effort to remove offensive language, commercial messages, and irrelevancies.
Reader Comments:
Isn't it a violation of Illinois liquor laws to serve (let patrons serve themselves) entire bottles of hard liquor?
Yeah, I think it's a violation of the Happy Hour law or something like that.
It is but people still do it... Go to any club and you'll see patrons pouring it themselves. It's impossible to monitor that. I'd bet every club that has bottle service is violating the law...