San Diego is now the new hotspot for drinking beer, wine and whisky? Well apparently new studies have just been completed and the San Diego area vaulted to the top of the cities in America where alcohol is free flowing.
A new study assembled by Delphi Behavioral Health Group, a company that owns and operates drug and alcohol detox and treatment centers has listed San Diego as the place to party! I have been to SD a few times and as a matter of fact I am headed there at the end of November. The “Gas Lamp District” is a really fun place to visit at night and on the weekends it really comes alive. With warm weather year round and a great nightlife scene it’s easy for me to see why it holds the #1 spot. Ever wonder what the common American household spends on alcohol per year? Well Delphi compiled stats in the top locations and even though it’s number one the amount spent on average seems too low to me. Have these people ever actually paid a bar tab in the gas lamp district??
Based on expenditure stats tabulated by the BLS, a San Diego consumer spent on average $1,112 last year on alcohol, easily catapulting the metro area to No. 1, past San Francisco, the leader in 2016. That year, San Diego came in at No. 2, at an annual expenditure of $850 per household, Delphi found.
San Diego’s spending on booze rose more than 30 percent in just one year, according to the study. Speculation is that the numbers have risen so fast because of the new fad of craft micro brew beers that seem to have taken the country by storm. I know out here in Colorado and especially Denver and the ski towns the brewery scene is jumping off everywhere. It seems at times a new brewery pops up on every vacant street corner that doesn’t already have a marijuana dispensary sitting on it.
After all, a soon-to-be released report found that San Diego County has more craft brewing locations — about 178 — than any other U.S. county. Not only that, but local breweries produced 1.1 million barrels of beer in 2017, up from 900,000 in 2016.
It’s gonna be interesting to see if public intoxication, DUI and other alcohol related arrests jump up 30% as well. You gotta figure that more booze flowing has to directly lead to more trouble. If so I would bet San Diego has a tax hike in the near future to police and control all the good times. It almost seems like it’s rigged right????
Anyone of you older people remember “Otis” the town drunk from the popular Andy Griffith show? You think the “law” in Mayberry could be used in San Diego where they just gave ole Otis the keys to the jail and let him lock himself up when he got too drunk? Well I doubt it could work in this day and age but, you can be rest assured that a 30% increase and a jump to the top of the booze list in America will most definitely have police on elevated alert. If your gonna party, do it up big.......but please have a plan and don’t drink and drive. 😜