I read a recent statistic that shocked me. Apparently beer drinking is on the decline. According to the most recent Gallup survey, beer consumption is down 20 percent from the 1990s.

I don’t know how this could possibly be true. It seems since the 1990s that microbreweries have sprouted up all over the United States. If beer drinking was really on the decline, wouldn’t there be a decline in beer breweries and beer in general?

There seems to be more types of beer than you can shake a stick at these days. Seriously, your arm would get really tired if you lined up every different type of beer that was available and tried to shake a stick at it. I’m sure it would be miles of beer bottles lined up. Who could shake a stick for miles without eventually dropping it because their arm was too weary?

Even if this statistic just happens to be true elsewhere, I have a hard time believing that it is true for Montana, especially Missoula.

Of course, it would make sense that if beer consumption is on the decline, that wine and liquor consumption is on the incline. Wine and liquor seem to be growing in popularity. These beverages appear to also have had an increase in the number of flavors available.

There seem to be way more choices for flavored liquors than there used to be. I have seen peanut butter and jam vodka, bacon vodka, glazed donut vodka, buttered popcorn vodka and even chocolate whiskey. With all these and more, you have endless choices to mix and make any drink you can possibly think of.

I myself am a gin and tonic kind of gal, and usually can’t be talked into something different. However, I have to admit that on special occasions, I do enjoy a nice cold Moose Drool.

Joy Larson is a mother of four boys, graduate of the University of Montana, animal lover and writer.

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