Wait, Boston has a drinking problem?

In case you didn’t hear the big news last week: Boston has once again risen to the top of a Forbes list and we’re not too sure this one is a good thing. It seems that Boston was rated fourth nationwide in America’s Drunkest Cities 2006 poll. While Bostonist often rolls out of bed with a headache, questioning why we decided to have that last Grey Goose at 1:30a.m., we assumed we were just acting like our immature twentysomething selves. According to this latest poll though, it’s not just those in their twenties who are getting a bit too tipsy.

So what was the methodology used in this ever important study? Each city was judged in five areas; here’s how Boston ranked:

State Laws: #1 Boston is the least restrictive in our laws when it comes to alcohol. Bostonist assumed that we’d have tougher laws considering we’re so Puritanical and just started selling beer on Sundays.

Drinkers: #3 Many of us have had at least one drink in the past 30 days.

Heavy Drinkers: #15 Lots of us like to kick it up a notch, with men having two drinks per day and women having one per day.

Binge Drinkers: #4 Many of us are having five or more drinks in one night; Bostonist is shocked that the college students didn’t bump us to the top of the list for this one.

Alcoholism: #17 By looking at the ratio of our drinking population vs. the number of AA meetings in Boston, it’s obvious not a lot of us are looking to sober up anytime soon.

While once the beer brewing capital of the United States, Milwaukee is still home to the Miller Brewing Company, which might have helped them rise to the number one spot on this survey. Rounding out the top five were Minneapolis-St. Paul (#2), Columbus (#3), and Austin (#5).

So if we rank fourth in Drunkest Cities and second in Best for Singles, do you think Boston has a shot at winning the coveted prize of “Sluttiest City”?

Photo taken after Opening Dayat Fenway by Flickr user Pierre Lascott.