Because few things are more American than bragging about how much beer you can drink, the Beer Institute (real thing) did an exhaustive study into US brew consumption over last year, ranking each state plus DC by their beer intake.

The 2012 champion for the beer belly cup (not a real thing) turned out to be North Dakota, where the average citizen guzzled 35.2 gallons in a year.

In general, the more boring unassuming states tended to out-booze their brethren, proving once again that you should always look out for the quiet ones silently pounding ales in the corner. Here's who cracked the top ten:

North Dakota New Hampshire Montana South Dakota Wisconsin Nevada Vermont Nebraska Texas Maine

And, just so you can call up your friends who live there and mock them, here's the bottom five:

47. Maryland

48. New York

49. New Jersey

50. Connecticut

51. Utah

Here's the full ranking, from The Beer Institute (click to enlarge):

beerinstitute.org

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