Article content

Montreal consistently ranks among the best cities in the world for university students, quality of life, riding a bike and even finding love.

Whatever such rankings are worth, we apparently have a new notch to carve on our belt: one of the Top 10 cities for getting drunk on vacation.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Allison Hanes: Is Montreal a 'drunk vacation' capital? Back to video

We owe this ignoble distinction to a website called Alcohol.org, which positioned Montreal eighth (behind San Diego but before Vancouver) in its world hierarchy of “soused cities.” Portland, Ore., was first.

The site reached its oh-so-scientific conclusion by analyzing Instagram posts featuring pictures of alcoholic beverages and the hashtags #vacationmode or #vacay. For Montreal, 4.6 per cent of holidayers’ posts depicted booze.

Tell us something we didn’t know.

Montreal’s reputation as a destination for debauchery dates back nearly a century — probably much longer.

During the Prohibition era in the U.S., Montreal was a haven for thirsty Americans in search of libation. Beer and wine flowed freely, but even gin, which could only be procured with a prescription, was readily available, according to The Gazette archives, since tour guides helpfully sold visitors the needed Rx.