Beer Gets Boozier

Battlefield-bar disparity irks during wartime, argue supporters

(NEWSER) - Several states are considering lowering the drinking age, spurred in part by concerns that teenage service members can fight overseas but can’t drink at home, USA Today reports. Kentucky, Wisconsin, and South Carolina are weighing a military-only change to alcohol laws, while other states may lower the legal age for all, with a few stipulations. More»

Senate moves to OK booze-by-mail 103 years later

(NEWSER) - The Senate has an idea to help save the Postal Service: Let people mail alcohol. After all, FedEx and UPS carry the stuff all the time. But a law from 1909—established 10 years before Prohibition came into effect—bars the Postal Service from shipping "all spirituous, vinous, malted, fermented, or other intoxicating liquors of any kind." Dumping the law, as new Senate-passed legislation would do, could be particularly helpful to the USPS in these days of online shopping, Time reports. More»

Study shows it makes you better at bar games, anyway

(NEWSER) - You know how you get when you've got a couple pints in you: You stumble a bit, talk too loudly, and completely rock at brainteasers. A new study suggests that downing a little beer actually improves some cognitive functions. Researchers at the University of Illinois in Chicago got a group of 40 men to compete in a bar game in which they were given three words, and asked to come up with a fourth that fit the pattern, the New York Daily News reports. More»

...Mississippi. South tops the list, while New England is at the bottom

(NEWSER) - Don't tell Hester Prynne, but it's the Deep South that is the most religious region in the country, while New England is the most godless, according to a new Gallup Poll . The poll asked respondents whether religion was an important part of their daily life, and whether they regularly attended services. Those who answered in the affirmative to both were deemed "very religious." Some 59% of Mississippi residents fit that criteria, while only 23% of Vermont and New Hampshire residents do. But let's be serious, you clicked this to see the lists. So without further ado: The 5 most religious states

1. Mississippi—59%
2. Utah—57%
3. Alabama—56%
4. Louisiana—54%
5. Arkansas—54%

Legislation could cost heavy drinkers hundreds per year

(NEWSER) - Britain's heaviest drinkers could soon find themselves paying an extra $200 a year for booze. Despite resistance from his health secretary—and despite his own limited-government philosophy—David Cameron is today announcing a plan to set a minimum price of 40p, or about 63 cents, per unit of alcohol, the Guardian reports. The prime minister also plans to bar supermarkets from some bulk deals on drinks. The Guardian found that would raise the price of 20 cans of Stella Artois (the equivalent of 44 units of booze) at one store from $16 to $28. More»