Our Lady of Perpetual Inebriation

Hear, hear!

Minnesota legislative audit estimates consumers would save up to $100 million a year if laws allowed liquor sales in grocery stores.

Minnesotans who drink beer, wine or hard liquor would save $100 million a year if Minnesota allowed supermarkets and drug and convenience stores to sell alcohol as Wisconsin does, a new legislative audit report estimates.

Wisconsin, which has only a slightly larger population than Minnesota, currently has more than twice the stores permitted to sell liquor, wine and so-called "strong" beer that has more than 3.2 percent alcohol.

The report, released Wednesday, makes no recommendations for law changes, but it is likely to encourage a renewed push by the grocery industry for legislation allowing supermarkets to sell wine.

My favorite part:

In 2004, the average adult in the United States drank 7 liters of hard liquor, 12 liters of wine and 115 liters — about 324 bottles ‚— of beer, according to various sources cited by the report.

Well, I'm at zero for wine and beer, but I'm already far ahead of the curve on hard liquor. In fact, I'm pretty sure I've already passed the 7 liter mark this year.

Ha, if I could buy booze at the grocery store, I would not experience a savings of anything. It would go quite in the other direction.