Montana Drinks - Lots of booze in Havre

Havre has an unbalanced number of bars, according to the state, and knows how to use them.

Officials at the Montana Department of Revenue say Havre is supposed to be issued nine liquor licenses, based on its size and population. Since many of the establishments and licenses in Havre were established before the laws changed to limit the number of licenses an area may have, many of the licenses are grandfathered in.

Havre has 21 liquor licenses within its city limits - or 12 more than it should have, according to state laws.

Anaconda, which had a population of 9,329 as of 2013 compared to Havre's 9,771, has even more standard all-beverage liquor licenses than Havre - 31.

Miles City, which has a population of 8,646 as of 2013, has just one less standard license than Havre - 20.

Hill County outside the city itself has some breathing room. Its quota is eight licenses, and it is using only seven of them.

No new liquor licenses may be purchased for an establishment within city limits, but as long as the owners of the 21 liquor licenses keep renewing or sell them, they are not going anywhere.

Beer and wine licenses are a little more under control by the state, as Havre only has one over the quota that was set for it by the state: nine, where the quota is eight.

Dave Peterson, the director of Havre Public Works, said that there is no city ordinance that limits the number of bars within city limits and that the acquisition of a license from the state would be the hindrance of one trying to open a new bar.

In a recent study, Montana was found to be high on the list in alcohol consumption. It took third place in the nation in beer-drinking, behind North Dakota and New Hampshire, respectively.

Per capita, Montanans drank 40.5 gallons each in 2013. It has the fifth-highest rate of binge drinkers: 21.8 percent as of 2012. The total brewers in the state is 31 as of 2012, but that number has risen since, with the introduction of smaller brewers such as Havre's Triple Dog Brewery.

The numbers drop when spirits are taken into consideration. Montana ranks 12th in the nation for spirits consumed.

On the darker side of the picture, per 100,000 Montana residents, there were 37.7 alcohol-related deaths between 2006 and 2010, which puts it in third place in the nation.

In 2013, the Havre Police Department arrested 77 people on a driving under the influence charge and Havre Police Chief Gabe Matosich predicted the number would be around the same in 2014.

In 2013, 1,166,824 people were arrested nationwide for drunken driving, according to the FBI.

Regardless of the adverse effects of alcohol consumption, Montana is a fan of its beer.