The Brew City. The Nation's Watering Hole. The birthplace of Miller, Schlitz and Pabst.

Milwaukee has long been associated with its brewing heritage. Due to a recent study, however, the city must now deal with a less flattering moniker: America's Drunkest City.

The title comes from the Forbes.com's ranking last month of the 35 "drunkest" major metropolitan areas in the nation. Using information from a 2004 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey, cities were judged in five separate categories concerning alcohol consumption. Milwaukee had the highest percentage of total drinkers and binge drinkers and came in third in heavy drinking and alcoholism. The city's liquor laws were found to be moderately lax, but the combined rankings gave the city the top ranking.

"To put it plainly, people in Milwaukee drink a lot," said David M. Ewalt, a staff writer at Forbes.com who wrote the story for the Web site.

Ewalt said some aspects of the study should be worrisome to Milwaukeeans.

"A lot of people are casual drinkers, which is fine. What should be cause for concern is that Milwaukee ranks very high in binge drinking and alcoholism," he said.

Whether the survey at all correlates with Marquette or other colleges in the city is difficult to determine. The survey of more than 3,000 Milwaukee residents may or may not have included students. Ewalt said there was some speculation that the city's high rate of binge drinking may be due in part to the number of universities in the area, but there is no way to tell if it was a definitive factor.

Representatives of the city are critical of Forbes' findings. Dave Fantle, vice president of public relations for VISIT Milwaukee, found the ranking "dubious" and "questionable."

"Give Forbes credit, they're getting an incredible amount of publicity," he said. "But that's all this was: a ploy for publicity."

The ranking comes in the middle of a $2.5 billion tourism campaign for Milwaukee. Fantle pointed to projects such as the expanded art museum, the Potawatomi Bingo Casino and the under-construction Harley Davidson Museum as examples of the "Brew City" becoming the "New City." He said he doubted the Forbes.com story would affect the city's blossoming tourism business.

"Milwaukee is a renaissance city and a city on the move," he said. "Dwelling on (the ranking) is futile and we don't give it credit."

University officials hold the ranking in similar regard. The Rev. Andy Thon, vice president of student affairs, said he believes the story will carry little weight at Marquette.

"I'm not concerned about it," Thon said. "I don't think it will affect Marquette in enrollment or anything else."

While the ranking is not prompting any additional precautions, Thon said alcohol will exist at any college and that Marquette has taken steps to keep students safe. The university has worked with local taverns to prevent underage drinking and the Department of Public Safety assists the Milwaukee Police Department in controlling alcohol use at parties. Marquette also offers late-night programming as an alcohol-free alternative for students.

In addition to these programs, the Office of Student Affairs also recently initiated AlcoholEdu, an alcohol awareness program for freshmen.

"We felt that AlcoholEdu would help educate students and complement the initiatives already in place," he said.

Rankings similar to the "America's Drunkest Cities" exist for colleges and universities. The Princeton Review publishes an annual ranking of the nation's top 20 party schools and Playboy publishes a similar list periodically. Marquette has never appeared on either list. The school was also absent from the Review's top beer-drinking schools list.