Wisconsin has been the drunkest state in the nation since 2002. Wisconsinites lead the nation in binge drinking and in 2007 the average person age 14 and older consumed 2.81 gallons of pure alcohol annually, which is about 600 drinks per year.

On college campuses, drinking, especially of the binging variety, is all too prevalent. The University of Wisconsin-Madison was ranked in recent years by the Princeton Review and Playboy as the number one party school. How is UW-Madison combating these university and state problems? By offering a course in beer brewing next spring.

Students have already been signing up like crazy with graduate students offering their assistance too. Course professor John Roll said it’s “not a course to help kids go out and slam beers on Friday night.” It might not teach them to slam beers, but it certainly will teach them how to make their own for slamming. Students will brew the beer, sample it and critique it.