The spirit of Christmas, Trinidad and Tobago style!

Or, maybe I should say, "Houston! We have a problem!"

My eyebrows raised when I read two articles in the Trinidad Express, today, Boxing Day 2007, the one headlined, Drivers told go easy on liquor and,the other, Alcohol sales soaring

My curiosity whetted (no pun intended!), I decided, there and then, to do a little analysis, to determine, exactly, how much alcohol Trinis who drink, actually drink.

Noting what unnamed importers had boasted in the "Alcohol sales soaring" article to wit,

"...Indications from the nation's 10 major importers of alcoholic drinks are that people are buying a whopping 25 per cent more than they did last year..."

and that,

"...Official figures are not yet available but an idea of just how much is being drunk can be gleaned by these figures from last year when more than 500,000 cases of rum, 250,000 cases of whisky and 70,000 cases of wine were imported...",

I browsed the internet, gleaning more statistics to help me find the answers. What I found so boggles the mind (again, no pun intended!) that I must share with the wider community the information I found. In interpreting that information, in addition to the rules I've highlighted in the tabular report, I assumed the following:

1. That the adult population of Trinidad and Tobago is 990,352 (according to EBC for the 2007 General Elections);
2. That fifty percent (50%) (495,176) of those adults drink alcoholic beverages (if the number is smaller, the picture is worse!);
3. That, during any given year, ninety-one point six seven percent (91.67%) or, eleven-twelfths (11/12) of the alcoholic beverages available to be consumed are in fact consumed prudent sellers will hold a one-month inventory at all times);
4. That local rum production is equal to what is imported (conservative, very conservative estimate on my part);
5. A bottle of rum or whisky holds 750 ml (discounting the fact that many larger capacity bottles are on the shelf);
6. A bottle of beer or stout holds 275.5 ml (thanks, Leo, for that bit of info!);
7. That a case of rum or whisky contains twelve (12) bottles (before the case is opened, duh!); and
   
8. That a case of beer or stout starts off with twenty-four (24) bottles.
   

The following is the report that I present, you be the judge:

YEAR	TYPE OF ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE	No. OF CASES AVAILABLE TO BE CONSUMED	No. OF BOTTLES AVAILABLE TO BE CONSUMED	No. OF BOTTLES CONSUMED PER DRINKING ADULT PER YEAR	No. OF LITRES ACTUALLY CONSUMED PER DRINKING ADULT PER YEAR
2006	Imported rum	500,000	6,000,000	11.11	8.33
2006	Local rum (Estimated @ 100% of Imported rum)	500,000	6,000,000	11.11	8.33
2006	Bahbash (Estimated)	10,000	120,000	0.22	0.17
2006	Local beer, stout (750,000 cases per month brewed)	9,000,000	216,000,000	399.86	110.16
2006	Imported beer, stout (Estimated @ 15% of Local beer, stout)	1,350,000	32,400,000	59.98	16.52
2006	Whisky	250,000	3,000,000	5.55	4.17
2006	Imported wine	70,000	840,000	1.56	1.17
2006	Local wine (Estimated @ 50% of Imported wine)	35,000	420,000	0.78	0.58
2006	TOTALS:	11,680,000	264,360,000	489.38	148.84
2007	Imported rum	625,000	7,500,000	15.15	11.36
2007	Local rum (Estimated @ 100% of Imported rum)	625,000	7,500,000	15.15	11.36
2007	Bahbash (Estimated)	12,500	150,000	0.30	0.23
2007	Local beer, stout (Estimated @ 25% more than 2006 figure)	11,250,000	270,000,000	545.26	150.22
2007	Imported beer, stout (Estimated @ 15% of Local beer, stout)	1,687,500	40,500,000	81.79	22.53
2007	Whisky	312,500	3,750,000	7.57	5.68
2007	Imported wine	87,500	1,050,000	2.12	1.59
2007	Local wine (Estimated @ 50% of Imported wine)	43,750	525,000	1.06	0.80
2007	TOTALS:	14,600,000	330,450,000	667.34	202.97

Of course, the consumption details become more intoxicating or diluted if one juggles the number of drinkers. Pun intended.

It now comes home to me what the carouser means, when he sings:

"Have yourself a merry little Christmas!"