Our happy hour fact to amaze your drinking buddies with.

Despite its reputation for being recession-proof, sales of beer plummeted in the fourth quarter of last year.

Using data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, statistician Nate Silver calculated that Americans bought 9.3 percent less alcohol for home consumption last quarter. With wine and spirits only falling off about 1 percent each, that left beer to bear the brunt of the decline at almost 14 percent.

What makes this unusual is that over the last 40 years, alcohol sales haven't had much of a relationship with the overall economic climate, good or bad.

This is the kind of mystery that can really weigh on a man. Alas, the only solution is for everyone to grab a 12-pack today. Hell, buy a case.

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