Because I have trouble imagining the average American (or whatever person) drinking 2.3 gallons of ethanol in a year. A 4% beer is 0.5 fl oz of ethanol, which is 0.004 gallons. 2.3 gallons of ethanol would be more than 575 4% beers per year.

I definitely don't believe the 50% of Americans consume that much alcohol in a year. Supposedly 40% of people don't even drink alcohol, at all. The 7.1 gallon figure seems nonsensical too.

https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/01/03/10-facts-...

This source says 27 gallons of beer (or 297 beers) per year per capita, but I bet alcohol consumption is distributed such that 90% of consumption is by 10% of people, or even less.