Survey: How early is too early for a beer in Minnesota?

(FOX 9) - How early is too early for a beer or glass of wine? A recent survey looked at what time of day Minnesotans viewed as acceptable for their first alcohol drink of the day.

The survey released last month by rehab clinic Zinnia Health found that, on average, Minnesotans believe 3:03 p.m. is an acceptable time to have an alcoholic drink.

According to the survey, that puts Minnesota somewhere in the middle of the pack. The earliest drinking state was Wyoming at noon, while states with the latest acceptable times for the first drink were Montana and North Dakota at 4:30 p.m.

As always, FOX 9 recommends taking any public relations survey with a grain of salt. Companies often use a marketing tactic known as "thought leadership" to establish their brand as an expert in a field. But, while FOX 9 can't speak specifically to this survey, most of these studies or surveys are lacking when it comes to scientific standards.

Any scientific measures for the study were not revealed in the news release. And, only 3,000 people were surveyed. It's not clear exactly how many of those 3,000 were from Minnesota versus the rest of the country. But, if divided equally between 50 states, there could be as few as 60 respondents. If sampled randomly, it may be even less.

Random sampling could explain why neighbors Wyoming and Montana have such drastically different results. Lower-population states would be prone to fewer responses.

Using the same public relations agency, Vertical Cherry, Zinnia also submitted a "survey" proclaiming Minnesota's favorite mocktail earlier this year (a drink called Viking Frost).

The same public relations agency has also sent FOX 9 dozens of other survey emails over the past year commissioned by companies ranging from travel blogs to geek gift websites.