For more than a quarter of a century, status inconsistency has been invoked by analysts to explain problematic behavior and illness. A fundamental problem has been distinguishing between the effects of inconsistencies between two or more social positions and the effects of the positions themselves. This study examines the effects of status and status inconsistency on patterns of alcohol consumption. The principal findings are that as ascribed status exceeds achieved status, quantity of beer and liquor consumed per occasion increases, and that as achieved status exceeds ascribed status, frequency of wine and liquor consumption increases.