I had a dream that I needed to calculate the total beer cost in HIMYM

Understanding the Cost of Beer in How I Met Your Mother: A Season-by-Season Analysis

Have you ever wondered how much it might have cost to sustain the characters’ beer habits throughout the beloved series How I Met Your Mother? While it’s a curious thought, I recently found myself delving into this playful, hypothetical scenario—calculating the total beer expenditure of the five main characters across all nine seasons. Here’s a detailed breakdown of how such an estimate can be approached, based on on-screen appearances, actual bar prices, and historical cost inflation.

Data Foundations and Methodology

To estimate the total beer expenditure of Ted, Marshall, Robin, Barney, and Lily, I relied on several key pieces of data:

1. On-Screen Beer Consumption Data:
   Using a fan-curated rewatch tally, which excludes flashbacks, the characters’ total on-screen beer counts are:
2. Ted: 507 beers
3. Marshall: 428 beers
4. Robin: 254 beers
5. Barney: 118 beers
6. Lily: 102 beers

Total beers consumed on-screen: 1,409

1. Episode Count per Season:
   The show spans nine seasons with a total of 208 episodes. The distribution is as follows:
2. Seasons 1 and 2: 22 episodes each
3. Season 3: 20 episodes

4. Seasons 4 through 9: 24 episodes each

5. Modeling Beer Prices over Time:
   To account for inflation, I examined NYC bar beer prices from 2005 to 2014. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics notes a 46% rise in “alcohol away from home” prices over this period, averaging roughly 3.2% annually.

6. In 2014, the estimated mid-range pint price was approximately $8.
7. Earlier years were adjusted downward based on the inflation rate.
8. The series’ in-show references also hint at beers costing around $7.50, aligning well with external price data.

Calculating the Beer Consumption per Season

To allocate beers proportionally across seasons:
– Total beers (1,409) are divided by total episodes (208), giving an average of approximately 6.77 beers per episode among the five main characters.
– Each season’s total beers are then estimated by multiplying this average by the number of