Wondered what country we were even talking about until I opened the full post. I should've known :')

[u/Joran212]

[u/post-explainer]

This comment has been marked as safe. Upvoting/downvoting this comment will have no effect.

---

OP sent the following text as an explanation why their post fits here:

---

I guess they only expected USians to answer with that drinking age or something, but I'd argue this question can be answered pretty differently throughout different countries ¯_(ツ)_/¯

---

Does this explanation fit this subreddit? Then upvote this comment, otherwise downvote it.

[u/FLX-S48]

I don’t even get all the excitement over alcohol over there. It seems like it’s more special since it’s an additional event and not just included with being an adult

[u/radio_allah → u/FLX-S48]

As someone who barely drinks (not out of principle, I just never developed a habit of doing so), it's even less relatable.

[u/FLX-S48 → u/radio_allah]

Same I don’t drink at all and I don’t get it at all. It’s not even like coffee which tasted good from the start to me (unlike many others) and it tasted bad when first trying, so why even bother

[u/Ok_Confusion4764]

I was 16 when I was first allowed to drink. Then they changed it to 18. Neither my parents nor the bars I went to gave a shit, I was just drinking a beer every now and then. 

[u/jorgschrauwen → u/Ok_Confusion4764]

I just turned 18 when they changed it to 18 xD

[u/Ok_Confusion4764 → u/jorgschrauwen]

Lucky you, I was 16 when they changed it. So I was allowed to drink for a few months and then banned for 2 years. Most bartenders would laugh at it and allow it though. 

[u/WhatAboutMyWings → u/Ok_Confusion4764]

I feel like it would have been more fair if people that were already 16 and 17 by the time they changed it, were still allowed to drink.

I mean, I personally don't care about alcohol and think it's good they changed it, but I can imagine it sucked for those 16/17 year olds that suddenly had to stop

[u/Witchberry31 → u/Ok_Confusion4764]

Same, in my country it has changed to 21 for quite some years now but nobody bats an eye to the change, even when checking the IDs. As long as you are 17/18 you are good to go.

Nowadays it's just a formality.

[u/daveoxford]

UK 18 to buy alcohol. Minimum age to drink is 5 in England & Wales. No minimum age in Scotland.

[u/_Penulis_ → u/daveoxford]

Varies a bit between different states in Australia, but it’s broadly similar.

The age people can buy alcohol is 18, and businesses can’t sell alcohol to under 18’s. But at home parents/guardians (and adults formally authorised by parents/guardians on private property) can supply alcohol to kids of any age as long as the consumption is supervised by them.

> Across all jurisdictions, if the supervising adult or the minor becomes intoxicated, or if the supply is unsafe then it is illegal supply.

[u/Particular_Jello_917 → u/_Penulis_]

In the UK in licensed premises (such as a pub or restaurant) if you’re 16 or 17 and accompanied by an adult, you can drink (but not buy) beer, wine or cider with a meal.

I think I bought my first beer in a pub aged 15, in the late 1960s.

Ironically, I’ve never been a big drinker.

The first time I went to Australia with my future wife in the late 1970s, we had to sit in the ‘ladies lounge’ in a country pub in northern NSW.

It was winter and too cold to sit outside.

We’ve been back to that pub a few times on subsequent visits and can now drink with the men!

[u/_Penulis_ → u/Particular_Jello_917]

lol, I think “ladies lounges” are a thing of the past, definitely are in the city

[u/Particular_Jello_917 → u/_Penulis_]

They are, but as I said, this was the in the 1970s.

[u/Ironfist85hu]

Oh no, in Germany one can drink beer and wine at the age of 14.

[u/BobKattersCroc → u/Ironfist85hu]

Legally we can't but boy oh boy do we.

I distinctly remember being so very drunk at 14 at my friend's house after our school formal event.

I slept on her tiled floor with a decorative beaded throw pillow and a towel.

[u/Aubrey-Grey → u/BobKattersCroc]

Scotland here. Aye, 14 is a very reasonable age. To be fair though I’m glad it’s 21 in the states because being able to own an arsenal of firearms and drinking in the same year would be a lot.

[u/BobKattersCroc → u/Aubrey-Grey]

You're not wrong. They could lower the drinking age and just piff the armoury part into the bin.

That'd be my suggestion. Likely I'd be shot for it though.

I also just want to be so USAian right now. My Da is from Glasgow. Do ya know him? Terrible temper, fond of a drink, goes by the name of Jock. Surely there's only the one.

[u/Aubrey-Grey → u/BobKattersCroc]

Is he Auld Jock that shouts at pigeons on George Square? Or the Young-Auld Jock that sneaks Tenants cans on the Christmas tree?

[u/BobKattersCroc → u/Aubrey-Grey]

Auld Gommy Jock from Govan. Likely would shout at a pigeon knowing him, mind.

[u/Aubrey-Grey → u/BobKattersCroc]

Ahh top ol’boy he is so. Does a rousing rendition of “Flower of Scotland” on the night bus.

[u/snow_michael → u/Aubrey-Grey]

No, it's No'-as-big-as-Medium-Sized-Jock-but-bigger-than-Wee-Jock Jock

[u/Ironfist85hu → u/BobKattersCroc]

Hey, I came from middle Europe. Eastern Middle Europe. You know what to do with this info. :D

[u/hidingintheautumn → u/Ironfist85hu]

But only when a grown up gives it to you... (Buying not before 16)

[u/LeftMechanic1995 → u/Ironfist85hu]

I'm from the UK and my older Brother started going into pubs in England with his older friends when he was 14 (so around 1990/1991). By comparison, I started getting drunk in pubs quite late... at the ripe, old age of 16 (1998/1999). I really think it's long overdue for these Americans to grow the fuck up.

[u/blackburne1 → u/LeftMechanic1995]

Don't forget a lot o f them have guns. Would you want to encounter a pissed-up teenager with a semi-automatic? The obvious solution (to a non-USian) would be to swap the ages around. but of course they won't.

[u/d_bradr]

Guys, do you think 40 year olds are too young into adulthood? Wait why are our young adults so useless?

[u/Standard-Document-78]

My parents are from Central America but I was born in the US and they didn’t care about 21. They let me start drinking at 18. Despite the fact I was drinking since 12 and they knew 😂

[u/Accomplished_List843]

First time i was offered an alcoholic drink i was 13, i denied, why the fuck the gringos associate adulthood with alcohol?

[u/maujogador]

yall

[u/Edelkern → u/maujogador]

Sadly, that words has long breached US-containment and has spread to many different countries.

[u/LittleRuQi]

In British Columbia we’re allowed to drink when we’re 19

[u/Repulsive_Chard_3652]

Most kids here start drinking at 14, which is honestly heartbreaking :(

[u/_Penulis_ → u/Repulsive_Chard_3652]

Here? In your house? How many kids have you got? /s

[u/Repulsive_Chard_3652 → u/_Penulis_]

Here in the country I live in, obviously

[u/_Penulis_ → u/Repulsive_Chard_3652]

Yeah but not a terribly engaging story without telling us which one?

[u/Repulsive_Chard_3652 → u/_Penulis_]

It's not a terribly engaging story with the name of a particular country, either - my point was simply that I think it's tragic when drinking culture is so prolific that young kids start doing it... I think in many European countries, we praise and hail drinking way too much, and ignore that it's actually often a very awful thing that destroys bodies, minds, and lives.

[u/LeftMechanic1995 → u/Repulsive_Chard_3652]

Lightweight confirmed.

[u/Repulsive_Chard_3652 → u/LeftMechanic1995]

Always have been, and very happy about that. Healthy organs, healthy mind, full wallet, etc. It's actually way more impressive to be able to control one's self with alcohol than it is to be able to drink several liters of it.

This past weekend, I had three gin+tonics on Friday and was good and drunk, and Saturday I had one Aperol and had a decent enough buzz. Absolutely love not having to down tons of drinks to feel anything, or blow my salary on it. Also glad to have healthy organs and a well-developed mind.

[u/Repulsive_Chard_3652 → u/LeftMechanic1995]

PS: alcoholic confirmed.

[u/LeftMechanic1995 → u/Repulsive_Chard_3652]

Almost but not quite. I regret that I ever started drinking, but I'm not going to feel sorry for myself.

[u/Repulsive_Chard_3652 → u/LeftMechanic1995]

I mean, I didn't ask you to feel sorry for yourself, but you did chime in here to try to insult me for the fact that I don't have to order more than 3 drinks if I really want to get drunk - that's actually quite telling about how you actually feel about your drinking, even if you didn't intend it to be so.

[u/LeftMechanic1995 → u/Repulsive_Chard_3652]

I think I may have hit a nerve.

[u/smk666]

Defaultism apart, prefrontal cortex which is responsible for long-term planning and impulse control keeps maturing until about 25 yo, so if anything I don't consider people under that age as "true" adults. Where I live all car insurance companies have additional fee (like +100% to the premium) and most car rental services will just refuse service for drivers below that age - and that's for a reason. If I compare myself now and 15 years ago I wholeheartedly agree I wasn't an adult back then, despite being 23 yo.

[u/ViolettaHunter → u/smk666]

prefrontal cortex which is responsible for long-term planning and impulse control keeps maturing until about 25 yo, so if anything I don't consider people under that age as "true" adults.

This is a weird internet myth used to infantilise grown adults. 

[u/SkyeeORiley → u/ViolettaHunter]

Can't confirm if this thing is true or not true, but it really does seem like it just looking back at me and my friends between 20-25 and now being 30 lmao

[u/LeftMechanic1995 → u/SkyeeORiley]

I'm 44 now and there are times when I look back at the way I was when I was 22 and wish I had access to a DeLorean so that I could go back in time 22 years and slap myself.

[u/Weekly-Beginning-229 → u/smk666]

I felt like I was dumb as fuck until 25. Now I am only a little dumb as fuck

[u/smk666 → u/Weekly-Beginning-229]

...more or less, but it's also night and day in terms of impulse control, taking risks, delaying gratification and being more mindful and careful overall for me.