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What age (not legally) do people start drinking in America?

15. My dad made me mow the lawn the next day - no mercy.

I had a "Canada Identification Card" before I had a driver's license. They sold them in Toronto next to the "United States Identification Card" that we are all issued 🙄
 
On a personal level - I was introduced to alcohol around 5 or 6, when my parents would serve me a shandy on a nice summer day - obviously not too strong. I remember really finding them refreshing. After that, I drank a few times around 12-13, to realize I had a moderate allergy to certain alcohols. Subsequently, i didn't really drink again until out of college - and have only really begun to drink on a regular basis over the past 7 years ( I am 32 ).

I am a social drinker - and usually drink only beer (really good choices in the NW) and the occasional tequila or scotch. Don't drink at home. I still enjoy shandys.

As for in general - I remember kids around me drinking around 13 - and really getting into gear around 16.
 
wow, y'all make me feel like a lush. 😱

alcohol was one of those taboo subjects when i was a kid. i remember sneaking a beer at the neighbor's new year's party when i was 8....and i hated it. 😀

the first time i drank to drunkeness was at age 14. i had sipped here and there before that, but that's when i feel like i "started" drinking. it was normal for me to go out from 14 on and drink at parties and such, all behind my parents' backs. i progressed from Boone's Farm to Mad Dog 20/20 to vodka and the like.

these days i tend to drink socially mostly, but i enjoy getting tipsy when i'm home alone. tipsy, mind...not sloshed. 😉
 
The first time I touched alcohol, was on my 21st birthday. My friend bought me a Mudslide at Friday's, I took one sip, and gave the rest to him. All I tasted was alcohol, and it was disgusting. Between then and now (Im 26) I have had maybe 4 sips of other peoples mixed drinks, and didn't like them. Last month I went to a bar with friends, and they convinced me to try some beers. I had a Bud Light, a Heineken, and a Corona, they were better then mixed drinks, but I didn't really enjoy them. I would like to find a beer or something that I can drink.
 
I have seen as low as 12. It is very common for kids to start at 8th grade (around 14 years old).
 
I don't drink period, but my friends have all been drinking since 8th grade/freshman year of high school so around 13-14. I've had one sip of wine when I was young (it came with my dinner at this restaurant) and I hated it so I'm not even tempted.
 
I didn't start drinking until i was 18...but most people i knew drank and smoked pot socially from around 14-15 on.
 
Drinking was first introduced into the picture in 7th grade, really. Towards the end of 8th grade and beginning of freshman year was when drinking really hit my friends.

I've never been drunk, though. I had a sip of wine one time when my parent's weren't home and thought it tasted like s***. Not tempted to drink at all. My dad was an alcoholic, and I got his addictive personality, so I can see myself EASILY becoming an alcoholic myself.
 
todd2000 said:
The first time I touched alcohol, was on my 21st birthday. My friend bought me a Mudslide at Friday's, I took one sip, and gave the rest to him. All I tasted was alcohol, and it was disgusting. Between then and now (Im 26) I have had maybe 4 sips of other peoples mixed drinks, and didn't like them. Last month I went to a bar with friends, and they convinced me to try some beers. I had a Bud Light, a Heineken, and a Corona, they were better then mixed drinks, but I didn't really enjoy them. I would like to find a beer or something that I can drink.
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Try a darker beer, like an amber.

Once you go black.....
 
I would say most people in my school pick up drugs sophomore year, usually in the spring.

Spring has multiple vacations, parents go away, parties happen. Sophomores realize they aren't freshman and instead of thinking "drugs are bad" they think "hmmmm".
 
Don't drink myself- would rather stay in control 🙂

Kids in the UK tend to start as young as 14, 15 though. That's pretty normal.
 
Where i live, kids start drinking with friends and at parties at around 15. Once kids are around 18-19 they get fake I.D.'s so they can drink at bars and what not.

The 21 law here isent really followed as loads of underage drinkers are in bars/clubs/etc.
 
very very different between euros and yanks... I would guess on average around 16, and its usually at a "kegger" (a party with at least one keg of beer)

in euro countries its more of an accepted social practice enjoyed in moderation
 
todd2000 said:
The first time I touched alcohol, was on my 21st birthday. My friend bought me a Mudslide at Friday's, I took one sip, and gave the rest to him. All I tasted was alcohol, and it was disgusting. Between then and now (Im 26) I have had maybe 4 sips of other peoples mixed drinks, and didn't like them. Last month I went to a bar with friends, and they convinced me to try some beers. I had a Bud Light, a Heineken, and a Corona, they were better then mixed drinks, but I didn't really enjoy them. I would like to find a beer or something that I can drink.
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Try some genuine European beers ... 5 flags from Belgium is nice for a light drink or maybe THE original Bud ~ Budvar or maybe a sweet German wheat beer I dunno really ...I mean I could go on forever here but suffice to say that good quality EU beer is like fine wine !.


oh I was 19 btw and only drink occasionally now ...I prefer green tea 😉
 
I would say that most people start to drink when the are around 16-17 years old. Though, I think nowadays kids are beginning to drink even earlier in middle school. I mean im only 18 and in college, so drinking is extremely common. But I disagree with 13-14 year old's drinking, it is just too young. Save it for later on in life lol. In my opinion, kids are starting to young today with everything including drinking, smoking, sex, etc.
 
They'll typically first experiment with it between 14-16... basically, when high school begins. It's widely available at parties and they're all looking to "fit in".
 
I had my first drink at age 14, and I would say that this is typical of most people I talk to. We didn't really start drinking at parties until high school. I never really drank all that much until senior year of high school/college. My parents would let me try alcohol at home if I wanted to, and they taught me how to drink responsibly. I think that's the reason I never went wild, while my friends with strict parents did. I'm not going to say I have never had too much to drink or done anything stupid, because I have. Still, I never went overboard with my drinking and would never even debate getting into a car after having drinks. I'm 22 now, and I really don't drink that often because school, extracurricular activities, and work are taking over my life.
 
I'd had sips of beer and wine sometimes at family occasions, but the first time I was drunk was 15. Only been drunk a couple times since... College should be fun though.
 
I was 30 when I started but had pretty much given it up by the time I was 31. I think I must have missed the mystical aspects that so many teenagers build up in there heads about drinking because I really couldn't see what all the fuss was about. It all seemed rather pointless to me. 😱
 
Wow... you people make me feel like an alcoholic.

I live in Brighton in the UK. It has one of the highest densities of pubs in the country and not much else to do. If I go to meet friends, it'll be in the pub. If you are in there for a few hours (or all day), drunkeness is inevitable.

My friends and I tend to buy a few beers if we go to the beach or the park. My girlfriend and I buy beer in the evening a lot of the time. And there is obviously wine with dinner some nights.

I just think alcohol is such a part of British life. Of course this is a problem when the people drinking are violent or have other problems but for the majority of people, getting drunk is just a social activity that we enjoy with friends.
 
No beer, no wine, no alcoholic cocktails, since I don't like the taste of any of these three. Makes me the designated driver and, apparently, someone you can't party with. 🙁

(as far as I remember... one glass of beer, three alcoholic cocktails, two shots of Glendronach and maybe a little bit of wine during my whole life!)
 
LouisBlack said:
I live in Brighton in the UK. It has one of the highest densities of pubs in the country and not much else to do. If I go to meet friends, it'll be in the pub. If you are in there for a few hours (or all day), drunkeness is inevitable.
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My nearest town holds some record for having most pubs on a single stretch of road, or something. It's madness during the evening. I had to go to the hospital a few weeks back and that meant walking through that road at about 9pm. Haha, was a bit silly really; full of people asking for cigs, swaying into shop windows.

And none of my friends drink either. I think because we grew up around the negative side of alcohol we've avoided it now we're adults.
 
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