How old were you when you started drinking alcohol? What is the legal age for drinking where you were?

Question

Legal age here is 19. I first tasted alcohol at 16, didn't like it so I didn't drink again until just shy of 19.

Answer 1

My parents gave me white wine mixed with water with Sunday lunch and special occasions from about the age of 7. I personally think it's a very responsible thing to do. The worst thing you can do to a kid is make them think something is banned or dangerous - they're likely to go looking for it.
There was always alcohol in our house - in an unlocked cabinet in the dining room and only once did I open it and help myself to a cocktail of stuff, when I was about 13. I was horribly sick for hours afterwards, and didn't do it again. I don't mean I didn't drink again, I just didn't binge!
Here in the UK the legal age for buying alcohol, or for being in a pub (without an adult) is 18, but there is no law on drinking in your own home.
I think when you look across Europe, where alcohol is a part of daily life for everyone, and children aren't made to think that it is something bad or dangerous, it's clear that that is the way to go.
In most European cities, on a Friday and Saturday night, there aren't huge groups of youths out drinking and drinking with the sole purpose of getting revoltingly drunk. They already know how to handle alcohol responsibly because they've been around it all their lives, and the older members of their families have shown that it is just something to be enjoyed with a meal etc.

Answer 2

The first time I ever had a drink of alcohol was on my 16th birthday, at a party at my friend's house (he was in college and had his own place). The drink was tequila, I think I passed out after two shots, was sick the next day but otherwise no real damage done. The next drink I had was at our annual family Christmas bash where my uncle was bartending. I walked up to the bar and asked him for a Tom Collins and he served me. My parents were shocked speechless, not just because my uncle served me alcohol at age 16, but that I knew what a Tom Collins was. Years afterwards I admitted to my mom I didn't actually know what was in a Tom Collins, but had heard it mentioned in a TV program and liked the name!

Where I was, the legal drinking age (in bars, at least) was 21. In the state next door it was 18. So my friends and I used to cross the border at weekends to drink until I reached legal age in my own state. I think there should be a federal drinking age, and to my mind it should be 18, which is the age at which you can vote. If you're old enough to make that important decision, you should be old enough to buy a can of beer.

Answer 3

A lot of states with the drinking age of 19 had the federal government come in and take controll of the las.
it happened to Wyoming. They threatened to cut off all government finances if they didn't raise the drinking age.


But to answer your question,
I was 14, with my 50 family members in Mighigan at a family reunion. My cousins were 16 at the time nd i got the bottle, so I drank with them.
My mistake. I didn't know the differance between Vidka and beer, so i chugged a bottle of vodka.

Needless to say I'm not much of a drinker now. And I am over the leagal age. wich is 21 where I live.

Answer 4

I believe I first drank babysham when i was about 7. However I started properly drinking when i was about 16. The legal age for drinking in Ireland was 18. I did try lots of different drinks like wine at christmas, and baileys every now and then when my mother would let us. I think that kind of prepared me for drink. Still dont like the taste of beer though!

Answer 5

I was six with my first taste of beer. 13 when I had an actual drink. The legal age here is 19 and I partied hard.

Answer 6

I first tried alcohol when I was 18 y/o, at the time that was the legal age but now it's 21.

Answer 7

I started drinking at 15 or 16 in high school. It's 21 to drink here legally.

Answer 8

I started drinking when I was 18, 21 is the legal drinking age here. Thank goodness for living so close to Mexico!

Answer 9

Legal age was 18, now 21. I tasted it when I was 12 or 13.

Answer 10

I had my first drink before I could walk or talk it was in my baby bottle and my grandfather gave it to me to shut me up I was only 6 months old. The legal age was 21 where I lived. My Grandfather was a moonshiner and I was able to get it anytime I wanted. I was also buying alcohol in the stores where I lived by the age of 15 ( I looked a lot older) so that made me fairly popular in school close to the weekends; everyone wanted me to pick them up something.