In the 90s my friend Max had an American exchange student staying with him for a school year. The guy was 16, from the midwest, raised by proper Christian parents, very shy, polite and followed all the rules. Max ruined him within a month, took him drinking, partying and over the border to Amsterdam for some pot on the weekend. He returned to the US in the summer of 97 I think and was sent back to Germany by fall because he was now " a terrible role model" for his younger siblings and "a problem". He got a student visa and was pretty happy as far as I remember.
@@friendlyreptile9931 but what does it mean? The lore here in Germany is it could be a butchering of the german word "furchtbar" which means dreadful, awful, terrible.
@@wWvwvV I guess you also know this word from a movie starring Tom Hanks? In this movie (even in the german voice over) they tell it close to the end but it goes unnoticed for most of the people watching it :D It's short for "Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition"
For me as European, it´s shocking that you guys think that drinking at age of 16 is wild, but in your country it´s normal that kids have guns or can use them when their parents are around.
Well, keep in mind: Just because you could possibly trink alcohol legally, it does not mean that you do it all day, 24/7. Most important, over all, is that the parents are a good example and that joung people are sensitive about drinking alcohol, and develop a feeling for being responsible.
Using a fake ID in Germany would get you into so much more trouble than just drinking underage. I think it’s up to one year in prison for borrowing another persons ID (like your sibling for example) and up to two years for faking one.
@@stadtpost He's right. The only real, official ID in Germany is the mandatory passport. Something the US doesn't have. Faking the passport can get you up to 5 years of prison and a hefty fine. Goes for any other official ID too. Even faking a student ID counts as forgery of documents. If you take the ID of someone else, it's just one year of prison, but for both.
@@stadtpost it is tho. Wer ein Ausweispapier, das für einen anderen ausgestellt ist, zur Täuschung im Rechtsverkehr gebraucht, oder wer zur Täuschung im Rechtsverkehr einem anderen ein Ausweispapier überläßt, das nicht für diesen ausgestellt ist, wird mit Freiheitsstrafe bis zu einem Jahr oder mit Geldstrafe bestraft
@@lukaspufahl163 in the same way I would like the US to raise driving age to 21 and improve driving exams and vehicle regulations. Emotionally unstable teens in unsafe vehicles are dangerous. But I think neither of us will get what we want.
First time I went to the US I was about 25 and went a week to New York with a friend. We arrived and for us it was evening (jet lag) but in New york it was morning or early afternoon. So we decided to sit on a terrace somewhere and have a beer and something to eat. But the restaurant couldn't oblige, because they weren't allowed to serve alcohol before a specific time in the afternoon. I had never ever heard of a regulation like that (this was end of the '80s, the Netherlands didn't have many alcohol rules then) and it was weird to encounter it in a country that tv and other media had told me had all the freedoms. Next disappointment was when "the city that doesn't sleep" closed their nightlife earlier than Amsterdam, where I was from.
For us Germans, beer is as normal and important as the flag is for an American. That's why we deal with it so calmly and trust our young people, which is why they are allowed to drink beer from the age of 16. In the Middle Ages it was normal for children to drink beer. Beer was a food, there was also beer soup.
Im from Serbia (Europe, believe it or not) and I remember my sister going out for her 12th birthday and i went to sleep before she came home. What woke me up at night was when she was stumbling around the room going to bathroom to barf 😆 Yeah, it was from red wine...
It's quite easy to understand the two countries' differences here, guys. Just think of gun regulations in the US, and the drinking regulations in much of Europe is similar. The Europeans get their beer, wine, and public drinking. You get your hand guns, assault weapons, and open carry legislation.
Difference is people here learn how to handle alcohol responsible, because it's not so "a big deal" whereas US people just kill each other every day in streets or schools
Hi, I'm John from England, just watched your video on Germany v US drinking. It seems to me that alcohol is really the forbidden fruit in the US isn't it, I think that in most of Europe you grow up with alcohol, it's just a part of life. I started drinking in pubs, a place in your local community where you are known so you didn't act stupid and learned to drink sensibly. For 5 years I was a European courier driver and I have been to Germany many times they have the same attitude as the UK
In the UK the drinking age is 18. But if you are 16, accompanied by an adult, you can drink beer, wine or cider with a meal. Also, parents can give alcohol to their children (supervised) from the age of 5 upwards...
I was just 15 when i left school and went to work in England, Friday was pay day and I would go down to the pub with the guys from work open my pay packet and order a pint, back then the drinking age was 18 but many pubs took the view that if you where old enough to do a mans job and you behaved like an adult working all day you were older enough to have a beer or two but the older guys and bar staff would not let you get crazy they would put you straight and send you home if you got out of line, which would be so embarrassing, they would make you feel like a little child, needless to say all the younger guys were well behaved an very responsible the shame of being sent away home in front of your friends and guys that new you parents, the shame was worse the being caught by the police for underage drinking. .
As a german i can say, at the age of 15 i could buy beer, without having to show my ID. It can be different from place to place but usually if you dont look like a small child you can easily buy beer with 15.
Ye it's because in Germany restaurants have relatively small margins on food and often make their main profit from selling drinks. That's also why you usually won't get free tap water
My grandfather would give me a little glass of beer on Sundays. Then when I was about 13 I started to drink at parties and even in cafe while dancing on holidays under the supervision of my parents or older friends. But it was a very exceptional thing. We didn't think we could drink whenever we want. It needed to be a party. I learned pretty quick how much is too much.
Bonus of being allowed to drink early is that most of Germans have their most embarassing drinking accidents in our teens. By the time we hit 20, a lot of us are already getting bored with drinking to excess. That is when most Americans only get started.
I come from Belgium and, just like Germany, we are also a beer country and we have beers here that are stronger than wine. But the mentality is just different compared to the USA, where you drink as much beer as possible in the shortest possible time (bench drinking), while here you drink much more quietly and enjoy your drink more (probably because the clubs are open longer and you still want to make it to the end). I have never really played drinking games except the games that are played when you are really drunk then you don't come home unscathed. So it's more about you wanting to get a little tipsy and have fun, but at the same time you want to keep your feet on the ground and not be the one standing outside throwing up or passing out (especially in this age of social media). 😁
10 หลายเดือนก่อน +8
i think usa laws of driking is to prevent crime but disnt working so try to learn with other countries the more you forbid things the more people desire to do it
5:37 don‘t forget that you can legally drink wine with 14 when starting to attend communion at church (only a sip though, but still). I had my first sip of my dad‘s Alster (half beer, half sprite) in the age of maybe 8… this is hardly any alcohol, but I got a healthy perception of alcohol and didn‘t end up as an alcoholic
You cracking fun of the possibility of the president holding a speech drunk. Me having flashbacks of all the Bavarian politicians happily saying cheers to the camera with one litre beer mug in their hands because they have to show they're living and supporting our culture XD
In Poland, drinking age for all types of alcohol is 18. Drinking alcohol in public place is generally not allowed, unless it is at or near place, which sells it. Usually, when there is some kind event, they allow to drink on entire area, if there is some booth or stand with alcohol there. Oh, and it is not allowed to drink alcohol in public transport.
a fake id can get you 6 month to 10 years in prison in germany depends on the severity of the crimes you commited with the id. for posession alone you would get minimum jail or a hefty fine, but you would be previously convicted, so you can get problems getting a job in certain fields or with other types of governmental stuff.
For cigarettes, until September 2007, there used to be cigarette vending machines without any age control in the streets, as well as many tobacco stores where even children could buy tobacco, no questions asked, and it was common that parents would send their kids to get their cigarettes and tobacco for them. I went into such stores as young as 6 (the closest store was closer than the vending machine, where I would go when the store was closed) to get cigarettes for my parents or uncles. The legal age used to be 16 as well, although many younger kids were smoking, some as early as 10 or 12... There are still many tobacco stores, but now they ask for ID when they don't think you're 18. You can buy cigarettes and tobacco in supermarkets like Aldi or Lidl (among others), too, but nowadays they'll ask for ID as well at the cash register. The vending machines can now only be found in bars, and you need a special card (like a credit card, in size and shape) you get from the bar tender. There are some vending machines that read ID cards as well, but for other things like CBD (THC is still not legal). For alcohol, beer, wines can only be had at age 16 (although when I was a teen, nobody would have checked, really), in the Public Space when the teen is alone. After 8 p.m., I think, a teen can't go into a Kneipe on his/her own anymore, and if accompanied only until 10 p.m. In public spaces, the age goes down to 14 when you're with your parents and they're fine with you having a beer, or a glass of wine during a meal. But at home, even younger children are allowed a small glass of bubbly or these sweet, not very strong liquors, on special occasions like the New Year. When I was a kid age 10 and after, in early January, I would go and wish everybody I knew a happy New Year, so I'd get a little liquor from each person and I was happy to be tipsy afterwards. xD For the hard stuff like whiskey, vodka and the like, you have to be 18. But I think the mentalities are also completely different, about alcohol, in both countries. There has never been any Prohibition in Germany for alcohol, for instance, and doesn't it also have something to do with religion in the USA, at some degree? But I found some statistics, there are 7.7% of alcoholics in the USA, vs. 3.4% in Germany. I find this to be strange, I wonder why that is. Maybe the fact that teens get introduced gradually by the parents doesn't make it as attractive to go binge-drinking with friends as soon as possible, although people do that as well, as you have probably noticed. But then, all addictions are health issues, no matter the substance used, it goes way beyond having fun with friends.
It is the same as anything else. If you've got sensible rolemodels, you won't have problems dealing with alcohol at an age of 16. Usually you'll get drunk once or twice to experience where's your limit, but that's it. Afterwards you'll drink up to your limit but not over it. We've got a lot of idioms about drinking in Germany as "being half drunk is a waste of money", but we don't live that way.
13:16 just want to say that 99% of germans drink tap instead of bottled water due to how good our water infrastructure is and most people have even their own small water purifier attatched to the tap so that every single waterfaucet has fresh drinkable water we also dont put bleach in our tap water
There was a big discussion in Germany a few years ago: Some bars and discos offered flat rates for drinks, often specifically marketed at a younger audience. The main outcry was: You pay 20 Euros and can drink so much that you end up in hospital. I found it kind of silly, thinking: I can go to ALDI and buy a lethal dose of alcohol for 10 Euros.
Local bar/club in the 90s had a buy one drink get free refills all night if you paid £10 to get in. Was a Thursday promo, you'd get absolutely wasted but still make it to work next day
in Europe shops do not distribute tap water, as there are public fountains that dispense it for free, you have to ask and look for them. The bottled water is taken from a mountain source, free of chlorine, fluoride or too much limestone, it is not simply drinking water, it is natural mineral spring water; sometimes also naturally sparkling, and, less common, the curative one, scientifically verified
The funny thing is, you have to carry alcohol concealed, but you can walk around with your guns openly anywhere. There are now some states where guns can be carried concealed, such as Florida.
Fun fact: In my village in the southern highlands of NSW Australia bottled water is banned, but there are plenty of "bubblers" fresh water dispensers about the area.
@@peterpain6625 Just wokeness mate, but I don't mind this one as I never buy bottled water, for no other reason than tap water does me fine, and I do have a sodastream connected to a 6kg CO2 canister to produce soda water at very little cost compared to bottled soda water.
@@vtbn53 Hmm nah. Consider watching one of Beau Miles videos about how much plastic waste he picked out of one river/gulli in Gipsland. You guys have a plastic waste problem for sure. You may call it woke but keeping plastic waste down kinda makes sense... It's not China alright where 90% of "freshwater" isn't drinkable anymore because of pollution but still.
A society needs to be prepared. Here in Germany we have a long long experience with drinking. There are many places where it is part of community activity. Christmas markets or the Weinfest in the regions where the wine grows. Or Schützenfest and all this. Not to forget the wine at church where the Last Supper is celebrated. In the US it is not long ago that alcohol was frostbitten. No alcohol at all. Such would be impossible in Europe because the use of alcohol is cultural embedded. So you would allow alcohol like in Europe in the US I guess the hell would break lose. But who knows. Times change. By the way If you overbid something it gets more interesting, especially for young people.
I worked at an event location for weddings etc, where the drinks were free for everyone because the bride and groom paid for everything, you only met someone who didn't know their boundaries about every 7 months and in the meantime there were at least over 6000 guests there, so you had 1 in 6000 people who couldn't control themselves. They learn early how much they can tolerate, but everything has its beginnings. A youth sports club with guests between the ages of 16 and 21 had a party there and it was a disaster. Over 200 guests and I was the only waitress that day, it was worse than supervising elementary school students on a school trip (this text was presented to you by Google translator)
5:27 also, coming from a small city (now living in a big one and working in a pub) it was weird to me having to ask people of my age if they’re old enough to order hard liquor, in my first week my coworker asked me if I checked their ID’s and I didn’t even think about it since no one cared in my hometown
Years ago we had a boat trip our five year old hrlped himself to his mothers can of lager an american couple had a go at us until my French wife taught them French swear words to help them mind their own business.
Drinking age in Canada varies between provinces, but they're all between 18 and 19. But alcohol in Canada is a LOT more expensive than it is in the U.S. A 12-pack of beer is over $25.00 in Newfoundland and Labrador; and in bars, a beer or a glass of wine will be over $10.00 each. Cheers! 🍺🥃🍷🍸
Wow, that's really expensive... Do they have to import it all? Brought by orcas from northern Europe? But seriously, that's incredibly expensive, illegal substances must be much cheaper for people who only want to alter their mental state, let's say, no? Is it because of taxes?
@hellemarc4767 Yes, it's mostly due to taxes. And that's our locally-made beer! The imported beer has to come in by ferry, so that's much more expensive. I'm afraid I don't know the price of cannabis, though it is legal; I don't buy it because I don't use it.
Those prices sound about on par with price here in Australia. We do produce plenty of our own products but heavily taxed by government. often the cheaper beers are the imported ones even with All the taxes. Must be production costs here.
i remember when the german class at school went to germany for a trip and they thought it was great, drinking on a school trip beer from vending machines.
i think you misunderstood the water situation in german restaurants, getting tap water is the absolute exception! ant that's not because the tap water is bad, quite the opposite. its just the restaurants make a huge portion of their income with drinks. plus nobody is required by law or socially to give out free/cheap water.
A great trick to not get broke when drinking water, is not buy it at a kiosk or restaurant. Buy at supermarkets or just fill your bottle at home at the tap. Where I live it's 2.50€ / m³, that is 1000 liters or 264 gallons. At the current exchange rate that is a bit over a cent per gallon or about 740 pints per dollar. That is about 3-4 dollar for a year of clean drinking water at the US recommended amount and about 2.50$ at the EU recommended amount.
I am Romanian and I lived in a small town. We had a big club and I started going there from 14yo. It was just teenagers from our highschools. I had alcohol and cigarettes from 14. At that time, nobody would check your ID card for the age, plus if you bought cigarettes, they would think they are for your parents. :)))) Also, in uni I was already kinda done with clubbing. I went rarely to a club, I mostly met with my friends in different cool bars.
In a lot of European countries, it is also a little more strict than in Germany. I like the rule with beer and wine first because you make your experiences with alcohol usually with some light stuff and next to your parents. In the US you can go crazy with 21 and probably already live alone... Also where people in Europe just get mad is, that you can purchase a gun at 18 and decide about the life of someone and can only drink at 21 and decide about your own... It would be wise to have the legal age for a gun at 21 and the drinking age at 18, so people have experience with alcohol before they own a gun. Another topic is if none of the stupid people would own a gun, you wouldn't need one to defend yourself, I am a fan of mandatory background checks.
Yes, cultures are so different, in America you can drive a car from 16 and get a sharp weapon from 18, but alcohol is only available from 21. For us it's just a little different. 😂
When I was about 15 years old went to a party from the German Red Cross together with my dad, me and a friend both drank about 2 1/2 bottles (750ml a bottle) of cherry liquor and Baileys and so on , my dad said he let me drink because he said if I thought that I could then I should and experience the aftermath for myself , I was sick the next day but this was the only time that I drunk too much and nowadays I drink maybe a glass of alcohol a handful of times a year
Concerning the open containers I remember a music festival here in Germany which we joined last year. Most people were standing on a large community lawn (owned by the city I guess) and many would have cups of beer (and non-alcoholic beverages also) in their hands. Without bags hiding.
In Germany, you can legally drink beer from the age of 14 if your parents are present. From 16, you can buy beer yourself in a store and drink it in public. In many families, beer is also given to small children to drink, as the hops in beer help them sleep well. But only a sip, not a whole bottle. Most children get drunk for the first time at the age of 14 at their 8th grade graduation party. Basically, it's not a problem if children and teenagers drink beer, even if the age is not right. But most parents make sure that children do not drink alcohol. What is problematic, however, is the sale of high-proof alcohol to 18-year-olds and its easy accessibility to younger teenagers. Alcohol consumption by young adults has risen sharply in recent years. For many, there is no limit, which has drastic consequences for vocational training and later life.
Germany, especially regarding beer and wine has so many small breweries and distilleries - that it is common that you know someone who actually works or owns one. So Beer and wine is part of Germany's culture. Which is one small fact people don't really know about Germany, but especially in the south west you can like drive 10-20 miles and have a different city with its own beer and wine distilleries that they preferably use.
I'm from Bavaria. When I was young no one even give a shit if you have had a bit of alcohol as a child. In the christmastime I always got some eggnut or punch. I was offered a bit of beer quite often but I didnt like it. But what I loved was sloewine my grandparents made by themselves. It was very sugary and a bit stronger than normal wine, more like a liqueur. My grandgrandma always got a glass full of it after lunch. Because I liked it so much I always got half a glass too when I was with them, which was 2-3 times a week. In retroperspektive I remembered my grandgrandma died the weekend I got into primary school. I had become six three month before. So they have fed me with this wine while I was four or five. And of course after her death I also got it from time to time. But it didnt harm me. I dont drink much alcohol nowadays, perhaps one drink in two month. Obviously much less than I was a toddler😅
When i was like 12 or 13 i used to get 100 crowns (4 dollars) every day for food/snack to buy on the way to school I always bought 1 pack of smokes and 1 small tiny bottle of vodka and we went to friends yard that lived nearby school and get a bit drunk and smoke some cigarettes i even got up earlier to school becose of meeting with my buddies before the school :D
On the Topic of Cost: Apothic Red, Californian Wine costs 20$ over in the Americas as far as i know and here in Germany it's 9.99€ and it has to be shipped around the world first, so that's also in the cost.
I love how he casually said "that's what we drank as kids" when talking about the cheap vodka. And he is so right. When I was young I didn't like the taste of beer. So I started with "Apfelkorn" (apple schnapps) at the age of 14 and switched a bit later to that cheap fruit-flavored vodka like Pushkin Red & Black. At 17 I was grown up enough to realize that cheap shit is the worst and just made for teens and homeless people. So I moved on to normal alcohol for adults like beer, whiskey, cocktails, long drinks, etc. If that cheap booze is what gets you wasted first you're already done with that shit and learn to drink more responsibly long before you're allowed to even drive a scooter. THAT's how we Germans make the streets safer and reduce DUIs ;) .
😊 Guys, we can legally drink here in the UK, in the home with family, from the age of _5_years*...(_not_ spirits) ... I did*, and I have _never_ been a "heavy drinker"!! I do like Bacardi & Coke, or the very occasional 'Baileys' (though the whiskey in it gives me a headache!!) but mostly if I drink, alcohol, I'll choose a nice crisp, dry white wine, either at Christmas or for my birthday (in early August) hardly "knocking it back like a demon drinker" !! ...so there's no excuse for _not_ trying alcohol at a younger age... Unless you're the type to "go mad with it" - drinking "like there's no tomorrow", or likely to drink _so_ much, that you find yourself addicted to it, and / or generally cannot cope with doing without it in order to get through your day (& sadly, that can, and does hapoen to some people.😢) ... Also... In a pub which also serves meals, a 16_year old can legally drink (say, a beer, for example) _with_ their family when eating a meal, providing the alcohol is _only_ _purchased_ by a responsible adult: an_18_year old or over. But in order to _buy_ alcohol, people in Britain must be _18_ or over ...as far as I'm aware, these aee the facts regarding the 'buying and drinking' of alcoholic beverages here in the UK... (I await correction, if am mistaken, of course). 🤔❤🏴😏🇬🇧🖖(oh, I think the rules / laws nay be slightly different in _Northern_ _Ireland_, so you'd need to check that...?)
When you are allowed to drive a car in Germany at the age of 18 (resp. 17) you already have at least two years of experience with alcohol. I had about four years when I turned 18 and got my license. I do think this makes more sense concerning driving safety. First you get to know the effects of alcohol, THEN you are allowed to get your license.
aturo needs to ask jp why he was drinking water in Germany? you are over 21, you went to the place of beer and drinking in public. come on dude! beer = bread. so technically its nutrition. =P
I'm German and here's how the alcohol thing worked in my family: Even as kids my brother and I were allowed to have a sip of prosecco for New Year's Eve and a sip of wine for Christmas. We were taught that alcohol is a thing for adults to do in certain social settings. Like Christmas, New Year's Eve, weddings, parties etc. It was never taboo. We thought it tasted like shit and it wasn't anything special and therefore neither my brother nor I had a lot of interest in it. Throughout my childhood and youth we always had bottles of wine in a shelf within reach, happily gathering dust. My parents managed to keep alcohol from being a "forbidden fruit". 🤷♀️ And as far as I know this isn't particularly uncommon in German families. And if you think about it: it makes more sense to give kids a "soft start" under supervision into that aspect of adult life, well before they're getting a driver's license.
In my city in italy i went to the same bar since i was like 13/14 and drinking always alcohol never asked for an ID. When i had my 18 birthday in the same bar the owner come to congratulate and asked me how many years i was celebrating, I told him 18(legal drinking age) he told me: sweetie then I’ve been serving you alcohol since you were a child and we laughed a lot😂 Still going to the same bar❤now 21
Restaurants, pubs, cafes, etc in Germany make most of their profit off drinks. The edible menu items often have a mere 5-10% charge on the gross sale cost. That barely if at all covers the servers but rarely the chefs, rent, or utilities. So most of the places subsist by selling drinks. Offering a free drink would cut deeply into their survivability. Yes, I understand that's annoying but it is what it is.
In Denmark you have to be 18 to get served in a bar. You can buy beer and wine in a supermarket at 16 but have to be 18 to buy hard liquor. There is no "drinking age" if you are in your own home, so it is perfectly normal to drink alcohol at private parties or family gatherings when you are 14. I just looked up some stats: 23% of 12-14 yo and 92% of 15-16 olds in Denmark have tried drinking alcohol - 74% within the last month
I think your american 21 drinking age is a remnant of prohibition era. Iv'e read some research showing that it can be quite damaging especially when it comes to harder stuff. Around here in Europe, in most countries, ppl get their first taste of alcohol in their early teens, often under parent supervision. As you are still relatively young and your taste buds are much more sensitive, alcohol usually tastes much worse than it does in later years so you will treat it with some more respect later in life. Also, getting your first hangover in earlier age leaves a lasting impression so you are going to be more careful later on. In comparison, in america, once people reach the legal drinking age they often lack reason and control when consuming alcohol!
In Australia the “sin taxes” on alcohol are so high. US booze is actually cheaper! A bottle of cheap vodka is over $50. You can drink at 18, but I’m buggered if I know how young people can afford it.
Northern European countries like Sweden and Finland have pretty strict drinking laws, with state-owned liquor stores and youth not being allowed to go to pubs under the age of 18. Which leads to teenagers drinking outside on the streets in the summer....
In Denmark it's 15 😂 i remember from age 14-21 i would literally party almost every weekend 😂 this is all house parties. Sometimes parents would join, or host just to watch over their kids 😂 if no one could host and weather was good, we would just sit in a park and drink 😂 public drinking is completely legal, as long as you aren't causing problems here. What's funny is i haven't drank alcohol for 4 years, never was a problem and lost interest once done with school 😂
My mum is Aussie of Irish decent and dad was born in Czechoslovakia. I have a photo of me on my 4th birthday and I have my own glass of champagne. Another photo I am a couple days shy of being one year old. My dad is holding me attempting to drink champagne but I am pulling the glass to my mouth.
The weird thing about drinking age for me is, that by the time i was allowed to drink liquor and drive a car (18 in Switzerland), I've already had enough of hard alcohol and didn't find the need to drink when I was out with a car. To go out to the city, I always used public transport. I would like to see the drunk driving statistics of both countries, because I believe due to the drinking age of 21 people end up drinking too much to drive later just because they didn't have their time where it didn't interfere... But on the other hand, due to the sprawling suburbs and the distance, you can get nowhere without a car. Hence the car probably provides freedom to explore their area for the first time for many kids, which is very different to Switzerland. I went skateboarding at the other side of the country for a day with my friends at 13, only by public transport.
Alcoho addiction is the major reason to play it safe when it comes to drinking age: The later one starts drinking, the less likely it becomes to develop an addiction. Tings you did not do until the age of 25 barely ever become a habit. Having the regular sized bottles in a grocery store on a seperate isle is already bad for alcoholics, but with some discipline, one can just avoid those isle. However, with the miniature bottles in the checkout areas of german supermarkets, it is much harder to stay sober/ clean. On the discussion, which minimum drinking age is appropriate: the spokesperson on drug for the german goverment just announced a few days ago, that the limit for any acloholic beverages should be increase to 18, even for "soft beverages (beer, wine), and deleting the exception of the presence of parents. Essentially, I agree with that idea, however, it might be required to change the minimum age for driving a motorized vehicle on public roads as well: these two things do not go well with each other at all, and each of them require some time to get used to, before one can handle any of them with a certain responsibility, let alone the combination. Actually, the DUI rules for persons that recently got their divers license, forbit them from doing any aclohol before driving for the frst two years, menaning you loose your license when being caught with anything about 0.0 BAC.
Here in norway it’s 18 to drink, but widely tolerated to drinking earlier as long as you hehave. We used to go to Denmark when we were 16, because the drinking age there is 16. you can also buy alchohol any time in 24 hour kiosks. Good memories.
When i was younger, they didn't really care that much about age restrictions. They really cared about when i was like 16 or so, but when i was 12 it was not a problem for me to buy hard liquor or cigarettes.
One advantage of being allowed to drink at 16 is that you can do it without being able to drive a car. Because you can only start driving later. So the first crazy experiences are made without a car. It was a wild time back then hehe. greetings from Germany
I grew up in Germany and here in Germany a lot of teenagers forged their IDs. That was possible back then with the tax stamp on cigarettes. There were numbers on it and they were cut out and stuck onto the ID card over the date of birth because the background of the tax stamps on cigarettes looked similar to the background of the ID cards. In the evenings, when it was dark, the security couldn't really see it in bad light and you were already getting into discos at the age of 13 or 14. Normally you only got into discos in Germany when you were 16. I was in discos at the age of 13 too. Snuck out of the house at night when my parents were in bed 😀 was a nice time with all the girls in the disco.
Alcohol under the supervision of the parents with 14 does usually not mean, that the son and dad go on a booze tour. Ment is 1-2 glas (small) of beer or wine at the dinner by special occasions.
I'm german. It is literally normal to buy alcohol for some yunger friends. Normally there is no problem with it. Because they never ask to see the IDs of the people you are with. They often don't ask for any ID. When I bought my first strong alcoholic drink in the age of 18, I was disappointed, because the cashier in the supermarket did not ask to see my ID. 😅
Some decades ago when I was 14 we made a class trip to a wine region and we went to a wine cellar with the teachers and everyone could drink. Some had too much and were transported back to our hotel. But that was nothing special. Same thing happened one year later. Only some guys got into trouble because they bought their own alcohol to drink at the hotel and one of them passed out.
I was born in 1977. I remember the time , when I was 14 and 15 (in the early 90s, about 1992/1993). When I am looking back, I am not sure, if in the 90s were any rules about alcohol in Germany at all..? With 14 years it was absolutely no problem to get beer on a fairground. When we were about 15 years old, sometimes we met with some people from our class on saturday evening (for a public party-event with dancefloor, called "total dance night"). The gas station next door sold us alcocol without asking about our age, in the late evening a Romanian guy opened his shop for us and sold us whatever we wanted: Vodka, Rum, Schnapps etc. I cannot imagine that was legal- but nobody cared about it and apparently the police either did not notice it or had other things to do than drunk kids. Otherwise the cops would have closed the shop and the Romanian probably would have been brought to court...I do not know, if the alcohol-rules in Germany have become stricter for kids in 2024?
It's all a question of maturity. In a democracy and as an adult person , I can decide for myself what is good for me and what is not good for me. I don't need any incapacitating advice from the state. In the USA, everything is hypocritical. Behind the strict US laws, everyone does what they want (drinking, smoking, porn and so on). It's a fucking double standard. But you two guys are cool. Thank you. (A Swiss Man)
water is not rly expensive outside for brand mineral waters (which in some cases are worth it) there is always a housebrand for around 20ct/1,5L in Supermarkets too. Not speaking for restaurants tho, cause they obviously always upselling to make profit, but since the tapwater is very well regulated and u can always ask for it, water costs rly aint a problem
I remember in 1991 I used to walk a couple of Kim's with my friends to the pubs area here in the city... I ( and most of my friends ) where 14 back then... And we did that virtually 3 nights a week... Back then we hadn't joined the Euro currency ( can't even remember if it already existed back then - don't think so ) so goods ( and alcohol ) was dirt cheap... If you took 2,5€ ( value ) back then you'd get along fine... If you where lucky to have 5€, you could get so hammered and even have enough to buy food... So... Good times... By 1999 I quit drinking alcohol... I have one beer maybe two every three months or a Scotch but that's about it... I haven't had a drop of alcohol since early February...
About the "drinking" age for kids. Teens at the age of 14 can consume alcohol in public if they are with their parents or with a legal guardian. At home you can do whatever you want basically, there's no rule about age. BUT you are still responsible and getting a 6 year old a bottle of whiskey will get you to know child protection services quite fast. I mean, our kids were allowed a glas of sparkling wine at age 14 on new years eve. Now they are 15 and had 2-3 parties already with alc (all private, friends birthdays). And they consumed a lot harder stuff then beer and wine. Don't get me wrong, they were a bit tipsy but not hardcore drunk. And I prefer they drink now, under my supervision/control and learn their limits. Being as open about it as possible. They also know that regular drinking is already alcoholism and when they should stop etc. - at least I think so. In a perfect world, we wouldn't have any kind of alc or other drugs. But that won't be happening. So I prefer the "teach" aspect - no matter if alc., sex or whatever.
![ILLSLICK - KILLSHOT REMIX [FULL VERSION]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/RIK8RrqIAzE/mqdefault.jpg)
In the 90s my friend Max had an American exchange student staying with him for a school year. The guy was 16, from the midwest, raised by proper Christian parents, very shy, polite and followed all the rules. Max ruined him within a month, took him drinking, partying and over the border to Amsterdam for some pot on the weekend. He returned to the US in the summer of 97 I think and was sent back to Germany by fall because he was now " a terrible role model" for his younger siblings and "a problem". He got a student visa and was pretty happy as far as I remember.
We did that to a couple of exchange students. They've all got a family now doing fine. "Opened their eyes" rather than "ruined" i'd say ;) Good times.
FUBAR🤣🤣🤣
@@tobitobsen7826 You know that this is in fact english? :D
@@friendlyreptile9931 but what does it mean? The lore here in Germany is it could be a butchering of the german word "furchtbar" which means dreadful, awful, terrible.
@@wWvwvV I guess you also know this word from a movie starring Tom Hanks? In this movie (even in the german voice over) they tell it close to the end but it goes unnoticed for most of the people watching it :D It's short for "Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition"
For me as European, it´s shocking that you guys think that drinking at age of 16 is wild, but in your country it´s normal that kids have guns or can use them when their parents are around.
And can drive a massive SUV or truck at 16 but cant have a beer
Totally agree!
Same here!
Yeah, that's frigging crazy! Crazy I say! Crazy!
Well, keep in mind: Just because you could possibly trink alcohol legally, it does not mean that you do it all day, 24/7. Most important, over all, is that the parents are a good example and that joung people are sensitive about drinking alcohol, and develop a feeling for being responsible.
Yeah, a big part is learning early on to be responsible with alcohol.
Using a fake ID in Germany would get you into so much more trouble than just drinking underage. I think it’s up to one year in prison for borrowing another persons ID (like your sibling for example) and up to two years for faking one.
Lol, not true.
@@stadtpost He's right. The only real, official ID in Germany is the mandatory passport. Something the US doesn't have. Faking the passport can get you up to 5 years of prison and a hefty fine. Goes for any other official ID too. Even faking a student ID counts as forgery of documents. If you take the ID of someone else, it's just one year of prison, but for both.
@@stadtpost it is tho.
Wer ein Ausweispapier, das für einen anderen ausgestellt ist, zur Täuschung im Rechtsverkehr gebraucht, oder wer zur Täuschung im Rechtsverkehr einem anderen ein Ausweispapier überläßt, das nicht für diesen ausgestellt ist, wird mit Freiheitsstrafe bis zu einem Jahr oder mit Geldstrafe bestraft
@@stadtpostabsolutely true
I think the fine for a fake Id is 25.000€ 🙃🙏🏽😂
In Germany, beer is not considered a stimulant but a food….😅
Only in bavaria
not even true, but funny
well, what's bread? Cereals and yeast
What 's beer ? cereals, yeast and water
Ergo, beer is just liquid bread !
Well it can certainly make you fat that's for sure 😬🥴
*in bavaria
in usa u cant drink until 21 but u can drive at 16? whats the logic of that? im not gonna mention the guns because that department is so ridiculous
different country different customs
Doesnt sound that illogical tbh. Giving teens cars AND alcohol sounds kinda crazy
Or you can die for the country when you go to the army.
Driving with 16 is better becouse drinking Alkohol under 21 isnt healthy i also would like to don't sell in germany under 21 ages
@@lukaspufahl163 in the same way I would like the US to raise driving age to 21 and improve driving exams and vehicle regulations. Emotionally unstable teens in unsafe vehicles are dangerous.
But I think neither of us will get what we want.
First time I went to the US I was about 25 and went a week to New York with a friend. We arrived and for us it was evening (jet lag) but in New york it was morning or early afternoon. So we decided to sit on a terrace somewhere and have a beer and something to eat. But the restaurant couldn't oblige, because they weren't allowed to serve alcohol before a specific time in the afternoon. I had never ever heard of a regulation like that (this was end of the '80s, the Netherlands didn't have many alcohol rules then) and it was weird to encounter it in a country that tv and other media had told me had all the freedoms. Next disappointment was when "the city that doesn't sleep" closed their nightlife earlier than Amsterdam, where I was from.
wow when did they clode their nightlife? I never heard of that. I'm from Cologne and some clubs go until 7 in the morning...
For us Germans, beer is as normal and important as the flag is for an American. That's why we deal with it so calmly and trust our young people, which is why they are allowed to drink beer from the age of 16. In the Middle Ages it was normal for children to drink beer. Beer was a food, there was also beer soup.
Im from Serbia (Europe, believe it or not) and I remember my sister going out for her 12th birthday and i went to sleep before she came home. What woke me up at night was when she was stumbling around the room going to bathroom to barf 😆 Yeah, it was from red wine...
Yeah i started at 14 its normal
@@Lord_Kratos69 I mean i saw two gipsy kids arond the age of 6-8 inhaling a bag of glue in a bus and Americans think THEY are in shit...
It's quite easy to understand the two countries' differences here, guys. Just think of gun regulations in the US, and the drinking regulations in much of Europe is similar. The Europeans get their beer, wine, and public drinking. You get your hand guns, assault weapons, and open carry legislation.
Difference is people here learn how to handle alcohol responsible, because it's not so "a big deal" whereas US people just kill each other every day in streets or schools
👍🏻👍🏻
I really feel much safer next to a stranger holding a beer 🍺 than next to someone holding a gun.🙄
@@dudoklasovity2093 at least isn't holding a beer and a gun
Hi, I'm John from England, just watched your video on Germany v US drinking. It seems to me that alcohol is really the forbidden fruit in the US isn't it, I think that in most of Europe you grow up with alcohol, it's just a part of life. I started drinking in pubs, a place in your local community where you are known so you didn't act stupid and learned to drink sensibly. For 5 years I was a European courier driver and I have been to Germany many times they have the same attitude as the UK
In the UK the drinking age is 18. But if you are 16, accompanied by an adult, you can drink beer, wine or cider with a meal. Also, parents can give alcohol to their children (supervised) from the age of 5 upwards...
Remember that for a time they even banned alcohol.
I was just 15 when i left school and went to work in England, Friday was pay day and I would go down to the pub with the guys from work open my pay packet and order a pint, back then the drinking age was 18 but many pubs took the view that if you where old enough to do a mans job and you behaved like an adult working all day you were older enough to have a beer or two but the older guys and bar staff would not let you get crazy they would put you straight and send you home if you got out of line, which would be so embarrassing, they would make you feel like a little child, needless to say all the younger guys were well behaved an very responsible the shame of being sent away home in front of your friends and guys that new you parents, the shame was worse the being caught by the police for underage drinking.
.
As a german i can say, at the age of 15 i could buy beer, without having to show my ID. It can be different from place to place but usually if you dont look like a small child you can easily buy beer with 15.
Bottle of 1.5 liter water costs 0,19€ in germany its just expensive at Restaurants
Ye it's because in Germany restaurants have relatively small margins on food and often make their main profit from selling drinks. That's also why you usually won't get free tap water
My grandfather would give me a little glass of beer on Sundays. Then when I was about 13 I started to drink at parties and even in cafe while dancing on holidays under the supervision of my parents or older friends. But it was a very exceptional thing. We didn't think we could drink whenever we want. It needed to be a party. I learned pretty quick how much is too much.
Bonus of being allowed to drink early is that most of Germans have their most embarassing drinking accidents in our teens. By the time we hit 20, a lot of us are already getting bored with drinking to excess. That is when most Americans only get started.
In America you can get a gun, but not a beer 😂😂😂😂
Theoretically spoken: If you have a gun, and another guy has a beer - guess who may have both after an arguement...
@@mbkl79 In Europe the owner of the beer can will decide the argument. We are good in throwing beer cans if you know what I mean
@@mbkl79 The police.
@@gunchar06 Brilliant! 😅
But in Germany it's also kinda crazy, you can basically buy a hard drug before you can buy certain movies and video games.
The cheapest beer in Germany only costs 0,50€ (~ $0.55) for half a litre ... *yeah ... and it's still quite tasty (compared to US beer - sorry!).
I come from Belgium and, just like Germany, we are also a beer country and we have beers here that are stronger than wine. But the mentality is just different compared to the USA, where you drink as much beer as possible in the shortest possible time (bench drinking), while here you drink much more quietly and enjoy your drink more (probably because the clubs are open longer and you still want to make it to the end). I have never really played drinking games except the games that are played when you are really drunk then you don't come home unscathed. So it's more about you wanting to get a little tipsy and have fun, but at the same time you want to keep your feet on the ground and not be the one standing outside throwing up or passing out (especially in this age of social media). 😁
i think usa laws of driking is to prevent crime but disnt working so try to learn with other countries the more you forbid things the more people desire to do it
The USA remains strongly bound by its Puritan traditions.
5:37 don‘t forget that you can legally drink wine with 14 when starting to attend communion at church (only a sip though, but still). I had my first sip of my dad‘s Alster (half beer, half sprite) in the age of maybe 8… this is hardly any alcohol, but I got a healthy perception of alcohol and didn‘t end up as an alcoholic
You cracking fun of the possibility of the president holding a speech drunk.
Me having flashbacks of all the Bavarian politicians happily saying cheers to the camera with one litre beer mug in their hands because they have to show they're living and supporting our culture XD
In Poland, drinking age for all types of alcohol is 18. Drinking alcohol in public place is generally not allowed, unless it is at or near place, which sells it. Usually, when there is some kind event, they allow to drink on entire area, if there is some booth or stand with alcohol there. Oh, and it is not allowed to drink alcohol in public transport.
a fake id can get you 6 month to 10 years in prison in germany depends on the severity of the crimes you commited with the id. for posession alone you would get minimum jail or a hefty fine, but you would be previously convicted, so you can get problems getting a job in certain fields or with other types of governmental stuff.
A bottle of water is not 4 Euro.... he said in a Restaurant!
For cigarettes, until September 2007, there used to be cigarette vending machines without any age control in the streets, as well as many tobacco stores where even children could buy tobacco, no questions asked, and it was common that parents would send their kids to get their cigarettes and tobacco for them. I went into such stores as young as 6 (the closest store was closer than the vending machine, where I would go when the store was closed) to get cigarettes for my parents or uncles. The legal age used to be 16 as well, although many younger kids were smoking, some as early as 10 or 12... There are still many tobacco stores, but now they ask for ID when they don't think you're 18. You can buy cigarettes and tobacco in supermarkets like Aldi or Lidl (among others), too, but nowadays they'll ask for ID as well at the cash register. The vending machines can now only be found in bars, and you need a special card (like a credit card, in size and shape) you get from the bar tender. There are some vending machines that read ID cards as well, but for other things like CBD (THC is still not legal).
For alcohol, beer, wines can only be had at age 16 (although when I was a teen, nobody would have checked, really), in the Public Space when the teen is alone. After 8 p.m., I think, a teen can't go into a Kneipe on his/her own anymore, and if accompanied only until 10 p.m. In public spaces, the age goes down to 14 when you're with your parents and they're fine with you having a beer, or a glass of wine during a meal. But at home, even younger children are allowed a small glass of bubbly or these sweet, not very strong liquors, on special occasions like the New Year. When I was a kid age 10 and after, in early January, I would go and wish everybody I knew a happy New Year, so I'd get a little liquor from each person and I was happy to be tipsy afterwards. xD
For the hard stuff like whiskey, vodka and the like, you have to be 18. But I think the mentalities are also completely different, about alcohol, in both countries. There has never been any Prohibition in Germany for alcohol, for instance, and doesn't it also have something to do with religion in the USA, at some degree? But I found some statistics, there are 7.7% of alcoholics in the USA, vs. 3.4% in Germany. I find this to be strange, I wonder why that is. Maybe the fact that teens get introduced gradually by the parents doesn't make it as attractive to go binge-drinking with friends as soon as possible, although people do that as well, as you have probably noticed. But then, all addictions are health issues, no matter the substance used, it goes way beyond having fun with friends.
It is the same as anything else. If you've got sensible rolemodels, you won't have problems dealing with alcohol at an age of 16. Usually you'll get drunk once or twice to experience where's your limit, but that's it. Afterwards you'll drink up to your limit but not over it.
We've got a lot of idioms about drinking in Germany as "being half drunk is a waste of money", but we don't live that way.
13:16 just want to say that 99% of germans drink tap instead of bottled water due to how good our water infrastructure is and most people have even their own small water purifier attatched to the tap so that every single waterfaucet has fresh drinkable water we also dont put bleach in our tap water
Don't forget that the Germans live with this drinking cultu and we get raised in/with it. It's normal for us, we learn how to drink responsibility.
There was a big discussion in Germany a few years ago: Some bars and discos offered flat rates for drinks, often specifically marketed at a younger audience. The main outcry was: You pay 20 Euros and can drink so much that you end up in hospital. I found it kind of silly, thinking: I can go to ALDI and buy a lethal dose of alcohol for 10 Euros.
Local bar/club in the 90s had a buy one drink get free refills all night if you paid £10 to get in. Was a Thursday promo, you'd get absolutely wasted but still make it to work next day
in Europe shops do not distribute tap water, as there are public fountains that dispense it for free, you have to ask and look for them. The bottled water is taken from a mountain source, free of chlorine, fluoride or too much limestone, it is not simply drinking water, it is natural mineral spring water; sometimes also naturally sparkling, and, less common, the curative one, scientifically verified
The funny thing is, you have to carry alcohol concealed, but you can walk around with your guns openly anywhere. There are now some states where guns can be carried concealed, such as Florida.
Fun fact: In my village in the southern highlands of NSW Australia bottled water is banned, but there are plenty of "bubblers" fresh water dispensers about the area.
I get you've got a bottle littering problem in some places in Australia but is that the reason or something else?
@@peterpain6625 Just wokeness mate, but I don't mind this one as I never buy bottled water, for no other reason than tap water does me fine, and I do have a sodastream connected to a 6kg CO2 canister to produce soda water at very little cost compared to bottled soda water.
@@vtbn53 Hmm nah. Consider watching one of Beau Miles videos about how much plastic waste he picked out of one river/gulli in Gipsland. You guys have a plastic waste problem for sure. You may call it woke but keeping plastic waste down kinda makes sense... It's not China alright where 90% of "freshwater" isn't drinkable anymore because of pollution but still.
But you can buy a bottle of coke?
@@aleisterlavey9716 Of course, no one is going to provide free bubblers of coke.
A society needs to be prepared. Here in Germany we have a long long experience with drinking. There are many places where it is part of community activity. Christmas markets or the Weinfest in the regions where the wine grows. Or Schützenfest and all this. Not to forget the wine at church where the Last Supper is celebrated. In the US it is not long ago that alcohol was frostbitten. No alcohol at all. Such would be impossible in Europe because the use of alcohol is cultural embedded. So you would allow alcohol like in Europe in the US I guess the hell would break lose. But who knows. Times change.
By the way If you overbid something it gets more interesting, especially for young people.
I worked at an event location for weddings etc, where the drinks were free for everyone because the bride and groom paid for everything, you only met someone who didn't know their boundaries about every 7 months and in the meantime there were at least over 6000 guests there, so you had 1 in 6000 people who couldn't control themselves. They learn early how much they can tolerate, but everything has its beginnings. A youth sports club with guests between the ages of 16 and 21 had a party there and it was a disaster. Over 200 guests and I was the only waitress that day, it was worse than supervising elementary school students on a school trip (this text was presented to you by Google translator)
5:27 also, coming from a small city (now living in a big one and working in a pub) it was weird to me having to ask people of my age if they’re old enough to order hard liquor, in my first week my coworker asked me if I checked their ID’s and I didn’t even think about it since no one cared in my hometown
in england and wales the supervised drinking age is 5
Years ago we had a boat trip our five year old hrlped himself to his mothers can of lager an american couple had a go at us until my French wife taught them French swear words to help them mind their own business.
well, we think, that driving a car with 16 is too early...
Drinking age in Canada varies between provinces, but they're all between 18 and 19. But alcohol in Canada is a LOT more expensive than it is in the U.S. A 12-pack of beer is over $25.00 in Newfoundland and Labrador; and in bars, a beer or a glass of wine will be over $10.00 each. Cheers! 🍺🥃🍷🍸
Wow, that's really expensive... Do they have to import it all? Brought by orcas from northern Europe? But seriously, that's incredibly expensive, illegal substances must be much cheaper for people who only want to alter their mental state, let's say, no? Is it because of taxes?
@hellemarc4767 Yes, it's mostly due to taxes. And that's our locally-made beer! The imported beer has to come in by ferry, so that's much more expensive. I'm afraid I don't know the price of cannabis, though it is legal; I don't buy it because I don't use it.
Those prices sound about on par with price here in Australia. We do produce plenty of our own products but heavily taxed by government. often the cheaper beers are the imported ones even with All the taxes. Must be production costs here.
Greetings from Germany, I love your channel. Keep it up !
i remember when the german class at school went to germany for a trip and they thought it was great, drinking on a school trip beer from vending machines.
i think you misunderstood the water situation in german restaurants, getting tap water is the absolute exception! ant that's not because the tap water is bad, quite the opposite. its just the restaurants make a huge portion of their income with drinks. plus nobody is required by law or socially to give out free/cheap water.
Me as a German 16 year old boy, I avoided beer or wine. It's not like I have to drink alcohol. Only with friend at parties or at beaches/seas/rivers.
As an aussie. I started drinking at 12. Same as weed. By time got to driving age drinking for me wasnt a big deal
In Slovakia we have it on 18 however everyone start drinking before (i started at 13 now im 16)
A great trick to not get broke when drinking water, is not buy it at a kiosk or restaurant. Buy at supermarkets or just fill your bottle at home at the tap.
Where I live it's 2.50€ / m³, that is 1000 liters or 264 gallons. At the current exchange rate that is a bit over a cent per gallon or about 740 pints per dollar. That is about 3-4 dollar for a year of clean drinking water at the US recommended amount and about 2.50$ at the EU recommended amount.
I am Romanian and I lived in a small town. We had a big club and I started going there from 14yo. It was just teenagers from our highschools. I had alcohol and cigarettes from 14. At that time, nobody would check your ID card for the age, plus if you bought cigarettes, they would think they are for your parents. :)))) Also, in uni I was already kinda done with clubbing. I went rarely to a club, I mostly met with my friends in different cool bars.
„Begleitetes Trinken“ (accompanied drinking) is allowed at the age of 14 (!) already in germany….
Where did you buy water in Germany?
Usually, if I buy water and don’t drink tap water, I’ll pay like 1 Euro or less for it.
In a lot of European countries, it is also a little more strict than in Germany. I like the rule with beer and wine first because you make your experiences with alcohol usually with some light stuff and next to your parents. In the US you can go crazy with 21 and probably already live alone...
Also where people in Europe just get mad is, that you can purchase a gun at 18 and decide about the life of someone and can only drink at 21 and decide about your own...
It would be wise to have the legal age for a gun at 21 and the drinking age at 18, so people have experience with alcohol before they own a gun.
Another topic is if none of the stupid people would own a gun, you wouldn't need one to defend yourself, I am a fan of mandatory background checks.
I have no idea where you bought your water... but for 3 € you get at least 3-6 bottles of water (1.5 ltr each).
Yes, cultures are so different, in America you can drive a car from 16 and get a sharp weapon from 18, but alcohol is only available from 21. For us it's just a little different. 😂
When I was about 15 years old went to a party from the German Red Cross together with my dad, me and a friend both drank about 2 1/2 bottles (750ml a bottle) of cherry liquor and Baileys and so on , my dad said he let me drink because he said if I thought that I could then I should and experience the aftermath for myself , I was sick the next day but this was the only time that I drunk too much and nowadays I drink maybe a glass of alcohol a handful of times a year
Concerning the open containers I remember a music festival here in Germany which we joined last year. Most people were standing on a large community lawn (owned by the city I guess) and many would have cups of beer (and non-alcoholic beverages also) in their hands. Without bags hiding.
In Germany, you can legally drink beer from the age of 14 if your parents are present. From 16, you can buy beer yourself in a store and drink it in public. In many families, beer is also given to small children to drink, as the hops in beer help them sleep well. But only a sip, not a whole bottle. Most children get drunk for the first time at the age of 14 at their 8th grade graduation party. Basically, it's not a problem if children and teenagers drink beer, even if the age is not right. But most parents make sure that children do not drink alcohol. What is problematic, however, is the sale of high-proof alcohol to 18-year-olds and its easy accessibility to younger teenagers. Alcohol consumption by young adults has risen sharply in recent years. For many, there is no limit, which has drastic consequences for vocational training and later life.
Germany, especially regarding beer and wine has so many small breweries and distilleries - that it is common that you know someone who actually works or owns one. So Beer and wine is part of Germany's culture. Which is one small fact people don't really know about Germany, but especially in the south west you can like drive 10-20 miles and have a different city with its own beer and wine distilleries that they preferably use.
I'm from Bavaria. When I was young no one even give a shit if you have had a bit of alcohol as a child. In the christmastime I always got some eggnut or punch. I was offered a bit of beer quite often but I didnt like it. But what I loved was sloewine my grandparents made by themselves. It was very sugary and a bit stronger than normal wine, more like a liqueur. My grandgrandma always got a glass full of it after lunch. Because I liked it so much I always got half a glass too when I was with them, which was 2-3 times a week. In retroperspektive I remembered my grandgrandma died the weekend I got into primary school. I had become six three month before. So they have fed me with this wine while I was four or five. And of course after her death I also got it from time to time. But it didnt harm me. I dont drink much alcohol nowadays, perhaps one drink in two month. Obviously much less than I was a toddler😅
I thougt its the deffinition of freedom to drink a beer in a sunny summer evenig on a park bench and enjoy the wether.
When i was like 12 or 13 i used to get 100 crowns (4 dollars) every day for food/snack to buy on the way to school
I always bought 1 pack of smokes and 1 small tiny bottle of vodka and we went to friends yard that lived nearby school and get a bit drunk and smoke some cigarettes
i even got up earlier to school becose of meeting with my buddies before the school :D
On the Topic of Cost: Apothic Red, Californian Wine costs 20$ over in the Americas as far as i know and here in Germany it's 9.99€ and it has to be shipped around the world first, so that's also in the cost.
I love how he casually said "that's what we drank as kids" when talking about the cheap vodka. And he is so right.
When I was young I didn't like the taste of beer. So I started with "Apfelkorn" (apple schnapps) at the age of 14 and switched a bit later to that cheap fruit-flavored vodka like Pushkin Red & Black.
At 17 I was grown up enough to realize that cheap shit is the worst and just made for teens and homeless people. So I moved on to normal alcohol for adults like beer, whiskey, cocktails, long drinks, etc. If that cheap booze is what gets you wasted first you're already done with that shit and learn to drink more responsibly long before you're allowed to even drive a scooter.
THAT's how we Germans make the streets safer and reduce DUIs ;) .
In the Netherland they smoke weed on streets. Such a lovely country!
😊 Guys, we can legally drink here in the UK, in the home with family, from the age of _5_years*...(_not_ spirits) ...
I did*, and I have _never_ been a "heavy drinker"!! I do like Bacardi & Coke, or the very occasional 'Baileys' (though the whiskey in it gives me a headache!!) but mostly if I drink, alcohol, I'll choose a nice crisp, dry white wine, either at Christmas or for my birthday (in early August) hardly "knocking it back like a demon drinker" !! ...so there's no excuse for _not_ trying alcohol at a younger age... Unless you're the type to "go mad with it" - drinking "like there's no tomorrow", or likely to drink _so_ much, that you find yourself addicted to it, and / or generally cannot cope with doing without it in order to get through your day (& sadly, that can, and does hapoen to some people.😢) ... Also...
In a pub which also serves meals, a 16_year old can legally drink (say, a beer, for example) _with_ their family when eating a meal, providing the alcohol is _only_ _purchased_ by a responsible adult: an_18_year old or over.
But in order to _buy_ alcohol, people in Britain must be _18_ or over ...as far as I'm aware, these aee the facts regarding the 'buying and drinking' of alcoholic beverages here in the UK...
(I await correction, if am mistaken, of course). 🤔❤🏴😏🇬🇧🖖(oh, I think the rules / laws nay be slightly different in _Northern_ _Ireland_, so you'd need to check that...?)
When you are allowed to drive a car in Germany at the age of 18 (resp. 17) you already have at least two years of experience with alcohol. I had about four years when I turned 18 and got my license. I do think this makes more sense concerning driving safety. First you get to know the effects of alcohol, THEN you are allowed to get your license.
In germany the church served wine at confirmation . For kids at the age of 14.
But they stopped and use grape juice instead.
my first contact with alcohol was after my confirmation, i guess iwas 13 years old
In Finland the church still serves wine for kids aged 14-15. But the amount is so small that it is considered legal.
aturo needs to ask jp why he was drinking water in Germany? you are over 21, you went to the place of beer and drinking in public. come on dude! beer = bread. so technically its nutrition. =P
I 1st got drunk at 7yrs old on cider my brother gave me... got served in shops at 14... pubs at 15...
but this was the 90s....
I'm German and here's how the alcohol thing worked in my family:
Even as kids my brother and I were allowed to have a sip of prosecco for New Year's Eve and a sip of wine for Christmas. We were taught that alcohol is a thing for adults to do in certain social settings. Like Christmas, New Year's Eve, weddings, parties etc.
It was never taboo. We thought it tasted like shit and it wasn't anything special and therefore neither my brother nor I had a lot of interest in it.
Throughout my childhood and youth we always had bottles of wine in a shelf within reach, happily gathering dust.
My parents managed to keep alcohol from being a "forbidden fruit".
🤷♀️
And as far as I know this isn't particularly uncommon in German families.
And if you think about it: it makes more sense to give kids a "soft start" under supervision into that aspect of adult life, well before they're getting a driver's license.
In my city in italy i went to the same bar since i was like 13/14 and drinking always alcohol never asked for an ID. When i had my 18 birthday in the same bar the owner come to congratulate and asked me how many years i was celebrating, I told him 18(legal drinking age) he told me: sweetie then I’ve been serving you alcohol since you were a child and we laughed a lot😂
Still going to the same bar❤now 21
Restaurants, pubs, cafes, etc in Germany make most of their profit off drinks. The edible menu items often have a mere 5-10% charge on the gross sale cost. That barely if at all covers the servers but rarely the chefs, rent, or utilities. So most of the places subsist by selling drinks. Offering a free drink would cut deeply into their survivability. Yes, I understand that's annoying but it is what it is.
In Denmark you have to be 18 to get served in a bar. You can buy beer and wine in a supermarket at 16 but have to be 18 to buy hard liquor. There is no "drinking age" if you are in your own home, so it is perfectly normal to drink alcohol at private parties or family gatherings when you are 14.
I just looked up some stats:
23% of 12-14 yo and 92% of 15-16 olds in Denmark have tried drinking alcohol - 74% within the last month
I think your american 21 drinking age is a remnant of prohibition era.
Iv'e read some research showing that it can be quite damaging especially when it comes to harder stuff.
Around here in Europe, in most countries, ppl get their first taste of alcohol in their early teens, often under parent supervision. As you are still relatively young and your taste buds are much more sensitive, alcohol usually tastes much worse than it does in later years so you will treat it with some more respect later in life. Also, getting your first hangover in earlier age leaves a lasting impression so you are going to be more careful later on.
In comparison, in america, once people reach the legal drinking age they often lack reason and control when consuming alcohol!
The christmas markets are particularly excellent in central Europe.
In Australia the “sin taxes” on alcohol are so high. US booze is actually cheaper! A bottle of cheap vodka is over $50. You can drink at 18, but I’m buggered if I know how young people can afford it.
JPS for President! ;-)
Yeah here in Australia , Alcohol and Cigarettes are super highly taxed.
They say it's to contribute to healthcare costs and deter excessive use
Northern European countries like Sweden and Finland have pretty strict drinking laws, with state-owned liquor stores and youth not being allowed to go to pubs under the age of 18. Which leads to teenagers drinking outside on the streets in the summer....
In Denmark it's 15 😂 i remember from age 14-21 i would literally party almost every weekend 😂 this is all house parties. Sometimes parents would join, or host just to watch over their kids 😂 if no one could host and weather was good, we would just sit in a park and drink 😂 public drinking is completely legal, as long as you aren't causing problems here. What's funny is i haven't drank alcohol for 4 years, never was a problem and lost interest once done with school 😂
In Germany we have a ,, Sprichwort " wich is called ,, Don't drink and drive,
Just sauf and lauf
You can buy a gun to in America at 18 but you can't buy a beer.
My mum is Aussie of Irish decent and dad was born in Czechoslovakia. I have a photo of me on my 4th birthday and I have my own glass of champagne. Another photo I am a couple days shy of being one year old. My dad is holding me attempting to drink champagne but I am pulling the glass to my mouth.
The weird thing about drinking age for me is, that by the time i was allowed to drink liquor and drive a car (18 in Switzerland), I've already had enough of hard alcohol and didn't find the need to drink when I was out with a car. To go out to the city, I always used public transport.
I would like to see the drunk driving statistics of both countries, because I believe due to the drinking age of 21 people end up drinking too much to drive later just because they didn't have their time where it didn't interfere...
But on the other hand, due to the sprawling suburbs and the distance, you can get nowhere without a car. Hence the car probably provides freedom to explore their area for the first time for many kids, which is very different to Switzerland. I went skateboarding at the other side of the country for a day with my friends at 13, only by public transport.
Joel having a fun day at the office.
Alcoho addiction is the major reason to play it safe when it comes to drinking age: The later one starts drinking, the less likely it becomes to develop an addiction. Tings you did not do until the age of 25 barely ever become a habit.
Having the regular sized bottles in a grocery store on a seperate isle is already bad for alcoholics, but with some discipline, one can just avoid those isle. However, with the miniature bottles in the checkout areas of german supermarkets, it is much harder to stay sober/ clean.
On the discussion, which minimum drinking age is appropriate: the spokesperson on drug for the german goverment just announced a few days ago, that the limit for any acloholic beverages should be increase to 18, even for "soft beverages (beer, wine), and deleting the exception of the presence of parents. Essentially, I agree with that idea, however, it might be required to change the minimum age for driving a motorized vehicle on public roads as well:
these two things do not go well with each other at all, and each of them require some time to get used to, before one can handle any of them with a certain responsibility, let alone the combination. Actually, the DUI rules for persons that recently got their divers license, forbit them from doing any aclohol before driving for the frst two years, menaning you loose your license when being caught with anything about 0.0 BAC.
Here in norway it’s 18 to drink, but widely tolerated to drinking earlier as long as you hehave. We used to go to Denmark when we were 16, because the drinking age there is 16. you can also buy alchohol any time in 24 hour kiosks. Good memories.
When i was younger, they didn't really care that much about age restrictions. They really cared about when i was like 16 or so, but when i was 12 it was not a problem for me to buy hard liquor or cigarettes.
One advantage of being allowed to drink at 16 is that you can do it without being able to drive a car. Because you can only start driving later.
So the first crazy experiences are made without a car. It was a wild time back then hehe. greetings from Germany
I grew up in Germany and here in Germany a lot of teenagers forged their IDs. That was possible back then with the tax stamp on cigarettes. There were numbers on it and they were cut out and stuck onto the ID card over the date of birth because the background of the tax stamps on cigarettes looked similar to the background of the ID cards. In the evenings, when it was dark, the security couldn't really see it in bad light and you were already getting into discos at the age of 13 or 14. Normally you only got into discos in Germany when you were 16. I was in discos at the age of 13 too. Snuck out of the house at night when my parents were in bed 😀 was a nice time with all the girls in the disco.
Alcohol under the supervision of the parents with 14 does usually not mean, that the son and dad go on a booze tour. Ment is 1-2 glas (small) of beer or wine at the dinner by special occasions.
I'm german.
It is literally normal to buy alcohol for some yunger friends. Normally there is no problem with it. Because they never ask to see the IDs of the people you are with. They often don't ask for any ID.
When I bought my first strong alcoholic drink in the age of 18, I was disappointed, because the cashier in the supermarket did not ask to see my ID. 😅
Danke!
Some decades ago when I was 14 we made a class trip to a wine region and we went to a wine cellar with the teachers and everyone could drink. Some had too much and were transported back to our hotel. But that was nothing special. Same thing happened one year later. Only some guys got into trouble because they bought their own alcohol to drink at the hotel and one of them passed out.
I was born in 1977. I remember the time , when I was 14 and 15 (in the early 90s, about 1992/1993). When I am looking back, I am not sure, if in the 90s were any rules about alcohol in Germany at all..? With 14 years it was absolutely no problem to get beer on a fairground. When we were about 15 years old, sometimes we met with some people from our class on saturday evening (for a public party-event with dancefloor, called "total dance night"). The gas station next door sold us alcocol without asking about our age, in the late evening a Romanian guy opened his shop for us and sold us whatever we wanted: Vodka, Rum, Schnapps etc. I cannot imagine that was legal- but nobody cared about it and apparently the police either did not notice it or had other things to do than drunk kids. Otherwise the cops would have closed the shop and the Romanian probably would have been brought to court...I do not know, if the alcohol-rules in Germany have become stricter for kids in 2024?
raised in a German village myself the partying (and drinking)was something else, on another level, I would say, especially in th '80th😁
It's all a question of maturity. In a democracy and as an adult person , I can decide for myself what is good for me and what is not good for me. I don't need any incapacitating advice from the state. In the USA, everything is hypocritical. Behind the strict US laws, everyone does what they want (drinking, smoking, porn and so on). It's a fucking double standard. But you two guys are cool. Thank you. (A Swiss Man)
When I get drunk the first time I was 14 and it shows me my limits so I was "healed" and used it with more responsibility afterwards.
water is not rly expensive outside for brand mineral waters (which in some cases are worth it) there is always a housebrand for around 20ct/1,5L in Supermarkets too.
Not speaking for restaurants tho, cause they obviously always upselling to make profit, but since the tapwater is very well regulated and u can always ask for it, water costs rly aint a problem
Vote 1 Jps - President of the World.
Vote 1 Arturo , Vice President of the World
😊😅😂😊😮😂 Can you _imagine_ that party celebrating?!!😊😅😂🇺🇸🤔🏴😏🇬🇧🧡🖖
@@brigidsingleton1596 haha another of alcohol by the sounds of it :-/
Looking at the prices of german liquor: taxes already included ;-)
I remember in 1991 I used to walk a couple of Kim's with my friends to the pubs area here in the city... I ( and most of my friends ) where 14 back then... And we did that virtually 3 nights a week... Back then we hadn't joined the Euro currency ( can't even remember if it already existed back then - don't think so ) so goods ( and alcohol ) was dirt cheap... If you took 2,5€ ( value ) back then you'd get along fine... If you where lucky to have 5€, you could get so hammered and even have enough to buy food... So... Good times... By 1999 I quit drinking alcohol... I have one beer maybe two every three months or a Scotch but that's about it... I haven't had a drop of alcohol since early February...
About the "drinking" age for kids. Teens at the age of 14 can consume alcohol in public if they are with their parents or with a legal guardian. At home you can do whatever you want basically, there's no rule about age. BUT you are still responsible and getting a 6 year old a bottle of whiskey will get you to know child protection services quite fast. I mean, our kids were allowed a glas of sparkling wine at age 14 on new years eve.
Now they are 15 and had 2-3 parties already with alc (all private, friends birthdays). And they consumed a lot harder stuff then beer and wine. Don't get me wrong, they were a bit tipsy but not hardcore drunk. And I prefer they drink now, under my supervision/control and learn their limits. Being as open about it as possible. They also know that regular drinking is already alcoholism and when they should stop etc. - at least I think so.
In a perfect world, we wouldn't have any kind of alc or other drugs. But that won't be happening. So I prefer the "teach" aspect - no matter if alc., sex or whatever.
Five years in britain at home and a little brandy in babies milk when teething.❤❤❤❤from England.