In the UK the legal age to buy alcohol is 18 but you will be aged checked for a few years just to be sure. Not getting age checked means your getting old so I'm sure shops check women longer just out of politeness.
Of course in some European countries the drinking age is lower e. g. Germany 16 and it's 21 in much of the USA.
But no matter where you are, buying your first alcohol drink and not being told to piss off is a big deal for many people because it signals your seen as an adult. So how did your first legal purchase go?
How did you feel when you legally bought your first alcoholic drink?
I remember buying my first legal drink in a tiny bar in Bologna 🇮🇹 It was a simple red wine, nothing fancy, but my hands were slightly shaking passing the cash.
The bartender barely glanced at my ID, just nodded and said “Buon divertimento.” I felt oddly proud, a bit nervous, and very grown-up, sipping that wine like it was a secret door to adulthood 🍷
I can tell you when I bought my first alcoholic drink at all - because I was 15 and going to a party. So I bought a bottle of fairly strong fruit punch and was a bit nervous at the till. The lady at the till almost certainly knew I was too young to buy it, but she didn't say a word.
Legally. Before that I had been at certain bars, liquor stores, had a fake ID as I made and sold them, and went to parties of course.
On my 18th B-day I was working part-time as a janitor, my boss laughed when I asked for the night off and he said get used to it in work life, but afterwards a friend took me to a bar way out in a rural area where I think he had his first legal drink. We sat at the bar and it felt calming in that I was legal and no worries. I was bought my first but sometime afterwards I paid for my own.
I put on a record on a jukebox. It was Aerosmith, Sweet Emotion I think. One of the “Good ole boys” at the bar walked over to it and said “Airy O Smith” what the hell is that. I just smirked but it could have been a fight and I didn’t care. It was a fun evening. We got drunk and went home. I never went back to that bar but remember the town we were in and for a longtime remembered the bar name but I forget now.
So I just looked up bars in that town and it is still there. The exterior is very different. The interior is what I remember but cleaner and brighter now. It is a dive bar and they seem to be very proud of that today.
Australia should raise the age to 21 , there is way too much of a drinking culture , dangerous drug / poison.
A technical alcoholic being 37 genuine standard drinks per week , measured.
My first legal time pissed me off big time , they didn't ask me ( they always asked , I looked 15 max - not 18 , a little skeg ) had my ID ready and all.
These days I've got it back 28 standard drinks per week and the plan is to get it lower , very hard addiction to break and it creeps up..18 is far too young , and frankly popping an e , or taking dope in liquid form is safer.
Shit the Australian cricket team was sponsored by a booze manufacturer, after they win a test match " we are having a few quiet beets " - What does that mean? Getting shtfaced and lucky if u even get to bed.
When I was young, in the field of alcoholic drinks, I don't remember having seen anyone being aged checked, neither did it ever happen to me. Anyway, in my family, and even at the border school, now and then during particular events, teens were allowed some wine or beer.
I must also admit having sometimes visited my parent's fridge to take a sip of some stronger stuff :0P
No idea when it was, but I didn't feel anything when buying "legally" a first alcoholic drink, because I never came accross that notion at the time.
It was 18 when I became legal here in the US. But it was never a big deal because I grew up in New Orleans where giving children some wine at special dinners or a sip of an adult drink was common.
I think when alcohol is treated as verboten is how young people abuse alcohol. If it's treated as a part of a meal and something you do, not to get drunk, but to enhance a meal or social occasion, it's no big deal to be allowed to buy or drink legally. You've always had access one way or another anyway.
My parents had alcohol in the pantry. I never sneaked drinks because it wasn't something forbidden or hidden. So my first legal drink/buy-- unimportant.
That was so long ago, I don't remember when I bought my first drink or what it was.
I do remember working with a crew of guys older than me when I was in college. One day, we finished work early, and they took me to a bar. They bought me several rounds of whiskey shots. I ended up going to the men's room and puking my guts out before we left.
I went to college in upstate New York. The drinking age was 18 and the state where I lived it was 21. I remember it was weird buying a case of beer and seeing a cop walk by and he just smiled at me.
My first legal purchase was a handle of Wild Turkey 101 proof. When I handed the guy my ID he said “hell, I thought you were 40". I had already been buying alcohol at gas stations and liquor stores since I was 17, I just grew out my beard
Girl's Behavior 
Guy's Behavior 
Flirting 
Dating 
Relationships 
Fashion & Beauty 
Health & Fitness 
Marriage & Weddings 
Shopping & Gifts 
Technology & Internet 
Break Up & Divorce 
Education & Career 
Entertainment & Arts 
Family & Friends 
Food & Beverage 
Hobbies & Leisure 
Other 
Religion & Spirituality 
Society & Politics 
Sports 
Travel 
Trending & News 
AI Opinion
I remember buying my first legal drink in a tiny bar in Bologna 🇮🇹
It was a simple red wine, nothing fancy, but my hands were slightly shaking passing the cash.
The bartender barely glanced at my ID, just nodded and said “Buon divertimento.”
I felt oddly proud, a bit nervous, and very grown-up, sipping that wine like it was a secret door to adulthood 🍷