MovieChat Forums > Superbad (2007) Discussion > Drinking in the USA

Drinking in the USA

posted 10 years ago by eddywally
32 replies | jump to latest

After watching all these American teen comediesn I'm really wondering on how the situation is in the US with drinking under the legal age.
You can't legally buy alcohol under 21, which is absurd to me. In Belgium we can drink beer and wine from age 16 and liquor from 18 (although finding liquor when you're under age is quite easy).

So you guys can't drink a few beers with your friend in the weekend without the chance of getting into trouble? I mean, even in highschool we would relax in the city on fridays with a few beers and nobody cared about that.
When you have a party with +/- 50 people, do you really have only 1 cag (approx 180 pints) for the whole party like in the movies?

Could some Americans enlighten me with there situation about drinking under the legal age?

[–] johandallas94 10 years ago

I'm from a town of 2500 people with smaller "villages" around us, we've had parties where there were 2-3 kegs with under 40 people but it all depends where you're from

I'm from northern Illinois surrounded by corn and bean fields, we would go to a cabin or someone's house outside of town and party, or drive around and "booze cruise."

[–] 10 years ago

[deleted]

[–] porfle 10 years ago

It's more fun to do if you're not supposed to be doing it.

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[–] jnic7594 10 years ago

The only thing I will say here is don't compare what life is like in the U.S. to what you see in movies. It's rarely the same.

Silence is the best reply to a fool.

[–] briand10 10 years ago

It usually depended on how many people were expected since either a small group chips in to cover it, or we would pay for it ourselves and charge $5 per red cup.

Most often it was BYOB though since it was much easier for multiple people to get 12-packs than a keg. Where I grew up, we had to buy or rent a tap, give a copy of our ID and give a deposit for kegs, which we also needed to hide from parents. I always looked older so I could buy beer and liquor when I was 16 so it was easy to just go 1 mile away to buy what we needed as the night progressed.

[–] eddywally 10 years ago

$5 Seems very expensive? In stores we pay around €10 ($13) for 24 pints. At parties or bars it ranges from €1,5 to €2,5.
Apart from all this, I'm travelling to New York next year (I'm 21), do they arrest people for being drunk publicly? And I mean just being drunk, no shouting or vadalism or anything like that.

[–] BladePuppet 10 years ago

It's possible to be arrested for being drunkin public, but probably only if you're making. LOT of trouble. The charge is called "drunk and disorderly". It's fine if you're drunk and being loud in a public place where that's expected, like a festival.

"You're paying too much for your worms, boss. Who's your worm guy?"

[–] Hancockenstein 10 years ago

that's $5 for a cup, which you can refill as much as you want. still though here in the US we get gouged at bars to the tune of $2-3 a single bottle of beer, $5 wouldn't be too shocking depending at some bars. at baseball games, you don't even want to know what they cost.

[–] rmoriarty97 9 years ago

WTF, I don't know what the exchange rate is with the US and Aussie dollar but here in Australia we pay about $12 for a 300mL bottle of premixed vodka in a bar, a 375mL beer would be about $6-8. At the football you're looking at paying $10 for a single can of Jim Beam and coke.

[–] Hancockenstein 9 years ago

$1 US is around $1.28 Australian. 300ML is very close to our normal beer size. I don't drink mixed drinks but I think a premixed vodka would be close to the price of a beer in the US. so yea if it's the same you are paying way more than we do in the US. In a bar $5 US(more likely $3) vs. $12 Australian.

Plot hole - Aspect of a film that is misunderstood or missed while using your smart phone.

[–] barrin21 10 years ago

Well, when I was in high school there were at least a few people with fake ID's or an older sibling who would buy the alcohol for parties. It was never much of an issue getting it. But I agree it's pretty dumb. When you don't let people drink until they're way older they're far more likely to abuse it and see it as a bigger deal.

The state of Louisiana was the last to change the law from 18 to 21 and that's only because the federal government threatened to cut their funding for highways if they didn't.

[–] john_bolin2002 10 years ago

I just watched this movie again and I just thought of this as well....
I'm from Sweden and getting Booze is the easiest thing over here.
We have Systembolaget here in Sweden. They are owned by the government and they are the only ones allowed to sell alcohol over the counter and you need to be 20 and they are really *beep* hard when it comes to ID.
And the lowest age for pub, bars and stripper joints is 18.

Still getting beer, wine and stronger stuff is as easy as buying milk.
Everyone here in Sweden knows a guy who will sell smuggled booze to you no matter what age you are.
And when I was younger we used to buy "Moonshine" in 5 liter plastic containers.
Now it is as hard to find that kind of Moonshine as it is to find diamonds, atleast here were I live.
I can still feel that metallic plastic taste when I drink a glass o Coca Cola.

A friend of mine got lost in the woods after drinking that stuff, he was lost for two days and he was still drunk when they found him.
Ahhh those were the days...

The first time I got *beep* I was 14 and the first time the cops brought me home for Drunken Disorder I was 15, I got a severe scolding from my mother and my dad.
But wen I woke up the next morning my dad asked me if I got lucky and I said I think so 'cos I cant find my underware, with a smirk he just said good work son, and that was that.

I mean these kind of movies are funny and all but I can't really relate to the "Must have fake ID to get Booze" thing.

It feels really strange.

My god a pg-13 Zombie movie what will they think of next?

[–] Albert_Ingalls 10 years ago

your dad would be upset to find out that you got lucky to a dude with a pair of swedish meatballs

[–] xXnXnXnXx 10 years ago

Yes, exactly the same rules here in Denmark 16 and 18 for 16.5%+

Americans are just pussies, thats also why they need so many guns.

[–] rumrnr78 8 years ago

Ah, yes the heroic Denmark collapsed like a cheap tent in 1940. Did it take the entire day to defeat your country or did the Nazi's get to enjoy a victory beer in the evening?

[–] mikekrit62 8 years ago

Yeah...that must be why. Have another drink and keep telling yourself that.