18 Year Old drinking in US ?

RustyNut

SilageIsLove wrote: »

If I bought a load of vodka in airport would customs in the US take it off me 100 percent do yee think ?

If drinking is an important part of your holiday then don't go to the states. Ah sure will be grand won't wash over there and you really don't want to be dealing with the cops.

Dr Turk Turkelton

SilageIsLove wrote: »

That's mad altogether. 16 year olds in nightclubs over here. Bit of a joke ya can buy cigarettes at 18 and drive at 16 but can't get a few cans at 18 in America 😂 Different countries, different rules I suppose

But when your 18 in America you can legally go to the Middle East and shoot some A-rabs in the name of freedom.
Fcuk yeah.

ratracer

Dial Hard wrote: »

They'll accept the newer card licence, I've used it myself.

Good to know, thanks!
Hadn’t tried it since then, just back from Florida and wasn’t asked once over there. ( I’m past 30 tho....)

naughtysmurf

I was with a US citizen in a liquer store in Massachusetts once & they wouldn't sell to her as her Florida driver's license had expired, obviously it was valid at some stage & she was mid 20's so I'd expect it to be a pretty dry holiday for the OP

RobertKK

If you are underage, you shouldn't put people and their jobs in jeopardy and put the establishment into serious trouble simply because you want an alcoholic drink and you are not old enough. You have to take responsibility for the lives of others by doing the right thing by them.

I was in a hotel in Idaho last year and with a group. They served everyone alcohol, but when I ordered my drink, they wouldn't believe I was over 21, I was 20 years older than that at that stage. But the group around me who were served, convinced the person serving the alcohol I was old enough.
They are strict on drinking age, but remember what you want to do is illegal and can have a very negative effect on others if you deceive them on purpose. Just don't do it.

coolisin

Some places can be kinda lenient. But it is definitely stricter there now then it was a number of years ago.
Really depends on the place you are in. But expect to be turned away alot!

Also point to note Dublin airport once you clear American immigration you won't be allowed beer there either it's a strict 21!

verycool

Enjoy your dry holiday OP (unless you venture north of the border)! :pac:

c6ysaphjvqw41k

This post has been deleted.

degsie

Checking for ID is not just for age verification alone, it ensures that all patrons have ID just in case anything kicks off and the cops are called.

Dial Hard

coolisin wrote: »

Also point to note Dublin airport once you clear American immigration you won't be allowed beer there either it's a strict 21!

Since when? I was there last year and didn't see anyone being carded, including plenty of giddy-looking J1-ers.

coolisin

Dial Hard wrote: »

Since when? I was there last year and didn't see anyone being carded, including plenty of giddy-looking J1-ers.

Dunno since when.
Noticed the Bar-staff telling people it was over 21's only, and refusing people.
Seen it 2012, 2013, 2014, 2018

Reati

I travel to the US for work a ton. I was refused food in a bar because I didn't have ID on me to prove I was over 21 (I don't look that young). I had to go to the hotel and get it before they would give me a burger because the place was serving beer.

They are very strict on serving underage people

Del2005

Sam Quentin wrote: »

Nice to hear that the scourge of alcohol on our young people is been taken serious by the Americans.

Yes. Strict 21 alcohol enforcement means they don't have any problem with colleges or under age drinking at all over there.

Hazys

naughtysmurf wrote: »

I was with a US citizen in a liquer store in Massachusetts once & they wouldn't sell to her as her Florida driver's license had expired, obviously it was valid at some stage & she was mid 20's so I'd expect it to be a pretty dry holiday for the OP

My Mass Liquor ID expired last year and I couldn't get in anywhere that carded, its not like i suddenly reverted back to 20 years old as soon as my card expired! :pac:

dubrov

They are very strict with requesting IDs in Chicago but most places will accept any sort of ID. They don't care as long as they are covered. The bouncers have no way of identifying a fake Irish driving licence.

I remember hearing of raids in a lot of places though so not sure what would happen if you were caught with just a fake id. I doubt the police would be any better at identifying a fake foreign document though

Overheal

Don’t bother trying. Most everywhere is going to card you. With the exception of college towns and then only some of the times, with a really good fake, could you even give it a good shot. SLED (state law enforcement divisions) goes hardcore on cracking down on underage drinking. Liquor licenses are expensive and fines are verrry steep and widely enforced. Businesses are not incentivized to take the risk for a couple extra dollars.

Peregrinus

SilageIsLove wrote: »

That's mad altogether. 16 year olds in nightclubs over here. Bit of a joke ya can buy cigarettes at 18 and drive at 16 but can't get a few cans at 18 in America �� Different countries, different rules I suppose

These two facts are connected.

You can either restrict young people's drinking, or you can restrict young people's driving (not necessarily by legal restrictions; if it's unaffordably expensive, or if you have towns and cities set up so that people can live an active life without driving, that will work). But if you restrict neither then bad things tend to happen on quite a large scale.

In the US, young people drive a lot, so their drinking is fairly heavily restricted. (The over-21 rule for alcohol was imposed on the states by making it a condition of federal highway funding, which neatly illustrates the trade-off between drinking and motoring.) Historically in Ireland we have allowed yound people to drink, but their driving has been limited by economic considerations.

redcup342

Weirdly enough I never got asked for ID in Miami, Orlando, New York or Chicago ... no idea why, I don't even look that old ... I think anyway

Kolido

How come you never see folk getting ID'd in the movies or tv shows? I suppose it could be seen as a bad advert for international tourism?

DickSwiveller

SilageIsLove wrote: »

Well, I'm heading to Chicago for 2 weeks on holiday with a pal after the leaving cert and was wondering how strictly enforced the drinking age is over there ? Will Irish bars serve Irish 18 year olds or small pubs even ? Would it be worth gettin a fake ID ?

Very strict. I was at a Yankees baseball matchans saw a man with a grey beard being Id'd

mmg0305

I think it's just a given in many places, so why waste time showing it. They never show people driving endlessly around the block searching for a parking space either :-)

I've often been caught out in US, even though it is a long long time since I was under 21. I wouldn't usually carry my passport or driving license on me, so sometimes no beer for me.

listermint

I stood behind what i would describe as a lady in her 70s at a White hen in Chicago. I was next in line to buy a soda.

The elderly lady in front had a naggin of bourbon.

The store clerk asked her for ID, with literally zero expression on her face. I actually laughed and the store clerk looked at me with the same zero expression


Gas country altogether.

Psychsearch

I was in New Orleans a few years back and most places were fairly strict on the ID

vg88

Over the last year I've been to the states around 20ish trips. Got asked ID maybe 40% of the time and I look young enough that I got asked less there than here in Ireland. Really depends on where you go as I mostly drank in bars.

Some places are extremely strict in my experience, usually upscale place where they do a proper check of ID like immigration. I went Chicago 3 times and got asked for ID once so you win some you lose some.

shamrock55

They really need to bring these strict laws in here,should be 21 to drink in a pub,no Id no drink

boreder

listermint wrote: »

I stood behind what i would describe as a lady in her 70s at a White hen in Chicago. I was next in line to buy a soda.

The elderly lady in front had a naggin of bourbon.

The store clerk asked her for ID, with literally zero expression on her face. I actually laughed and the store clerk looked at me with the same zero expression


Gas country altogether.

In some stores, their POS system requires a date to proceed with the sale, so they'll just ask everyone and anyone.

Dr. Kenneth Noisewater

I've got no experience of Chicago, but I did a J1 in New York in 2005 (not today or yesterday, I know), when I was 20. Got carded everywhere downtown, but I drank in various Irish bars in The Bronx and Yonkers where they never, ever asked us for ID.

Was back in 2016 and I don't remember being bothered at all, but I'd say that was more to do with me probably looking every one of my 31 years at that stage.

Funnily, I was in Orlando last year and I think the only place I got carded was at Hooters! They were asking for ID from absolutely everyone in there, there were two lads in their 50s beside us who had to produce their Driving Licences. Just depends on where you are.

Sam Quentin

It's a stealth way of scanning and saving id's and faces,. which are stored on an FBI database. This can be accessed at a min's notice for comparison with photos of unidentified criminals.

MAYBE!?

DEFTLEFTHAND

It's fairly strict all right. I found that I had to bring out my passport with me as my Garda card and DL weren't recognised.

Some places have a policy of carding absolutely everybody. Even pensioners.

whomitconcerns

In Boston the bar-person, not even the owner, gets fined $1,000 by the police if they serve someone underage.

So risk it for a $1000 fine in a minimum wage job....erm you have no chance