Thread: Question for the Americans: Beer drinking

Even different parts of the state of Texas are different. Here in the Houston area, Liquor stores (stores that sell all types of consumable alcohol for off premesis consuption) open Mon-Sat 10am to 9pm. closed all day Sunday.

Convience store & grocery stores sell non-fortified wines and beer anytime mon - sat. and after 12 noon on Sunday.

Bars open at 10 am and stop serving alcohol at 2 am.Mon - Sat and 12 noon to 2 am Sunday.

Originally Posted by Kees

I remember in the '80 you were allowed in Texas to drink beer while driving. Beer in a brown bag was sold at gas stations. If your EtOH level remained under legal limits there was no problem! I am not sure whether that is still allowed.

no, definitely not. if you are caught with an open container ANYWHERE in the vehicle, you go straight to jail.

Hmmm, that reminds me of the state laws in Colorado in the seventies. A tapped keg with a 'Cobra' on it was not considered an open container, so you could have that in the vehicle and pass the faucet end around. I remember a particular Colorado State Trooper being really pissed about that.

Wayne

Originally Posted by Bruno

Belgium has over 1000 different beers.
Most of them are stronger than the 5% alcohol content of plain old (but still good) belgian standard beer (Jupiler )

If you'd drink pint sized quantities, you could do 5 per night, which would get you drunk enough to be called drunk, but not so drunk (after some practise) that you'd be sick.

So that would be 200 days of drinking beer, and you wouldn't have to drink the same beer more than once.

EDIT:
My personal favorite is Grimbergen Tripel which is golden brown of color, consumed in 33 cl quantities (~2/3 of an English pint) and has a nice 9% of alcohol.

OK, I am officially ready to brush up my French, learn Flemish, and seek funding for a 200-day sabbatical. Strictly for research purposes, of course.

This development of the art of beer, all by itself, qualifies Belgium to be honored as a benefactor to the world. And then Tintin on top of that.

I've heard (though I doubt this is true) that it's legal to be underage and drink as long as you're taking a culinary class. I'm guessing it's to help the chefs understand what beverages to pair with meals. Has anyone else heard this?

Originally Posted by Howard Newell

I've heard (though I doubt this is true) that it's legal to be underage and drink as long as you're taking a culinary class. I'm guessing it's to help the chefs understand what beverages to pair with meals. Has anyone else heard this?

At least in NY this is true. I've taken a wine tasting class which was not restricted to age. That's tasting 6-8 wines each week and the pours were somewhere between 1/2 oz and 1oz. The TA's were closely watching the pouring as the bottles get passed around and if the pourer would stop working properly, they'd recall the bottle and the glass that got more in it, dump it, clear the pourer and pass it back.
Of course you get a spit cup, but most of the students didn't care to use theirs, and you're not required anyways, it's only if you actually care to taste the later wines. But yes, there's a special exemption if the drinking it's tied to learning (an accredited learning that is). Ah, and one of the classes was w/o tasting whatsoever - just a policeman, a doctor and two TA's (one female and one male, who had drunk respectively 1/3 and 2/3 of a bottle).

Originally Posted by jnich67

See, you Europeans kicked out the Puritans a few hundred years ago. They came here and enacted Blue Laws....

Jordan

Good riddance!

Funny actually:
USA is the 'land of the free' but heavens forbid a 20 year old drinks a beer.
Whereas the Soviet Union was the great evil empire, yet as least you were allowed to drink if you felt like it.

Originally Posted by Bruno

Funny actually:
USA is the 'land of the free' but heavens forbid a 20 year old drinks a beer.
Whereas the Soviet Union was the great evil empire, yet as least you were allowed to drink if you felt like it.

Keep them half drunk and half stoned and they wont care what their government does!!


Take that!!...You heathen

Originally Posted by Bruno

Funny actually:
USA is the 'land of the free' but heavens forbid a 20 year old drinks a beer.
Whereas the Soviet Union was the great evil empire, yet as least you were allowed to drink if you felt like it.

Actually, many if not most states used to have a drinking age of 18 or 19. During the 80s, a perceived increase in drunk driving problems led the federal government to require states to have a 21 drinking age - if the states wanted their federal highway money. So the states complied.

When I went to college in Washington, DC, the drinking age for wine and beer was 18. The avg. age of those arrested in DC for DUI was something like 40. They still raised the drinking age - I was grandfathered though

We don't have (any longer anyway) the wine and beer culture that Europeans have. I don't think kids here are as educated about alcohol and so, it can be a problem when they drink. We also drive a lot more. And, like I said earlier - there is a Puritan streak that looks down on alcohol (not that that stops most).

Jordan