At what age did you first drink alcohol?

Did my share of drinking alcohol when I was young, starting around 13 or 14. Much of the allure was that it was not legal for me to be drinking and my mom didn’t know about it. When I stripped away all of the “I’m a rules-breaker rebel” crap, I think I was aware that it was a pathetic experiment.

I do not support a drinking age limit.

I think when I was 14 I tried my first sip of wine and wine coolers. It wasn’t until I was 17/18 when I drank whole beers and coolers.

On my 20th birthday I drank/got drunk for the first time. Didn’t try it again for 7 months.

My dad would let me try his when I was very little, probably 9 years old. Just a taste. He rarely drank anything himself anyway.

I never drank to excess in jr high or high school. Maybe had one or two drinks on 6 separate occassions all those years. The first time drinking with friends was 7th or 8th grade, and it was stupid, maybe two ounces of alcohol.

My first time really drunk was college, my graduation party.

When I was in college.

I notice a lot of people were allowed a sip of their parents’ beer at one point, and I think I was much the same way XD

@tom_g I’m curious, why don’t you support a drinking age law?

@tom_g I was just talking to a friend of mine about similar behavior. I can honestly say I never did anything specifically because my parents said not to, or because it was illegal. I did do things my parents had advised not to, but not to spite them, just because I really wanted to do it. I prefer to follow the rules. Were your parents very strict?

I was either 18 or close to it when I had my first drink– half a wine cooler. I’ve always been a lightweight, so it made me act silly. I don’t regret it because it caused me no harm. Despite my mother continuously telling not to drink because my family on both sides has a big history of alcoholism, I’m not a heavy drinker and probably never will be.
I was also 18 when I tried weed for the first time. I don’t regret that either. I didn’t know how to inhale, so I didn’t get high, but I got to watch everyone else act up. Good times. Oh, and don’t worry; I can inhale very well now =)

Also, my parents never had alcohol in the house. My mom doesn’t drink at all, and my dad just started drinking socially when I was about 20. I can’t imagine he didn’t drink all his life because he’s retired Navy, but he never did it when he was home until recently, and even then there’s no alcohol in their house. He did call me shit-faced drunk on his 50th birthday to tell me that he was crashing at a friend’s house because he couldn’t drive. He didn’t dare call my mother, but had me tell her. Oh daddy…

14/15, not sure. Some bubbly wine at dinner with parents every now and then.

I couldnt tell you the first time I drank any alcohol because I was able to try wine from family and have a little champagne on holidays at a young age.
The first time I actually got drunk though was when I was 14. I was over a friends house and his parents were out for the night and happened to leave this huge box of alcohol on a table down stairs. So we decided to try some since neither of us had been drunk before. We did a shot of this a shot of that (yay for n00b mistakes) well then we decided to see who could drink more. And being young and inexperienced we didnt realize alcohol takes a bit to really hit you. 20 shots of hard alcohol of all different types later we say fuck this alcohol is stupid we still cant feel anything. So we sit down and both got hit by a mac truck lol. I only remember random parts of that night but I know at one point I was curled up on the kitchen floor vomiting a lot. We both got alcohol poisoning and had to take some pill from the hospital. My mom didnt really punish me for this, she just made me go to school the next morning. I remember being in gym class and my sweat smelled of alcohol.

As horrible as it was, it was overall a good experience. I learned how shitty alcohol could be when ya drink too much before I ever got a chance to have a good experience with it. I didnt drink again after that for a couple years. I drink now but not nearly as often as most people I know.

What I have noticed though is all the kids in my college who cant control their alcohol and just drink far to excessively have been sheltered from it their whole life so then they break loose. Most European countries have it right IMO when it comes to alcohol.

I had a sip of Budweiser when I was 5. I didn’t like it, and I don’t like it now.
I was 16 or so when I drank my first bottle of beer (it was Heineken), but prior to that, I sneaked in a bottle of orange juice mixed with vodka to school. I had a huge headache that day and would’ve been suspended if I was caught, so I’m not proud of that.

@JLeslie – My mom (single mom) was not very strict. I think part of it is just my nature. I’d rather not be pedestrian. When I was a kid, I didn’t really understand this about myself, and didn’t have the perspective to determine how to just be myself rather than rebel. I think I missed out on some of the nicer things in life when I was younger just because they were considered normal and accepted.

@Joker94: “I’m curious, why don’t you support a drinking age law?” Well, it certainly doesn’t keep 14-year-olds from drinking. It also tells 18-year-old soldiers that they can go get killed for their country, but cannot walk into a bar and have a beer. I also think (and I could be wrong) that I am not alone in my experience of wanting to just rebel. This may have led to me drinking way more than I would have if drinking was just as legal as cookies and milk.

I’m not sure when. Sometime between 14 and 17 I think. Probably at dinner with my parents—a glass of wine. Then again…

If it wasn’t then, then it was when I was 18. We got our hands on some bacardi 151 and mixed it with orange drink from a vending machine, and then got sick all over the floor of the common room. That was the first time I got drunk. It was not a happy experience.

Anyway, I offer my children sips of beer and wine whenever I drink, which isn’t often. They quickly turn their noses up and then they give me a hard time for having one drink. I have told them they could experiment with marijuana at home if they wanted, and they go and get all righteous on me about how drugs are bad, bad, very bad.

Kids these days!

@tom_g Thanks for explaining. So, it is more of a personality thing, just born that way maybe? My friend who behaved similar to you was raised in a very strict home, and I was not, so I wondered if that had something to do with it. It is complex of course. In a strict home there are more rules to break. I also wonder if parents who tend to be strict were very out of control themselves when young, and so they impose more limititations, but it is not the rules that cause the child to act out, but the genetics predisposing them to want to be a little more wild? Thanks again.

Question: did your mom drink?

My mom just now accepted that I drink every once in a while. She was shocked when I was at this family/picnic/birthday/child riot and I said, “I need a beer for this.” and drank one. Her face was priceless.

@tom_g Good points all around. I think having such a high age limit is stupid, considering you only have to be 18 to buy cigarettes, which IMO is slightly worse for your health.

I don’t remember the first time I had a taste. Probably when I was a little kid and was given a sip by my parents.

The first time I got drunk, I was 12. By 14 I was drinking on the weekends.

I didn’t answer about the drugs, never did any drugs.

Oh, I missed the drugs part. I first tried pot when I was 15 or 16. I only smoked it a few times after that – it didn’t have any effect on me, really, so I didn’t bother.

I’ve never done any other drugs (aside from caffeine, nicotine and medications).

@JLeslie: “Question: did your mom drink?” She doesn’t/didn’t drink.

Didnt see the drug part either lol. The first drug I ever did was LSA at 13 which was pretty interesting because I never tripped before and my two friends who did it with me both felt nothing and went to sleep so I was up all night tripping by myself for my first time. I first smoked weed at 14. Quit because I saw a lot of kids that were my friends who werent mature enough just get retarded with it. Started smoking again at 17 and by 18 started experimenting with hallucinogens again.

Wait, I lied. I forgot that a friend and I each downed a shot or so of Bacardi one night out of boredom. I was lightheaded…also, when I was England, I tried a pint of beer with my meal, finishing about half before I turned into a loopy mess.

7 years old.

My parent’s were very irresponsible and didn’t think it mattered.

I tried drugs at 12 years old.

I was probably in my mid twenties, and my first time drunk was in my early thirties. I’ve been drunk only three times in my life.

I’m sixteen, my sister let me have a few shots of rum one night when we were bored at three am a bit ago. That wasn’t my first taste of alcohol, though, I’d had sips here or there at family parties. It was fun for about fifteen minutes, then I grew tired of the slight disorientation and it just got to be a drag. I wasn’t sick or uncoordinated or anything, it just got annoying. It was interesting, though. I went to bed immediately, then, and woke up fine the next morning.

I was prob 12. We are Russians, what can you do? ~

About 9 or 10, Shandy.

@Simone_De_Beauvoir Hahahaha, I can totally relate.

The first time I got drunk I was 13. Puked my guts out.

I was 5… It was during some holiday family gathering and some really expensive champagne was flowing freely among the adults. My mom allowed me to have a sip, then while everyone was busy chatting, socializing and catching up with each other… I quietly took a sip from all the wine glasses that were left on the tables and apparently nobody noticed until I started hollering and dancing around.
I don’t remember being drunk, but I very much remember the next morning. I didn’t drink again until I was in my first year of college.

When I first tasted whisky, I wasn’t even one year old (I don’t remember anything, of course. My parents told me about it and showed me a picture so I’d believe them)
As a child, whenever there was a drink left somewhere in the house, I’d drink it and then say that I only wanted to see how it tastes like. But I already knew haha.

When I was 11, I’d drink wine very often, when I was 12 I’d drink every week but I don’t remember how that drink was called. Anyway.

When I turned 13 (last year) I asked my mother to buy me a beer for my birthday, and she did. Then I remembered that there was a bottle of vodka somewhere in the house.

Now I’m 14, I guess, and I don’t drink anymore, because my boyfriend doesn’t want me to drink. It’s okay, I don’t miss drinking anymore.

Now, let’s answer the drugs question. No, I’ve never done drugs. Does smoking count? Anyway, I don’t smoke anymore.

I most definitley did drink under the age limit. What’s more surprising is that I bought it myself and they guy just gave it to me without any questions.
I was pretty chuffed with myself. Being 13 and getting away with buying a can of beer isn’t supposed to be easy :P It was for me though, I think the guy was pretty drunk himself…
I don’t regret what I did. I quite liked the taste of the beer ( Guinness ), but to be honest, lately I find myself not wanting a drink. It’s like I just went off alcohol now that I’m old enough to drink in public.

I believe I was in kindergarten. My dad let me take a sip of his beer. It was nasty. My family is European so they are more lax with drinking. I used to drink champagne when I was younger, but I soon got over it and now won’t touch the stuff.

When I was maybe 10 years old, Mom let me have a very small glass of wine. Blue Nun. It was awful. I think that was her point – to make me not be curious about alcohol, so I wouldn’t abuse it later.

I didn’t drink again until I bought a bottle of wine on my 21st birthday, because I could. :) It was locally made cherry wine that time. Tasty. But I didn’t get drunk, and I didn’t drink very often.

Now I’m married to a homebrewer. Mead is yummy. Perhaps that first taste of nasty-arse Blue Nun pointed me toward the better stuff later in life.

Apparently when I was 1 and a half, I found my way into the liquor cabinet and was found passed out with a bottle of Spezial.

I was 13, on holiday in Spain. Wine tasting you see, well it would have been rude not to join in.

@Joker94 reminds me that I was 15 when I bought my first hard liquor of my own. I was on the Channel Ferry heading over to Calais, and apparently there are no restrictions on liquor when you’re in international waters.

I bought a pint of vodka and a huge chocolate bar, and then I went up on deck in the cold, to watch the ocean and drink my vodka. I’m not sure how much I drank, nor what happened to the rest of it, but I remember thinking that vodka and chocolate don’t really go together. And after a while I couldn’t tell if I was sea sick or drunk sick. I did manage to avoid puking that time.

My first taste of alcohol was at home when I was around 10 and my father gave me a sip of his beer. I didn’t buy alcohol until I was of legal age when I had two pints of beer with friends. It was a pleasant experience.

Hasn’t happened yet.

^ Hahahahaha XD

Fourteen or fifteen I think. Certainly freshman year of high school.

I’m 19 and still haven’t. I don’t think drinking under the legal age is morally wrong, so I don’t have a problem with it (if done safely), it’s one of those victimless crimes that just don’t bother me. It just wasn’t appealing to me personally, so I haven’t tried it yet. I probably will pretty soon.

I was 17 the first time and I really regretted it. Not the alcohol consumption but the predatory nature of some guys. I didn’t drink again for years.

I was 17 (just a couple of months away from the legal age). I drank straight vodka at a sleepover and I think the confidence with which I approached the task saved me a lot of heckling when later I was the only one at a party not obviously getting drunk (I’m not a fan of ‘loosening up’).

No effects, it was probably only one or two drinks, plus I had that magical underager resilience.

Around 14/15. I got into some uncomfortable situations under the influence and dread to think of kids that young getting drunk. I don’t see the problem with having a drink under the supervision of an adult, but lacking that, things can go badly. The age limit where I am is 18 which seems reasonable enough. Having said that, the majority of teens here are drinking from 15+.

@wundayatta That, my friend, is an impressive use of a loophole.

I notice a lot of my friends who drank when we were a few years younger were often scolded for it at the time by their peers. Once we hit high school, though, the tables turned completely. I think having older friends influenced a lot of their decisions about drinking. And almost everyone I know has admitted to smoking pot now, at least once.

I was 15 when I first tried it and when I first got drunk. :\

My mother began letting me have tiny sips of her wine when I was about 5. Then at about age 7, we started an evening routine where I would sit on the side of the bathtub and dangle my feet in her bathwater, while I’d tell her about my day at school and take sips of her wine now and then. I also got to have little sips of my dad’s beer.

When I was a teenager, I was allowed to have a small glass of wine at home occasionally, or my dad would let me have 1 beer or 1 wine cooler at his house, but I wasn’t allowed to leave the house afterward. I did push the limits and got drunk when I was 14, but it was a miserable experience and I’ve hated being drunk ever since. I like being tipsy, but keep my drinking to about a 2 drink maximum these days.

My dad didn’t scold me for getting drunk, he just forced me to eat so I wouldn’t get really sick, and he told me I used poor judgement and that he was disappointed. I think growing up with alcohol like that was good, instead of being told “You’re not old enough, blah blah blah” then rebelling when I was older.

One of my grampas gave me whiskey at about 7 or 8, just little sips from a shot glass and also sips from his beers. I wasn’t curious at that time to try it on my own but I did start drinking with my schoolmates at 10yrs old. We would sneak a bottle of red and a bottle of white wine each Wednesday from one of the kid’s father’s wine collection. From there we progressed to raiding liquor cabinets to make “cocktails” from jiggers of anything we found, blended up with ice and 7up.

When I was little, my parents had a big party, and there were beer bottles lying around all over with bottoms left in them. Apparently, in the morning, I drank from some bottles and my mom found me passed out in the hall. But since I don’t remember this, it doesn’t count.
I think when I was ten or something, my mom gave me a tiny sip of beer. I remember not liking it. I also tried wine every now and then, wasn’t a fan either.
First time I got drunk I was fourteen. I didn’t drink so much since, being under the age limit, I couldn’t just get some whenever. But when we wanted some, we usually managed somehow. Got people to buy it for us, some people just shared some with us.
Although back then it was drinking for fun, (despite the determination to obtain it) not like I do it now. I don’t think any of this would have needed to happen for me to drink heavily as I do now, because alcoholism is a way different experience than drinking for fun. The approach and mindset are not the same, even if they use the same element.

Drugs, again fourteen. The first thing ever was hash. Someone offered some, and while I knew a lot of people did hash or weed, I couldn’t even imagine what it did. I just thought it was like smoking cigarettes.

What a big surprise I had lol. Then weed followed, and I smoked that for quite a while. Loved it until I always started getting sick from it. I also had a pretty big LSD phase in between 16–18. Also tried cocaine and magic mushrooms in those ages.

I don’t know how much my drug experiences shaped, but none of them have followed to today. The drugs I mean. I liked them then, but I have no real interest now, although I sometimes miss weed and LSD lol.

At age 12. I stole a bottle of wine from my father’s pantry. First time I drank I ended up in strange places and blacked out. A lot like my drinking pattern for the next 19 years. I smoked some pot the same summer.

Other than hashish that my cousin gave me when I was 14, I didn’t try any stronger drugs until I was in college.

I started smoking when I was 17.

I forgot since I don’t not naturally drink alcohol. Maybe at age 14 or 15 when I first drink red wine in a party, it tasted so bad and heavy. I’m just curious why some people like the taste.

14 or 15. My parents never drank…ever…but always kept a fully loaded liquor cabinet for friends. I visited frequently. LOL

14

When I was 6 I went fishing with my Dad and my Uncle David. It was hot, I was thirsty, and Dad forgot to throw some Pepsi in the cooler. He gave me a beer instead, along with a warning to not say anything to my mom.

The 1st one tasted like shit (it wasn’t Pepsi). The 2nd one was strangely better. The rest of the day was spent taking one long ass nap.

@Only138 So that’s how it all started. :D

I’m turning twenty-two in July and I’m still dry. I’m an odd duck, I know.

@muppetish I very rarely drink, my husband either, and we figure we have saved tons of money compared to our friends not drinking. Total waste of money. Take your pennies and travel, way better than a drunken night.

4. I thought a glass of red wine was Kool-Aid.

After that I didn’t drink again until I was 19, and then it was a couple of glasses of Dom for a kid’s birthday in my dorm.

Never had alcohol, never tried drugs. Regardless, I think a drinking age of 21 is only good for stimulating the fake ID market.

21 really is ridiculous.

whats really ridiculous is the states that you get your driver license at 21. Like ok… now Im 21 and can finally drive a car and while im out learning to drive I can go buy my first drink. BRILLIANT!!

@uberbatman What states are 21? I never heard of such a thing.

Whiskey when I was probably around seven-years-old. Kind of a family rite of passage. On Thanksgiving, my Dad offers the mark a glass of “apple cider”. Then the whole family points and laughs when they gag and spit it up. I know. It’s totally jacked.

Of my own free will? Seventh grade. So like 12 or 13? Vodka at a friend’s house. It tasted exactly as I had imagined rubbing alcohol to taste. Was my least favorite alcoholic drink for years.

Didn’t drink that often. But had a relatively high tolerance for some reason. Or maybe we were just drinking such awful watered-down swill with no alcohol content. Either way, I could easily drink a six pack without getting really drunk.

Didn’t puke my brains out until college.

I think it’s better to gradually ease into it. I’ve seen too many “I’ve never had a drink before” girls get wasted for the first time in college. Not a good idea to shelter your kids too much.

I cannot remember this .

@JLeslie it appears to have changed a lot in the past couple years. I remember when I was younger there were like 3–4 states in the west like this. According to wiki in NJ you dont have your full license till 21 but thats not really the case

Did you drink under the age limit? Do you regret it if you did? Would you advise anyone at that age against it, or advise them to do as they see fit?

I used to go to the local pub at 13. I don’t regret it. I wouldn’t encourage young people to start drinking so young. It didn’t change my opinion of the legal age limit, I just wouldn’t promote the idea of starting to drink alcohol when young, even when legal. Once people are legal, I would always encourage people to drink sensibly (not that they will listen to me. I know I didn’t listen).

And for the matter, if you did them at least, at what age did you first experiment with drugs? I was about 16.

@uberbatman It makes no sense. If anything the age has become older over the years not younger. But, 21 seems so impractical considering so much of our popuation is working at the age of 18, done with school. Some states require an older age to be taxi drivers, like I think NY does, maybe some states have laws about transporting people in general or trucking? Not sure. But a regular old car, I had never heard of older than 18. But, it doesn’t mean I am right, I am no authority on the topic.

@JLeslie I could be wrong, like I said I was younger but I remember reading it in one of my school books and thinking it was completely fucking retarded so it stuck with me. Evidently in DC you have your learners permit with restrictions until you turn 21. Not the same as what I was saying above but thats all I can find

@Symbeline Yep, been going strong ever since. LOL

12 or 13. I think 12. I’m not sure…

Seventeen .