I think the alcohol culture partly reflects a different philosophy in raising children in general. In the US, there seems to be the believe that you have to keep "danger" from the children (this is also reflected in the design of the playgrounds), while in Germany the idea is to allow children to test their limits under supervision to ensure that they know them as an adult. Consequently German children often have already tasted alcohol before they are even of drinking age, and once they do drink on their own, they have a pretty good idea how much they can handle.
my father let me taste spirits when i was like 7. "oh does this look tasty? here have a taste" so yeah fair to say i dont see myself becoming an alcoholic i have no interest in alcohol outside of social events
Personally I think that philosophy is influenced more by security and culture. In the US keeping danger from children is better because of the high criminal rate and such. In Germany everything is a bit safer, not completely of course, but it's safe enough for children to have a bit more space.
Yes, but there's a trend going on with parents who think it's not their responsibility to watch over their kids and if something's happening, it's everyones fault but theirs. People seem to forget, that it's THEIR responsibilty to raise their childs in a proper way. On the other hand you have those parents called "Helikoptereltern" who put GPS-tracker in their kids clothing because they fear something could happen.
On the topic of drinking and driving because of being spread out and in a rural area: I grew up in quite a rural area in Germany but for us it was an absolute no-go to drink and drive. Instead, we would drive together with our friends to the club on weekends and rotate on driving duty. The driver would be invited to all their non-alcoholic drinks by the rest of the group. Drinking and driving was just out of the question.
Hat aber damit zu tun das unsereiner, wenn es dann das Auto gab, schon drei oder vier Jahre "trinken" hinter sich hatte und wusste es geht auch nen Abend ohne.
@@BarukKazzad Tell this to my brother and his stupid friends who are all 40+ years. I swear the next time I'm see this happen, I'll call the police. (Un)fortunately I live 500km from them). Total idiots in that relation.
Phases of when you come home from partying in Germany: 16-17 years old: 1am... (or however long it takes you to get home from the club after being thrown out at midnight) 18-26 years old: 7-9am (basically however long it takes you with one of the first trains to get home in the morning) 27-30 years old: 2-3am (because you luckily managed to catch the last train... in fact, you were already eyeing the watch from midnight on, thinking up an excuse for your friends why you can't stay that long, but in reality you just want to sleep enough before Monday rolls around... and maybe clean the house on Sunday) 30+ years old: lol, who are we kidding. you're not staying out longer than 11pm. unless you are single and still looking for a partner, you've become by now an expert of thinking up excuses why you have to get an early start the next day (in fact you'll just sleep or browse the internet) and you LOVE people who cancel plans more than anything
Didn't know about the public drinking thing. I can't believe ADULTS aren't allowed to hang out with their friends in the park/beach etc. with a bottle of wine or a few beers! For me, it's one of the great joys of a lovely summer day. Being treated like irresponsible children in the land of the "free"! Oppressive Puritanism.
In Australia you are not allowed alcohol on the beach because if you have been drinking and then go swimming your ability to swim is quite impaired and you can easily drown. Also no glass bottles are allowed as they can break and put broken glass in the sand which can be stepped on by other beach goers.
@@DougBrown-h1n seriously , never heard of anyone in Germany who drowned , after drinking at the lake or beach . It's obviously illegal to litter broken glas on beaches and lakes, yet we usually don't litter bottles or cans as there is a deposit on them , so they are alle returned to the store. I think people that drink for enjoyment instead to get drunk , don't need a law that tells them where to do it. especially as the beach and lakes are the place to keep your beer cold.
@@TremereTT Doch gibt es öfter. Ich hab früher oft DRK-Dienst am Badesee geschoben und einmal ist jemand gestorben nach Ertrinken, den konnten wir nicht mehr zurück holen. Medizinische Situationen aufgrund von Alkoholkonsum und dann schwimmen gehen hatten wir oft. Leider.
Yeah this was really odd revelation for me about the Americans. I grew up in Czech and it is and was pretty normal that we would go with my friends from a highschool to a park once we were like 17 and just had some beers and had a good time, especially in the summer. Or just buy a bottle of beer during the hot summer to go through the city. I moved to Denmark later and it is the same here as far as I can tell. And there aren't really any drunken people lying on the streets or the benches either.
I cant even imagine how my teen years would have been if I lived in the US. here in germany I started partying at 13 (party every weekend, ofc not at the start, and drink a lot) and at 17 it started to slow down and at 18 I was at a normal stage I would say, 2 parties a month instead of 8. After I finished my Ausbildung(work training, or whatever you would call it) I was done with heavy partying and could start working seriously. Dunno how that would have worked out if I would have lived in the US :)
it`s really nice that you can party in clubs in Germany for as long as you want. There are often young people who go to party in dance clubs and choose a car driver from their friends who doesn`t drink alcohol and drives while the others can drink. In our country, there was also a night bus that drove the young people to the disco and back home.🙂
When we started to visit clubs as a group 16 year old girls and 18 year old boys. no one had a car...so we had to cover the distance by train to get clubbing in the more famous clubs with less fucked up audiance...we were pretty tame... It would have totally sucked if we had to stop clubbing at 02:00...when the first train back home is at 07:00 because Sunday mornings... so we left the club at 5 when it closed , ate something at a gas station and waited only two hours at the trainstation....to get the train back home... also It's so unfair that bouncers measure the age of female club guests by bust size,...
Another useful thing is around 4-5 am public transport starts again. Not everywhere obviously, but even the trains come out of their night break during that time.
I was playing in a Band (here in Germany) from the age of 13. Then (I was 14) we plaid at Carneval at many different places. And at every placy everybody got free drinks (mostly beer). I the beginning it was OK. I tried it, but had not much alcohol experience. I went home at the late evening (or early morning). But on on the next morning I had no idea how I got home. So I learned it's OK to drink, but you should know when it's enough. I'm enjoying a beer right now. But I will not get drunk. Greetings from Germany. 😊
I am from Germany and live in Switzerland...I have to say: I like my home country and I like the american way of live! Switzerland combines the best of both worlds! We can life safe and in peace here, we can drink (german beer), we can own any gun you can imagine...and I learned bbq like an american! 😂 we can learn so much from each other!!! Peace to everybody!!!
He also have rural areas without public transport. Then there is a designated driver or parents do the Taxi-job. As a teen I rung my parents or uncle more than once at 3 am, because the driver was drunk too or left already. They never complained. Nor did I with my daughters.
I was in our typical club in Austria, and we usually go home between 5 and 6 am, yeah it's quite a normal time for us. Pre drinking usually starts between 7 to 8 pm :)
I recently came across your channel; I find that regardless of the particular content, but especially with regard to Germany-related videos, you always take a very nuanced and appreciative stance. As someone who studied in the US for a time and taught German there, I really appreciate that. Many greetings from Frankfurt! :)
I do believe, in Germany leaving the last zip in your beer glass comes from the tradition that an completly empty beer glass would indicate the waiter to bring you a fresh beer without asking. So to avoid having the next beer right away in front of you, you leave the zip: in this way the waiter would ask if you want anything else. I've also seen that people place the coaster on top of their beer glass to indicated thr same: they don't want another one.
My father was a musician who was often given a bottle of something at events, usually whisky, but he saved it for men only parties and occasions! I got seriously drunk on beer with friends at 16, and was driven home to my father in total embarassment, he threw me in a cold shower fully dressed and never let me forget it! I have never touched beer again! When I turned 18, I went to a pub with friends and ordered a coke, pretending it had rum too! I have no patience for alcoholics or binge drinkers, real life and being an fully functioning participant is far more fun! The occasional scotch, a champagne toast is fine! We also have OctoberFest Celebrations in Australia, and lots of Irish bars for St Patrick's Day - you can still dance, laugh and sing along sober! Yes, 18 is the right age! 🙋 We dont have alcohol sales in food or other shops! 🤨
Honestly. The funniest thing is, sice you haven't ever experieced that, it sounds like paradise. What is fascinating is that most non-Berliners (i'm joking fellas i only hate on the capital on wednesdays or when the sun rises in the east), tend to basically get all that energy out of their system before they are like 30 at the latest and then the idea of staying til morning just get's you a groan from your buddies who had enough 3 hours ago xDDD The idea of total freedom and party until the morning is nice and all but you will find out very early that only a select few can and _want_ actually do that and you might not be part of that club ^^ Given how hard it is to fake a German ID and the fact that it is a fellony to do so, I also would side with Felicia that it probably is less common in Germany. However, that doesn't mean tat young ones don't try to get around the age restriction. Most of the time between 16 and 18 since the little babies want to drink themselves stupid on Vodka and Tequila for some ungodly reason. I know that my Bias is showing here btw xD I am not a huge fan of the alcohol culture in Germany. Speaking of drinking in Public: THANK LAW for deposits on beer bottles or we'd have so much more problems with littering (and we have big problems already)
I'm not german I just live here since a couple of years. I visited Köln some time ago and seen the square in front of the cathedral on a Friday evening (or was it Saturday) - FULL of people (itÍs a big place); and seen it the next morning at like 8 when checking out of hotel and continuing our trip to Netherlands. It looked like after a war - not literally but on that huge place, garbage everywhere, you had to watch your step, several people looking like drug addicts begging for cigarettes or money. I was shocked to see that much garbage in a german city. Admittedly I'm old now but I prefer the cleanliness of my bavarian small town. People look like they're angry all the time, bad service is a standard, but there's no garbage on the road. You win some you lose some I guess :)
@@bencze465 Yeah. Non-Germans will probably never fully get used to our somewhat cold customer service xD Honestly, depending on when you visited cologne (especially if it was around carnival season) some evenings can be very rough. It is however also to acknowledge that our garbage and waste collection services are incredibly good and hella underappreciated. Since if you would have stayed for one more day at most it probably would have looked at least as well as before the fiesta.
I can very much relate. I'm from a suburb of a large german city, so going out was a bigger hustle than for the people who live right in the city. When we were 18-20, almost all of us went to clubs at least once a month and to bars basically every weekend. Also regularly attending techno festivals, including the "softer" chemical drugs. This became less and less during the 20ies and now, in my early 30ies, most just can't be arsed anymore and rather keep their weekend relaxing.
An anecdote: When I and other German friends visited a school friend who was studying in the USA, we went out with him and his new college friends in the evenings. We ordered a round of beers there. What we got and amazed us was a pitcher with 8 glasses. The beer tasted like lemonade in Germany. What was our next round? We ordered 4 pitchers, 3 for each of us Germans and one for the Americans. When they saw us pitching like they do their glasses, their jaws dropped
Just to mention "a thing" nearly half of the germans (according to the latest market anylysis) do with their beer and nobody seems to talk about ^^. Especially In the summer season a lot of germans, including me, like to mix their beer with either Sprite/Fanta (Lemonade in general) or Cola. It's called either Radler/Alster or Diesel. Radler/Alster is also "crafted" by bigger breweries and in the summer nearly every bar will serve a Radler/Alster (Diesel not so much). I like it because of their refreshing (of course, I also like a normal fresh, cold beer) taste and that you don't get drunk so fast, especially if you sit outside in the sun. But oh boy, I onced visited the family of a friend in Bulgaria and I mixed my beer like I usually did. They all gave me a look, I will never forget 😂
i had an american friend of mine calling all my friends here in Greece telling them that they need to talk to me cause i'm an alcooholic since i was out every other day with friends for a beer (and the key words here are "a beer" cause our culture here is not to get drunk but to enjoy our firends with a single beer) and all of them laughted at her
Regarding club opening times in germany: there is a default closing time for restaurants, bars and clubs. It is called "Sperrstunde" or "Polizeistunde". It stems from the late middle ages, where it had been introduced for regulatory and fire safety reasons. The exact time depends on the federal state. Within the last years, times have been relaxed or even abolished, like in Berlin. For example in Baden-Württemberg, from monday to friday you have to close between 3:00 and 6:00 in the morning, and from 5:00 to 6:00 on saturday and sunday. As a club owner, you may apply for an exemption, and the allowance is called "Sperrzeitverkürzung".
I'm Czech and everything she described to be typical for the Germans regarding beer and laws and other things are pretty much the same here in Czechia. It most likely has to do with the fact that we are neighbour countries and we also have common history to some extend since before the WWII up to 1/3 of our population were Germans but I still find it extremely interesting and kinda awesome that we share so many things with our German neighbours^^ One thing in particular caught my attention and that was when she descibed how Germans like their beer with a head of foam. Because in Czechia it's very similar and I would say even more extreme because we Czechs really love our beer with a pretty thick head of foam otherwise we don't consider it real beer. You can even order "mlíko" in a restaurant or a pub which literally stands for "milk" in czech and it means that you'll get a glass of just beer foam. We also don't drink our beer freezing cold but it still has to be properly chilled along with the beer glass so it's refreshing. Our beers are also generally of a much higher alcohol concentration compared to US beers. Any Czech will tell you that what they drink in the US is just overprized water:D
When I was 13-14 our teacher retired and so my friend gave her a bottle of wine as a present. After school, me, two friends, and the teacher stayed in the classroom and drank the bottle.
I think while, yes it is very much so jot healthy, I still remember me and my friends packing our backpacks full of beer or wodka and some mixers in the summer when we where like 15-16 and than taking our bycicles going on a "feldweg" with some music and than just drinking, talking and having the time of our lives, while I obviously have great memories without alcohol, the thing is, in most cases hanging with friend in the evening is simply more fun.
when I was 18, me and my family went to the west coast USA for holiday and I was not allowed to drink of course. I took a just a sip of my mothers beer in a pretty high class hotel lobby and the waiter came and asked for my ID and that its not okay lol :D
The shop closing times are not between 8 and 12 pm everywhere in Germany. I once was in northern Bavaria and arrived at 6:40 pm by train, and all shops closed at 6:30 pm there.
I know this video is over a year old by now and it doesn't have much to do with the topic but that's also one factor i think about when i hear how like "strict" americans are with "legal age" Like for example if a 19 or 20 year old guy in the US is dating a 17 or 16 year old girl ... he is gonna get his life cancelled for that but in germany i feel like it's way more normal like obviously you are seen as an adult at 18 here in germany too but nobody cars if you are called a "none adult" under 18 because either way it is only a 3-4 year age gap and if you're now 20 and 17 or if you're 28 and 25 doesn't make a big difference.
Things have changed a lot since I first came to Germany. In those days the night clubs (discos) were only open until about 3 a.m., 4 a.m. at the very most. I remember not wanting to go home and just sitting at a table of a closed cafe chatting with friends until 7 a.m. in Summer, or going to a friend’s place. In those days you had to leave at 10 p.m. if you were under 18. They didn’t take your ID, though, they just trusted that you would leave. There would be regular visits by police to check people’s IDs, though, so maybe that’s why they didn’t bother/to take your ID at the entrance.
In my hometown of about 50,000 inhabitants in Denmark we went to clubs and danced all night. The clubs closed at 5 and at that time 3 bars downtown opened and sold breakfast, so we would then spend some hours there. I usually came home at 10 next morning (16 years old in the 80's)
2 am is when you arrive at the club (before that you do “vorglühen” (direct translation would be pre-glowing) meaning pre-drinking at someone’s home) 6 am is when you leave (except in Berlin, sometimes there are parties that literally go on until 2 pm the next day, or just for three days straight)
In Quebec, the laws are similar to Germany, 16 for beer and wine at Brasseries, 18 for hard liquor. Also, if you're out with your parents, you can have a drink at 13. Other provinces are pretty much on par at 18, with a couple being at 19.
Hey a dane her.. I was around 10-11 the first time I tasted alcohol.. a friend of my dads was vistiting us with his wife, and they had wine with them.. I asked my dad if I could taste some.. and he said I could have a sip.. so I did.. we were at home and both my parents were there.. so super controled and save for me to try it.. but 11 year old me did not learn self control yet at the time.. so ended up going around and taking sips from all the adolts glasses🤣 needless to say i got drunk.. didnt really touch alkohol again before i was a bit older.. and it was again in a controled way..😊
We had this conversation with an American colleague once where he asked how we deal with DUIs and driving maybe a little too drunk like you hear about so many cases in the US. And we all just looked at him and said "If you drink, you don't drive" and he was like "Yeah, but sometimes." and us just "Nope. Not happening. Then you leave your car and get a taxi." So despite being very casual with alcohol, we take traffic laws very seriously. Of course there are exceptions of this, but most people I know would never ever drive. Not even when they had just one beer hours ago. It is just not something you do.
The Wegbier (walk beer) is a very common term, sometimes also called Fußpils (foot pilsner) which is a play of words, because Fußpilz (foot fungus) sounds very similar.
@MoreJps Fun story: When I was a kid (8-10 ish) when we went to visit my family on my dads side (he is from Croatia, my mom is Swedish, and I live in Sweden) and when we went out working in the fields, to pick ex corn, potatoes, cherrys etc etc. The elderly only brought home made wine to drink. hehe. But I can say that I have never had any problems with alcohol, and actually the ONLY time I drink alcohole nowdays is a half of glass champagne on new years eve. =)
In Sweden you need to be 18 years to buy alcohol over 4.2%. But I remember countless times when I was 14-15 yo with friends and we made a fire in the woods and drank beer and barbequed. And sometimes a police would come and talk with us, just to see if anyone was too drunk or if we "behaved" ourself. And Not once did the police tell us to go home or pour out the beer. So, it's about trust... Trust in others, trust in the authorities, the authorities trust in the people.. Trust is something that I don't think Americans even can spell to sadly..
In certain states (Louisiana, Texas, and others) it is legal for the parent or guardian to buy a drink and give it to their 18-20 year old for public consumption. I took my son to New Orleans and Texas when he was 18 and I'd order 2 drinks and give him one. No one questioned it...
There is one thing that Feli has forgotten to tell. "Mutti-Zettel" (Moms note) Yo , as a parent, give the "at sight" for ypur 16 years old Teenager to a friend of him/her, Who's over 18. And then, when they get into the club, they give that note to the staff - and now she/she are allowed to stay also till dawn. But my son an I agreed to pick him up - and everytime 2-3 friends of him and bring them home, at 2 or 3 a.m. And I could always count on him, I never had to wait, When I arrived at the club, he (and 2-3 of his friends) were standing at the sidekick to pick them up. Sorry for my bad english - Im 55 years old and haven't spoken english since the age of 16
The drinking laws in regards to driving in Germany is a little bit stricter. up to 0.5promil you are allowed to drive, as long as you have full control over your car and drive "unnoticable". That means if you hold your line, dont wave in you line and react immediate according to the situation. under 0.3promil you are taken as "not impaired in your ability to drive the car". But theire is also a probation time of 2 Years after you get the license (it can be extended if you found guilty for something. But thats another video worth). While you are in this timeframe, you have a strict 0.0Promil rule. So no Drinking. Not even a glas of sparkling whine. But if you had drunk something and you wait long enough for your blood alcohol level to lower to 0.0 it's okay.
I wanted to add a tidbit of information about clubs. At least here in NRW, we have a thing called "Muttizettel". At clubs you will sometimes have a dedicated night, where 16 ear olds can stay longer than midnight, when their parents sign this "Muttizettel", that states, that they know and agree for their children to stay longer. Additionally, the minors need to be accompanied by a legal adult, whom the parents/guardians assign for this role for that night.
i'm from germany and there are a lot of young people, like me back then, who are already drinking alcohol at the age of 14. Me and my friends we were already drinking vodka and beer and smoking cigarettes when we were 14 years old. that's something i'm not proud of.
i havent watched the rest of the video yet, as Im so shocked by the fact that you said americans go to the club until 2am and thats it. I dont know if its just the culture, or germans are wired differently, but the first time I went out to a club (at 23 tho) I stayed until around 5-6am and then called it quits. It just seemed natural.
in Amsterdam you have weekenders in the clubs, which means the clubs are open 24/7 for the whole weekend till Monday morning, you stay for 3 days or go home in between for a few hours sleep or just to freshen up and then go back to the same club again. most young people start drinking when you are 16 years old. that's also the time you start to go out
I've gotta say i wish some regulations regarding alcohol were more strict in germany. Especially when driving you should not be allowed to drink, its just ridicoulusly dangerous
Some cities in Germany have zones usually spanning no more than a few streets where public drinking is banned, but in general, it is legal everywhere else. At least as long as you do it quietly and don't cause a disturbance of any kind. In which case local police officers can issue you a Platzverweis, which is basically an order to leave an area for the rest of the day.
LOL, in the US is 2am! We had Parties from 11pm Friday to 4am Sat, then after Hour Club until 11am, then Tea Dance until the next Club opened (Sat) and we ended up back home Sun. morning! the 90th Great Time! (No Facebook! No Selfies! Great Parties)
Weird things observed in regards to alcohol while living in Texas: - Underage servers not being able to bring you your beer - Underage cashiers not ringing up alcohol - Not being able to buy beer at a supermarket on Sunday before noon - Consuming alcohol at street festivals in corrals Land of the free - I think not!
I can say from my experience that alcohol responsibility is certainly greater in Germany than in the US. This regulation of drinking alcohol at 21 only makes it worse, as people then get senselessly drunk. I can remember when I was 16/17 years old (which is already about 40 years ago - so in the 1980s), my school friends and other friends and I have often made party and there was not only beer, but also, for example, Bacardi Cola, Whiskey Cola or even Amaretto with Orange Juice (for the girls). And there were never adults present, because they trusted us that it would not get out of hand, which never happened. That's what you call a sense of responsibility, and I think that's greater in Germany (and Europe?) when it comes to alcohol. And if you think the German laws are a bit crazy about alcohol. Just look at the gun laws in the USA! That is much worse!
3-5 day "outdoor raves" in Australia. We call them Bush doofs. Usually you get the odd few spangler's who haven't slept and are near black-out drunk still going on the last day hahahaha either that or they're asleep on the speakers or something.
I don't know, if anybody mentioned it, but it Germany it is not allow to be open 24 Hours, there is still one Hour for cleaning, this means, you can open from 6:00 to 5:00, close for 1 Hour and open again at 6:00 for example.
3:55 what is hard liquor ? Over 10%? -lol😅😂 I think in germany it’s like around 25isch%, when you start considering it as “hard” or “Schnaps” but most stuff is around 35-42% and it goes very high up. Absinth has over 85% so it’s basically gas for your car🙃😂 but we have also beer with I think up to 60% or something insane like that (it’s called Eisbock )
The alcohol while driving limits she stated are not entirely complete. Beginner drivers or drivers below 21 have a strict 0% limit. For everyone else there are actually two limits that apply in different situations. Generally, if you have a blood alcohol of 0.05% or more you aren't allowed to drive. However, the 0.05% limit is actually conditional on you being able to drive without issues. If you get in an accident or even if the police stop you because of a driving issue (which they have to tell you when they stop you, they cannot invent a reason later) the limit is actually 0.03%. This used to be different and has changed several times. 0.03% is when most people start having difficulties judging distances correctly (although they will not notice).
Same goes for Belgium, we have a very well known beer culture . Alcohol is integrated in our daily life's , no party without alcohol even if the participants are only 16. And we have a huge concentration of cafe's and outdoor terasses. And yes, most parents allow their kids to drink some alcohol . It's not uncommon to drink some wine when your 14 in a restaurant along with your parents or other adults. And yes, we find it shocking that the legal drinking age in the US is 21.....
A good rule of thumb regarding the 16/18 drinking age border in Germany is: Everything that is BREWED or made by FERMENTATION alone is legal to drink for 16 year olds. That includes all beers, wines, ciders, meads etc. no matter the alcohol content. At 16 you can drink 12% wine just as much as a 3% beer. Anything that is DISTILLED is only allowed for people 18 or older, like wiskey, vodka, gin liceurs, etc.
In Belgium we have about the same drinking laws as in Germany. Just to clairify something. Technical indeed you can drink and drive. But 0,5 promille means one beer, drink a second and you are over the limit.
The crowd who are still active at 0600 generally don't even think of going to the club before midnight. The crowd who are still out at 1100, well, they generally have chemical helpers in their blood.
I‘d like to add some information on drinking wine in Germany. Usually, in Germany it’s being frowned on drinking wine with ice cubes! Red wine is usually served at room temperature (approximately 12 to 14 degrees Celsius) and white wine is served slightly chilled at 8 to 10 degrees Celsius. So, yes, white wine is commonly stored in the fridge at home but it would not be served with ice cubes in the wine glass. And a wine glass is not grabbed by the bowl but rather held with three fingers by the middle of the stem. Wine experts are usually very picky about these things in Germany. How strict are these rules in the USA?
1. The Purity Law of 1516 is not the only law dealing with the issue. Because at that time the population had often received spoiled beer that was not worth the name. In addition, e.g. Toadstools or other drugs that killed a lot of people. 2. To be honest, the so-called purity law is sometimes not interpreted correctly or only partially. while it is true that the ingredients should only be water, barley malt and yeast. through european laws, however, many other things, such as foam stabilizers, are now allowed in the beer. it is true that many german breweries advertise with the purity law. but it is not checked, since other ingredients are also legal. but an important part also addresses the price of beer. (Original text: ain Mass oder Kopfpiers über ainen Pfenning Müncher Werung) 1 liter not more than 1 penny. The beer was not allowed to exceed this price. Nobody wants to hear that anymore (and doesn't believe it either), because of course the pubs want to make as much profit as possible with the sale. 3. Basically it's a romantic term that the industry likes to use to say that they only want the best for the consumer.
There are clubs in Berlin that are open the whole weekend or at least 30 hours and some people are there longer and some people just start to go there Sunday afternoon, its a complete different way of partying
I’m Italian and I remember having my first sip of beer at maybe 8 years old and also drinking a glass of water with a little bit of wine for kids around the age of 12 or 13 during Sunday meals with the family is not a strange concept.
To clearify, in Europe (at least Belgium where I live), there's no public transportation during the late/early hours (like between 12 and 6). Since most people go out until like maybe 4 (that's about an average, there are people that go out later), there is no public transportation and even if you get drunk during the day and they can tell your drunk, you are not allowed on public transportation. An alternative is of course if you go by bike. There are less rules for that and since most cities are smaller, you can get by with a bike.
2 aditional facts about beer: 1. People in Europe are used to drink beer because drinking water in the middle ages made them sick. 2. The tradition of clinking glasses was to check if the drink is poisoned.
I'm from Austria and we sometimes didn't go out till midnight and came home by noon or later depending on where we went to party, in Zürich (Switzerland) when one club closes another open. Wild times Wild times, i cant imagine grown up in the us where there is not much for teens.
Typically in Europe, hard liquor isn't defined by how much is in it, but rather by how it's made. If it's distilled, then its hard liquor, if its only fermented, but not distilled, then its not liquor.
I lived in New Orleans for three years before I moved back to New York and I had gotten in the habit of drinking out in public. I got an open container ticket once and it was only $25 but I had to go down to the courthouse near Wall Street and plead guilty to a judge and the funny thing was that the whole courtroom was filled with people who were there either for drinking in public or urinating in public. The stark contrast between the pride of the people pleading guilty to drinking in public and the shame of the public urinators was hilarious. I paid my fine and got out of there. A few years later I spent a summer in Berlin, and yes you can drink just about anywhere. Unfortunately German beer, it turns out, sucks balls compared to American, British, Irish, or Belgian beers. I hope I never drink it again, it is that bad. The American drinking laws on the whole are a puritanical leftover from the prohibition days. Now let me see, what did prohibition breed? Organized crime, bootleggers and smugglers, speakeasy joints, oh and the Elks Lodge which was created as a private club where people could gather and drink. The ongoing prohibition of not only alcohol (consumption in public and legal drinking age) but many other mostly benign drugs has furthered the black market and increased crime in America and abroad.
16:12 the same goes for germany we also dont have much transport options if we live in remote areas i live where, where you can only get a bus every 4 hours
As a German I’d say that having your first alcohol taste in a young age with beer or vine makes you think „why are they doing that, it’s disgusting“. But when you can have your first experience with your parents - just like having your first fine dinner with them - instead of hiding with friends cause it’s illegal gives you the opportunity to really get to know the impact alcohol can have on you. And that’s a very different experience or perception than if you’d do it behind closed doors. I as a teenager still felt like being soooo adult. But being in the safe environment kept myself safe to do.
I forgot: we grow into that behavior. And I would say that growing in this, you’re also growing responsibility for those who are too drunk to come home safely. This at least is my experience
It is good when kid who is 12 can have a sip of beer and at 14 can drink a cocktail with his parents. Makes him learn about alcohol and to do that responsibly. And yes they will get drunk a few times between 16 and 18. But that is over because they've had their fun already. In the US you start to go crazy at 21
"Hard liquor" is anything that has been distilled, even if it has been diluted down afterwards. So, at 16, you can buy and drink wine (which might have 12%) while Jack Daniels-Cola is illegal (at a guess, around 5-10% alcohol).
@MoreJps In Germany, from the age of 14 you can drink drinks such as wine, sparkling wine and beer in public and at home with the permission and presence of your parents, as long as they are not distilled drinks such as schnapps and liqueurs
What happened to the so-called "land of the free" dude?
That was allways a heros tale...
They are dreaming
If You can't drink beer on the street, You are not Free.
When you do some analysis, there’s bugger all freedom at all in the USA…
Old enough to die for your country or be exploited by the porn industry but not old enough to have a drink.
I think the alcohol culture partly reflects a different philosophy in raising children in general. In the US, there seems to be the believe that you have to keep "danger" from the children (this is also reflected in the design of the playgrounds), while in Germany the idea is to allow children to test their limits under supervision to ensure that they know them as an adult. Consequently German children often have already tasted alcohol before they are even of drinking age, and once they do drink on their own, they have a pretty good idea how much they can handle.
my father let me taste spirits when i was like 7. "oh does this look tasty? here have a taste" so yeah fair to say i dont see myself becoming an alcoholic i have no interest in alcohol outside of social events
Personally I think that philosophy is influenced more by security and culture. In the US keeping danger from children is better because of the high criminal rate and such. In Germany everything is a bit safer, not completely of course, but it's safe enough for children to have a bit more space.
same here in the Netherlands before the age change from 16 to 18 people get to know their limits.
Yes, but there's a trend going on with parents who think it's not their responsibility to watch over their kids and if something's happening, it's everyones fault but theirs. People seem to forget, that it's THEIR responsibilty to raise their childs in a proper way. On the other hand you have those parents called "Helikoptereltern" who put GPS-tracker in their kids clothing because they fear something could happen.
I'm sorry but u say "keep kids from danger" u got guns everywhere
On the topic of drinking and driving because of being spread out and in a rural area: I grew up in quite a rural area in Germany but for us it was an absolute no-go to drink and drive. Instead, we would drive together with our friends to the club on weekends and rotate on driving duty. The driver would be invited to all their non-alcoholic drinks by the rest of the group. Drinking and driving was just out of the question.
Hat aber damit zu tun das unsereiner, wenn es dann das Auto gab, schon drei oder vier Jahre "trinken" hinter sich hatte und wusste es geht auch nen Abend ohne.
@@BarukKazzad Tell this to my brother and his stupid friends who are all 40+ years. I swear the next time I'm see this happen, I'll call the police. (Un)fortunately I live 500km from them). Total idiots in that relation.
Phases of when you come home from partying in Germany:
16-17 years old: 1am... (or however long it takes you to get home from the club after being thrown out at midnight)
18-26 years old: 7-9am (basically however long it takes you with one of the first trains to get home in the morning)
27-30 years old: 2-3am (because you luckily managed to catch the last train... in fact, you were already eyeing the watch from midnight on, thinking up an excuse for your friends why you can't stay that long, but in reality you just want to sleep enough before Monday rolls around... and maybe clean the house on Sunday)
30+ years old: lol, who are we kidding. you're not staying out longer than 11pm. unless you are single and still looking for a partner, you've become by now an expert of thinking up excuses why you have to get an early start the next day (in fact you'll just sleep or browse the internet) and you LOVE people who cancel plans more than anything
Didn't know about the public drinking thing. I can't believe ADULTS aren't allowed to hang out with their friends in the park/beach etc. with a bottle of wine or a few beers! For me, it's one of the great joys of a lovely summer day. Being treated like irresponsible children in the land of the "free"! Oppressive Puritanism.
In Australia you are not allowed alcohol on the beach because if you have been drinking and then go swimming your ability to swim is quite impaired and you can easily drown. Also no glass bottles are allowed as they can break and put broken glass in the sand which can be stepped on by other beach goers.
@@lindasweeney969 Based on common sense, not just finger-wagging righteousness.
@@DougBrown-h1n seriously , never heard of anyone in Germany who drowned , after drinking at the lake or beach . It's obviously illegal to litter broken glas on beaches and lakes, yet we usually don't litter bottles or cans as there is a deposit on them , so they are alle returned to the store.
I think people that drink for enjoyment instead to get drunk , don't need a law that tells them where to do it. especially as the beach and lakes are the place to keep your beer cold.
@@TremereTT Doch gibt es öfter. Ich hab früher oft DRK-Dienst am Badesee geschoben und einmal ist jemand gestorben nach Ertrinken, den konnten wir nicht mehr zurück holen. Medizinische Situationen aufgrund von Alkoholkonsum und dann schwimmen gehen hatten wir oft. Leider.
Yeah this was really odd revelation for me about the Americans. I grew up in Czech and it is and was pretty normal that we would go with my friends from a highschool to a park once we were like 17 and just had some beers and had a good time, especially in the summer. Or just buy a bottle of beer during the hot summer to go through the city. I moved to Denmark later and it is the same here as far as I can tell. And there aren't really any drunken people lying on the streets or the benches either.
In Czech Republic, where we have the highest per capita beer consumption by far, we have a limit of 0 for driving, including bicycles.
I cant even imagine how my teen years would have been if I lived in the US. here in germany I started partying at 13 (party every weekend, ofc not at the start, and drink a lot) and at 17 it started to slow down and at 18 I was at a normal stage I would say, 2 parties a month instead of 8.
After I finished my Ausbildung(work training, or whatever you would call it) I was done with heavy partying and could start working seriously. Dunno how that would have worked out if I would have lived in the US :)
Wenn ich ein Ami gewesen wäre dann hät ich dauernd im Knast gehockt 😅
Und hast in jungen Jahren gleich paar Gehirnzellen versoffen ... 😅
Deine Logik dort oben scheint zumindest dies anzudeuten. 🤣
it`s really nice that you can party in clubs in Germany for as long as you want. There are often young people who go to party in dance clubs and choose a car driver from their friends who doesn`t drink alcohol and drives while the others can drink. In our country, there was also a night bus that drove the young people to the disco and back home.🙂
When we started to visit clubs as a group 16 year old girls and 18 year old boys. no one had a car...so we had to cover the distance by train to get clubbing in the more famous clubs with less fucked up audiance...we were pretty tame...
It would have totally sucked if we had to stop clubbing at 02:00...when the first train back home is at 07:00 because Sunday mornings...
so we left the club at 5 when it closed , ate something at a gas station and waited only two hours at the trainstation....to get the train back home...
also
It's so unfair that bouncers measure the age of female club guests by bust size,...
@Hellequin Maskharat But we are on the same page , that bouncers allow minors into the club a lot more when they are female than male?
Another useful thing is around 4-5 am public transport starts again. Not everywhere obviously, but even the trains come out of their night break during that time.
I agree with you.@@HappyBeezerStudios
I was playing in a Band (here in Germany) from the age of 13. Then (I was 14) we plaid at Carneval at many different places. And at every placy everybody got free drinks (mostly beer). I the beginning it was OK. I tried it, but had not much alcohol experience. I went home at the late evening (or early morning). But on on the next morning I had no idea how I got home. So I learned it's OK to drink, but you should know when it's enough. I'm enjoying a beer right now. But I will not get drunk. Greetings from Germany. 😊
I am from Germany and live in Switzerland...I have to say: I like my home country and I like the american way of live! Switzerland combines the best of both worlds! We can life safe and in peace here, we can drink (german beer), we can own any gun you can imagine...and I learned bbq like an american! 😂 we can learn so much from each other!!! Peace to everybody!!!
He also have rural areas without public transport. Then there is a designated driver or parents do the Taxi-job. As a teen I rung my parents or uncle more than once at 3 am, because the driver was drunk too or left already. They never complained. Nor did I with my daughters.
I was in our typical club in Austria, and we usually go home between 5 and 6 am, yeah it's quite a normal time for us. Pre drinking usually starts between 7 to 8 pm :)
I recently came across your channel; I find that regardless of the particular content, but especially with regard to Germany-related videos, you always take a very nuanced and appreciative stance. As someone who studied in the US for a time and taught German there, I really appreciate that. Many greetings from Frankfurt! :)
I do believe, in Germany leaving the last zip in your beer glass comes from the tradition that an completly empty beer glass would indicate the waiter to bring you a fresh beer without asking. So to avoid having the next beer right away in front of you, you leave the zip: in this way the waiter would ask if you want anything else. I've also seen that people place the coaster on top of their beer glass to indicated thr same: they don't want another one.
My father was a musician who was often given a bottle of something at events, usually whisky, but he saved it for men only parties and occasions! I got seriously drunk on beer with friends at 16, and was driven home to my father in total embarassment, he threw me in a cold shower fully dressed and never let me forget it! I have never touched beer again! When I turned 18, I went to a pub with friends and ordered a coke, pretending it had rum too! I have no patience for alcoholics or binge drinkers, real life and being an fully functioning participant is far more fun! The occasional scotch, a champagne toast is fine! We also have OctoberFest Celebrations in Australia, and lots of Irish bars for St Patrick's Day - you can still dance, laugh and sing along sober! Yes, 18 is the right age! 🙋 We dont have alcohol sales in food or other shops! 🤨
🥴🤡
Honestly. The funniest thing is, sice you haven't ever experieced that, it sounds like paradise. What is fascinating is that most non-Berliners (i'm joking fellas i only hate on the capital on wednesdays or when the sun rises in the east), tend to basically get all that energy out of their system before they are like 30 at the latest and then the idea of staying til morning just get's you a groan from your buddies who had enough 3 hours ago xDDD
The idea of total freedom and party until the morning is nice and all but you will find out very early that only a select few can and _want_ actually do that and you might not be part of that club ^^
Given how hard it is to fake a German ID and the fact that it is a fellony to do so, I also would side with Felicia that it probably is less common in Germany. However, that doesn't mean tat young ones don't try to get around the age restriction. Most of the time between 16 and 18 since the little babies want to drink themselves stupid on Vodka and Tequila for some ungodly reason.
I know that my Bias is showing here btw xD I am not a huge fan of the alcohol culture in Germany.
Speaking of drinking in Public: THANK LAW for deposits on beer bottles or we'd have so much more problems with littering (and we have big problems already)
naaahh..im 35 and still party like im 20.. these people are just weak
@@mats7492 I do as well. TBF I never partied much in the first place, I have better things to do - like sleeping, but at least i am also consistent :P
I'm not german I just live here since a couple of years. I visited Köln some time ago and seen the square in front of the cathedral on a Friday evening (or was it Saturday) - FULL of people (itÍs a big place); and seen it the next morning at like 8 when checking out of hotel and continuing our trip to Netherlands. It looked like after a war - not literally but on that huge place, garbage everywhere, you had to watch your step, several people looking like drug addicts begging for cigarettes or money. I was shocked to see that much garbage in a german city. Admittedly I'm old now but I prefer the cleanliness of my bavarian small town. People look like they're angry all the time, bad service is a standard, but there's no garbage on the road. You win some you lose some I guess :)
@@bencze465 Yeah. Non-Germans will probably never fully get used to our somewhat cold customer service xD
Honestly, depending on when you visited cologne (especially if it was around carnival season) some evenings can be very rough. It is however also to acknowledge that our garbage and waste collection services are incredibly good and hella underappreciated. Since if you would have stayed for one more day at most it probably would have looked at least as well as before the fiesta.
I can very much relate. I'm from a suburb of a large german city, so going out was a bigger hustle than for the people who live right in the city. When we were 18-20, almost all of us went to clubs at least once a month and to bars basically every weekend. Also regularly attending techno festivals, including the "softer" chemical drugs. This became less and less during the 20ies and now, in my early 30ies, most just can't be arsed anymore and rather keep their weekend relaxing.
In EUROPE it’s normal to stay out all night ,,,, pace yourself,,, and have breakfast before you go home the next day .
In Switzerland the twist of thing is very common on the so called "Schützengarten"-Beer
An anecdote: When I and other German friends visited a school friend who was studying in the USA, we went out with him and his new college friends in the evenings. We ordered a round of beers there. What we got and amazed us was a pitcher with 8 glasses. The beer tasted like lemonade in Germany. What was our next round? We ordered 4 pitchers, 3 for each of us Germans and one for the Americans. When they saw us pitching like they do their glasses, their jaws dropped
0:08 The smile on Joel’s face. He’s absolutely *BEAMING* ! It’s a topic that’s very close to his heart…sorry, liver.
Just to mention "a thing" nearly half of the germans (according to the latest market anylysis) do with their beer and nobody seems to talk about ^^.
Especially In the summer season a lot of germans, including me, like to mix their beer with either Sprite/Fanta (Lemonade in general) or Cola. It's called either Radler/Alster or Diesel. Radler/Alster is also "crafted" by bigger breweries and in the summer nearly every bar will serve a Radler/Alster (Diesel not so much).
I like it because of their refreshing (of course, I also like a normal fresh, cold beer) taste and that you don't get drunk so fast, especially if you sit outside in the sun.
But oh boy, I onced visited the family of a friend in Bulgaria and I mixed my beer like I usually did. They all gave me a look, I will never forget 😂
I’m Swedish and we went on a school trip to Germany 🇩🇪 and OMG, we went to a huge party venue, and we all had drinks!! 😂 That week was awesome 😎!!
i had an american friend of mine calling all my friends here in Greece telling them that they need to talk to me cause i'm an alcooholic since i was out every other day with friends for a beer (and the key words here are "a beer" cause our culture here is not to get drunk but to enjoy our firends with a single beer) and all of them laughted at her
Regarding club opening times in germany: there is a default closing time for restaurants, bars and clubs. It is called "Sperrstunde" or "Polizeistunde". It stems from the late middle ages, where it had been introduced for regulatory and fire safety reasons.
The exact time depends on the federal state. Within the last years, times have been relaxed or even abolished, like in Berlin. For example in Baden-Württemberg, from monday to friday you have to close between 3:00 and 6:00 in the morning, and from 5:00 to 6:00 on saturday and sunday.
As a club owner, you may apply for an exemption, and the allowance is called "Sperrzeitverkürzung".
I'm Czech and everything she described to be typical for the Germans regarding beer and laws and other things are pretty much the same here in Czechia. It most likely has to do with the fact that we are neighbour countries and we also have common history to some extend since before the WWII up to 1/3 of our population were Germans but I still find it extremely interesting and kinda awesome that we share so many things with our German neighbours^^
One thing in particular caught my attention and that was when she descibed how Germans like their beer with a head of foam. Because in Czechia it's very similar and I would say even more extreme because we Czechs really love our beer with a pretty thick head of foam otherwise we don't consider it real beer. You can even order "mlíko" in a restaurant or a pub which literally stands for "milk" in czech and it means that you'll get a glass of just beer foam. We also don't drink our beer freezing cold but it still has to be properly chilled along with the beer glass so it's refreshing. Our beers are also generally of a much higher alcohol concentration compared to US beers. Any Czech will tell you that what they drink in the US is just overprized water:D
Isn't the Czech the founder of "Pils"?
I Love czech Absinthe.... We dont have it that hard in Germany...
@@Winona493 it is:)
6:41 Makes me think of my 20s. Dancing our butts off until 6:00 am and then having breakfast at McDonalds. Good times.
When I was 13-14 our teacher retired and so my friend gave her a bottle of wine as a present. After school, me, two friends, and the teacher stayed in the classroom and drank the bottle.
I think while, yes it is very much so jot healthy, I still remember me and my friends packing our backpacks full of beer or wodka and some mixers in the summer when we where like 15-16 and than taking our bycicles going on a "feldweg" with some music and than just drinking, talking and having the time of our lives, while I obviously have great memories without alcohol, the thing is, in most cases hanging with friend in the evening is simply more fun.
when I was 18, me and my family went to the west coast USA for holiday and I was not allowed to drink of course. I took a just a sip of my mothers beer in a pretty high class hotel lobby and the waiter came and asked for my ID and that its not okay lol :D
The shop closing times are not between 8 and 12 pm everywhere in Germany. I once was in northern Bavaria and arrived at 6:40 pm by train, and all shops closed at 6:30 pm there.
I know this video is over a year old by now and it doesn't have much to do with the topic but that's also one factor i think about when i hear how like "strict" americans are with "legal age"
Like for example if a 19 or 20 year old guy in the US is dating a 17 or 16 year old girl ... he is gonna get his life cancelled for that but in germany i feel like it's way more normal like obviously you are seen as an adult at 18 here in germany too but nobody cars if you are called a "none adult" under 18 because either way it is only a 3-4 year age gap and if you're now 20 and 17 or if you're 28 and 25 doesn't make a big difference.
Things have changed a lot since I first came to Germany. In those days the night clubs (discos) were only open until about 3 a.m., 4 a.m. at the very most. I remember not wanting to go home and just sitting at a table of a closed cafe chatting with friends until 7 a.m. in Summer, or going to a friend’s place. In those days you had to leave at 10 p.m. if you were under 18. They didn’t take your ID, though, they just trusted that you would leave. There would be regular visits by police to check people’s IDs, though, so maybe that’s why they didn’t bother/to take your ID at the entrance.
In my hometown of about 50,000 inhabitants in Denmark we went to clubs and danced all night. The clubs closed at 5 and at that time 3 bars downtown opened and sold breakfast, so we would then spend some hours there. I usually came home at 10 next morning (16 years old in the 80's)
Hi, I am from Austria and I really like your Videos! 🙋♀️ Liebe Grüße Andrea
2 am is when you arrive at the club (before that you do “vorglühen” (direct translation would be pre-glowing) meaning pre-drinking at someone’s home)
6 am is when you leave (except in Berlin, sometimes there are parties that literally go on until 2 pm the next day, or just for three days straight)
In Quebec, the laws are similar to Germany, 16 for beer and wine at Brasseries, 18 for hard liquor. Also, if you're out with your parents, you can have a drink at 13. Other provinces are pretty much on par at 18, with a couple being at 19.
In Croatia, beer and wine are food products.
Hey a dane her.. I was around 10-11 the first time I tasted alcohol.. a friend of my dads was vistiting us with his wife, and they had wine with them.. I asked my dad if I could taste some.. and he said I could have a sip.. so I did.. we were at home and both my parents were there.. so super controled and save for me to try it.. but 11 year old me did not learn self control yet at the time.. so ended up going around and taking sips from all the adolts glasses🤣 needless to say i got drunk.. didnt really touch alkohol again before i was a bit older.. and it was again in a controled way..😊
We had this conversation with an American colleague once where he asked how we deal with DUIs and driving maybe a little too drunk like you hear about so many cases in the US. And we all just looked at him and said "If you drink, you don't drive" and he was like "Yeah, but sometimes." and us just "Nope. Not happening. Then you leave your car and get a taxi."
So despite being very casual with alcohol, we take traffic laws very seriously. Of course there are exceptions of this, but most people I know would never ever drive. Not even when they had just one beer hours ago. It is just not something you do.
The Wegbier (walk beer) is a very common term, sometimes also called Fußpils (foot pilsner) which is a play of words, because Fußpilz (foot fungus) sounds very similar.
@MoreJps Fun story: When I was a kid (8-10 ish) when we went to visit my family on my dads side (he is from Croatia, my mom is Swedish, and I live in Sweden) and when we went out working in the fields, to pick ex corn, potatoes, cherrys etc etc. The elderly only brought home made wine to drink. hehe. But I can say that I have never had any problems with alcohol, and actually the ONLY time I drink alcohole nowdays is a half of glass champagne on new years eve. =)
In Sweden you need to be 18 years to buy alcohol over 4.2%. But I remember countless times when I was 14-15 yo with friends and we made a fire in the woods and drank beer and barbequed. And sometimes a police would come and talk with us, just to see if anyone was too drunk or if we "behaved" ourself. And Not once did the police tell us to go home or pour out the beer. So, it's about trust... Trust in others, trust in the authorities, the authorities trust in the people.. Trust is something that I don't think Americans even can spell to sadly..
In certain states (Louisiana, Texas, and others) it is legal for the parent or guardian to buy a drink and give it to their 18-20 year old for public consumption. I took my son to New Orleans and Texas when he was 18 and I'd order 2 drinks and give him one. No one questioned it...
In Wisconsin here, any age.
There is one thing that Feli has forgotten to tell. "Mutti-Zettel" (Moms note) Yo , as a parent, give the "at sight" for ypur 16 years old Teenager to a friend of him/her, Who's over 18. And then, when they get into the club, they give that note to the staff - and now she/she are allowed to stay also till dawn. But my son an I agreed to pick him up - and everytime 2-3 friends of him and bring them home, at 2 or 3 a.m. And I could always count on him, I never had to wait, When I arrived at the club, he (and 2-3 of his friends) were standing at the sidekick to pick them up. Sorry for my bad english - Im 55 years old and haven't spoken english since the age of 16
When I was going out,before going home we all went for breakfast and then to sleep.Greetings from Croatia
The drinking laws in regards to driving in Germany is a little bit stricter. up to 0.5promil you are allowed to drive, as long as you have full control over your car and drive "unnoticable". That means if you hold your line, dont wave in you line and react immediate according to the situation.
under 0.3promil you are taken as "not impaired in your ability to drive the car".
But theire is also a probation time of 2 Years after you get the license (it can be extended if you found guilty for something. But thats another video worth). While you are in this timeframe, you have a strict 0.0Promil rule. So no Drinking. Not even a glas of sparkling whine. But if you had drunk something and you wait long enough for your blood alcohol level to lower to 0.0 it's okay.
I wanted to add a tidbit of information about clubs. At least here in NRW, we have a thing called "Muttizettel". At clubs you will sometimes have a dedicated night, where 16 ear olds can stay longer than midnight, when their parents sign this "Muttizettel", that states, that they know and agree for their children to stay longer. Additionally, the minors need to be accompanied by a legal adult, whom the parents/guardians assign for this role for that night.
Had some club all-nighters in Greece as well and then stay at the beach for the sun rise! Fun times :)
i'm from germany and there are a lot of young people, like me back then, who are already drinking alcohol at the age of 14. Me and my friends we were already drinking vodka and beer and smoking cigarettes when we were 14 years old. that's something i'm not proud of.
the best beerfest in germany is "bergkirchweih"!! it is also the oldest beerfest...
Im from Jülich/NRW/Germany and i love to watch your videos
i havent watched the rest of the video yet, as Im so shocked by the fact that you said americans go to the club until 2am and thats it.
I dont know if its just the culture, or germans are wired differently, but the first time I went out to a club (at 23 tho) I stayed until around 5-6am and then called it quits. It just seemed natural.
in Amsterdam you have weekenders in the clubs, which means the clubs are open 24/7 for the whole weekend till Monday morning, you stay for 3 days or go home in between for a few hours sleep or just to freshen up and then go back to the same club again. most young people start drinking when you are 16 years old. that's also the time you start to go out
I've gotta say i wish some regulations regarding alcohol were more strict in germany. Especially when driving you should not be allowed to drink, its just ridicoulusly dangerous
Some cities in Germany have zones usually spanning no more than a few streets where public drinking is banned, but in general, it is legal everywhere else. At least as long as you do it quietly and don't cause a disturbance of any kind. In which case local police officers can issue you a Platzverweis, which is basically an order to leave an area for the rest of the day.
Do forget Oktoberfest in Munich. It's insanely expensive and a bit of a scam. Every little Bierfest elsewhere is so much nicer. All over Germany btw.
I love how shocked he was when in Denmark we can drink alcohol at any tie in our lives, but buy at 16 or 18. Our hard liquor is above 16,5 percent
LOL, in the US is 2am! We had Parties from 11pm Friday to 4am Sat, then after Hour Club until 11am, then Tea Dance until the next Club opened (Sat) and we ended up back home Sun. morning! the 90th Great Time! (No Facebook! No Selfies! Great Parties)
Weird things observed in regards to alcohol while living in Texas:
- Underage servers not being able to bring you your beer
- Underage cashiers not ringing up alcohol
- Not being able to buy beer at a supermarket on Sunday before noon
- Consuming alcohol at street festivals in corrals
Land of the free - I think not!
I can say from my experience that alcohol responsibility is certainly greater in Germany than in the US. This regulation of drinking alcohol at 21 only makes it worse, as people then get senselessly drunk.
I can remember when I was 16/17 years old (which is already about 40 years ago - so in the 1980s), my school friends and other friends and I have often made party and there was not only beer, but also, for example, Bacardi Cola, Whiskey Cola or even Amaretto with Orange Juice (for the girls). And there were never adults present, because they trusted us that it would not get out of hand, which never happened. That's what you call a sense of responsibility, and I think that's greater in Germany (and Europe?) when it comes to alcohol.
And if you think the German laws are a bit crazy about alcohol. Just look at the gun laws in the USA! That is much worse!
"hard liquor like above 10%? "
80% and 90% absinthe says hello
I remember all the parties when we were 16 or 17. And we were all sitting in school the next day.
3-5 day "outdoor raves" in Australia. We call them Bush doofs. Usually you get the odd few spangler's who haven't slept and are near black-out drunk still going on the last day hahahaha either that or they're asleep on the speakers or something.
The Difference is that Hard Liqor wich you can buy aat 18 is destilled and what you can buy at 16 is brewed!
I don't know, if anybody mentioned it, but it Germany it is not allow to be open 24 Hours, there is still one Hour for cleaning, this means, you can open from 6:00 to 5:00, close for 1 Hour and open again at 6:00 for example.
3:55 what is hard liquor ? Over 10%? -lol😅😂 I think in germany it’s like around 25isch%, when you start considering it as “hard” or “Schnaps” but most stuff is around 35-42% and it goes very high up.
Absinth has over 85% so it’s basically gas for your car🙃😂 but we have also beer with I think up to 60% or something insane like that (it’s called Eisbock )
The alcohol while driving limits she stated are not entirely complete.
Beginner drivers or drivers below 21 have a strict 0% limit.
For everyone else there are actually two limits that apply in different situations.
Generally, if you have a blood alcohol of 0.05% or more you aren't allowed to drive. However, the 0.05% limit is actually conditional on you being able to drive without issues. If you get in an accident or even if the police stop you because of a driving issue (which they have to tell you when they stop you, they cannot invent a reason later) the limit is actually 0.03%.
This used to be different and has changed several times. 0.03% is when most people start having difficulties judging distances correctly (although they will not notice).
Same goes for Belgium, we have a very well known beer culture . Alcohol is integrated in our daily life's , no party without alcohol even if the participants are only 16. And we have a huge concentration of cafe's and outdoor terasses. And yes, most parents allow their kids to drink some alcohol . It's not uncommon to drink some wine when your 14 in a restaurant along with your parents or other adults. And yes, we find it shocking that the legal drinking age in the US is 21.....
Same thing in Denamrk you can buy beers at 16 and the bars also close like 5-6 in the morning
A good rule of thumb regarding the 16/18 drinking age border in Germany is: Everything that is BREWED or made by FERMENTATION alone is legal to drink for 16 year olds. That includes all beers, wines, ciders, meads etc. no matter the alcohol content. At 16 you can drink 12% wine just as much as a 3% beer. Anything that is DISTILLED is only allowed for people 18 or older, like wiskey, vodka, gin liceurs, etc.
More the north of germany here: we get the last drop of our drink!
Awesome Video!
In Belgium we have about the same drinking laws as in Germany. Just to clairify something. Technical indeed you can drink and drive. But 0,5 promille means one beer, drink a second and you are over the limit.
The crowd who are still active at 0600 generally don't even think of going to the club before midnight. The crowd who are still out at 1100, well, they generally have chemical helpers in their blood.
We have those twisted bottlehwads in Germany too
I‘d like to add some information on drinking wine in Germany.
Usually, in Germany it’s being frowned on drinking wine with ice cubes! Red wine is usually served at room temperature (approximately 12 to 14 degrees Celsius) and white wine is served slightly chilled at 8 to 10 degrees Celsius.
So, yes, white wine is commonly stored in the fridge at home but it would not be served with ice cubes in the wine glass.
And a wine glass is not grabbed by the bowl but rather held with three fingers by the middle of the stem.
Wine experts are usually very picky about these things in Germany. How strict are these rules in the USA?
1. The Purity Law of 1516 is not the only law dealing with the issue. Because at that time the population had often received spoiled beer that was not worth the name. In addition, e.g. Toadstools or other drugs that killed a lot of people.
2. To be honest, the so-called purity law is sometimes not interpreted correctly or only partially. while it is true that the ingredients should only be water, barley malt and yeast. through european laws, however, many other things, such as foam stabilizers, are now allowed in the beer. it is true that many german breweries advertise with the purity law. but it is not checked, since other ingredients are also legal. but an important part also addresses the price of beer. (Original text: ain Mass oder Kopfpiers über ainen Pfenning Müncher Werung) 1 liter not more than 1 penny. The beer was not allowed to exceed this price. Nobody wants to hear that anymore (and doesn't believe it either), because of course the pubs want to make as much profit as possible with the sale.
3. Basically it's a romantic term that the industry likes to use to say that they only want the best for the consumer.
Great Commentary! Very reflective and cool
There are clubs in Berlin that are open the whole weekend or at least 30 hours and some people are there longer and some people just start to go there Sunday afternoon, its a complete different way of partying
In Italy children are often allowed to drink a little wine with water having meals with parents.
I’m Italian and I remember having my first sip of beer at maybe 8 years old and also drinking a glass of water with a little bit of wine for kids around the age of 12 or 13 during Sunday meals with the family is not a strange concept.
To clearify, in Europe (at least Belgium where I live), there's no public transportation during the late/early hours (like between 12 and 6). Since most people go out until like maybe 4 (that's about an average, there are people that go out later), there is no public transportation and even if you get drunk during the day and they can tell your drunk, you are not allowed on public transportation.
An alternative is of course if you go by bike. There are less rules for that and since most cities are smaller, you can get by with a bike.
In 12th and 13th grade, when it was somebody's birthday, we'd drink champagne in my English class at school.
2 aditional facts about beer: 1. People in Europe are used to drink beer because drinking water in the middle ages made them sick. 2. The tradition of clinking glasses was to check if the drink is poisoned.
I'm from Austria and we sometimes didn't go out till midnight and came home by noon or later depending on where we went to party, in Zürich (Switzerland) when one club closes another open. Wild times Wild times, i cant imagine grown up in the us where there is not much for teens.
As a german in my school days, my friends and I got drunk for the first time when we were in sixth grade.
It's friday half past two in the afternoon... i have a Feierabendbier. It's nice to live in Germany! 🍻
Typically in Europe, hard liquor isn't defined by how much is in it, but rather by how it's made. If it's distilled, then its hard liquor, if its only fermented, but not distilled, then its not liquor.
6:59 In my time we left the Club offen with sunrise, took breakfast together and then sleped the Rest of the Day. Long time ago...😊
Yep, we always left parties at 5-6 the next morning. Completely normal, depending how tired and drunk you are 😂💀
I lived in New Orleans for three years before I moved back to New York and I had gotten in the habit of drinking out in public. I got an open container ticket once and it was only $25 but I had to go down to the courthouse near Wall Street and plead guilty to a judge and the funny thing was that the whole courtroom was filled with people who were there either for drinking in public or urinating in public. The stark contrast between the pride of the people pleading guilty to drinking in public and the shame of the public urinators was hilarious. I paid my fine and got out of there.
A few years later I spent a summer in Berlin, and yes you can drink just about anywhere. Unfortunately German beer, it turns out, sucks balls compared to American, British, Irish, or Belgian beers. I hope I never drink it again, it is that bad.
The American drinking laws on the whole are a puritanical leftover from the prohibition days. Now let me see, what did prohibition breed? Organized crime, bootleggers and smugglers, speakeasy joints, oh and the Elks Lodge which was created as a private club where people could gather and drink. The ongoing prohibition of not only alcohol (consumption in public and legal drinking age) but many other mostly benign drugs has furthered the black market and increased crime in America and abroad.
As she did not mention it: I still want wo point out Altbier which is the sort we drink in the Düsseldorf Area ^^
16:12 the same goes for germany we also dont have much transport options if we live in remote areas
i live where, where you can only get a bus every 4 hours
As a German I’d say that having your first alcohol taste in a young age with beer or vine makes you think „why are they doing that, it’s disgusting“. But when you can have your first experience with your parents - just like having your first fine dinner with them - instead of hiding with friends cause it’s illegal gives you the opportunity to really get to know the impact alcohol can have on you. And that’s a very different experience or perception than if you’d do it behind closed doors. I as a teenager still felt like being soooo adult. But being in the safe environment kept myself safe to do.
I forgot: we grow into that behavior. And I would say that growing in this, you’re also growing responsibility for those who are too drunk to come home safely. This at least is my experience
"what is hard, is that over 10% i guess?"
my friend, some of our beers are already over 10%
It is good when kid who is 12 can have a sip of beer and at 14 can drink a cocktail with his parents. Makes him learn about alcohol and to do that responsibly. And yes they will get drunk a few times between 16 and 18. But that is over because they've had their fun already. In the US you start to go crazy at 21
I´ve been to a place in Germany that had open 24/7 :)
When you are outside of a Big City in Germany the Public Transport is very bad, too. Sometimes there isnt even one, just for the school kids.
"Hard liquor" is anything that has been distilled, even if it has been diluted down afterwards. So, at 16, you can buy and drink wine (which might have 12%) while Jack Daniels-Cola is illegal (at a guess, around 5-10% alcohol).
@MoreJps In Germany, from the age of 14 you can drink drinks such as wine, sparkling wine and beer in public and at home with the permission and presence of your parents, as long as they are not distilled drinks such as schnapps and liqueurs
Actually happened to me like 3-4 times that i partied till 5 or 6 am in the morning, judging by me and my friends the norm would be more like 1-3 am
Thx for this great video and your opinions 🙂