Thank you so much for watching! Original Video: • Alcohol Culture GERMAN... Original Channel: / @felifromgermany 🔴Other Channel: ItsJps - / itsjps 🤝INSTAGRAM: @itsjpsyt Where should we go next? 🌏❓
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.
@@user-zu6ir6kj5g 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.
There's also a fun superstition in Germany: When clinking glasses, always look the other person in the eyes. The punishment for not doing so are 7 years of bad sex.
If you remember having sex at all... in Slovakia we have Tatran Tea or as some foreigners are calling it rum of teleportation ... you drink it and then you wake up at some random place without you knowing what you did before.
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.
@@_______Thor_____ Wo habt ihr gefrühstückt? Und man muss wissen wann man aufhören sollte. Wenn man die Muttersprache an den Alkohol verloren hat helfen auch frische Brötchen nicht mehr 🙂
I'm older (from Belgium, Europe), but I know my children (20-25) start going out at 11 pm and come back in the morning. I know that they usually have a couple of drinks with friends at +-10pm before going to a club (to save money). This is common among students at university. My son is now a civil engineer and my daughter is a doctor, so it's not like something only done by people who have no responsibilities.
The thresholds for drinking alcohol in Germany are not linked to the alcohol content, but to the way in which the beverages are produced: any alcoholic beverage that owes its alcohol content solely to fermentation, i.e. brewing and vinification, can be purchased by sixteen-year-olds. Any drink that owes its alcohol content to (additional) distillation may only be sold to eighteen-year-olds. This means that strong beers and (sparkling) wines with a high alcohol content may also be purchased by sixteen-year-olds.
I never understood why there isn’t more upheaval in the U.S. about the fact that at 18, you can be drafted, you can be sentenced to death, you can - at 15 or 16 - drive a car (which can be a deadly weapon) and , of course, to buy pretty much any weapon you want - but you can - under no circumstances - have a beer until 21… Ridiculous!
The drinking restrictions don't apply to soldiers, they did for a while but law was changed. Also there are no votes in changing the law, whilst the voting age is 18 on average votes will be 20 (votes every 4 years. And Its a federal thing not a state thing as its linked to funding for Highways, many states had ages below 21, but Reagan brought in a bill that linked funding to states having drinking age laws over 21, at least our right wing (of the same period) only stole milk from our children.
@@JU-pq6qu Agreed, raised up near Düsseldorf - same situation. I remember buying cigarettes for my neighbor (older lady) when i was 9-10. But the Kiosk was on our street and the owner knew i bought them for her. Anyways didn't really had a problem buying alcohol and cigarettes for myself with 15 (around 2008/9). Even after the office for public order startet testing if stores sell to minors. The first time someone asked for my ID was of course right after i turned 18
@J U I have to disagree with you there. DäBut it is of course my personal opinion so don't take it the wrong way. (And I know that it can go the bad direction) But personally I think (and from my working experience with teenagers) most go crazy in the beginning, but then it starts becoming a lot less. So for me, I'm glad they get it out of their system before starting to drive a car and a lot of teens don't hesitate to call their parents for a ride home if they feel they are too drunk, rather than going by bike (motor or bicycle). Drinking till hospital is not good of course, but them keeping silent about not feeling well after excessive drinking out of fear of breaking the law, would be much worse I think.
@@natsukiilluna6324 Everyone i know started drinking at 15-16 and is still drinking to this day. 16 is way too young to start drinking, not only because you're too young to control yourself, but also because alcohol can have very bad effects on a young persons brain that isn't fully developed until 25. So yeah it makes sense that you can drive with 16 and have a firearm with 18 in the us because neither of these will influence the development of your brain negatively while alcohol consumtion most certainly will. On the other hand children can get their hands on alcohol no matter what. So i feel like both are right and both are wrong, just depends on your educational philosophy.
@@JU-pq6quI actually partially agree, drinking alcohol at such a young age can be quite unhealthy (it can be unhealthy at any age obviously but especially when you are young) so while I agree that it's not necessarily good for teenagers to drink, I think that Parents should be limiting that rather than the government if parents dont care enough or dont have a healthy enough relationship to their child to monitor their alcohol intake than that is the real problem in my opinion not the alcohol. If I think back at being a teenager in the last few school years going on parties with friends and meeting new people, that are genuinely such fond memories of mine that I wouldn't want to miss them. I was fortunate enought to have great friends and loving parents, where when my parents told me how I should behave when drinking that is what i did.
I remember back in university years I had a flat share with a US-American guy. The first weekend we went out clubbing together we had pre-drinks at home as is common here in Berlin. At about 11pm he got nervous and was like: "Shouldn't we be headed out? I don't want to miss the party." - "What are you talking about? This club opens doors at midnight. And we don't want to be there the first hour" I explained. He was still convinced we were way too late when we got to the club around 1:30 am but then he realized that is when local parties are just starting to shift into full gear and we ended up going way into the late morning hours. Another weekend I took him to a techno club at sunday brunch hour and we stayed till monday morning because 30+ hour raves are just a thing here. Berlin partying is on a very different clock. 😁
Also very different from the countryside. Here pregame starts at 4-6 until around 8/9 thats when lots of the music acts start to perform until 2 or 3 and after that you go to "Andi" and drink till 4 or 5. It always surprises me how long you drink. Even when you start at 7 or 8 in the city you are out until 6 or 7 and still got nearly 12 hours of partying and drinking.
@@yasch3696 oh wow, that way earlier than I imagined. We usually don't start pregame before 8 pm. Most of the time your guests will arrive with a bottle at around 9-10pm and then you got 3-4 hours left before heading to the clubs. German party monsters only show up after dark. ;)
@@memento81 I think it has to do with eating together and the quiet hours. Normally in the summer you just sit together in someones garden, enjoy the good wheater and grill together. Thats why you meet that early. In winter pregame could just last not as long and you meet right after you had dinner at around 7. And if the party/festival is something official most of the time they only get permission to play music until 1 or 2 and thats why they "already" start at 9 or 10.
Exact same thing happened when my friend came to visit me. They were getting nervous around 1 and I told them were only going for a pre drink now, THE place we want to go to doesn't open till 2 and we don't wana be there till 3/4. 😅 Edit: am that is
haha yes. I'm from Germany and we had so many nights at the club where we left at 6/7am 😅 the best thing about that is getting breakfast from a bakery on your way home 🥐🥯🍮🥧
A bit of 'fun' from Norway:one of our covid restrictions was that restaurants weren't allowed to sell alcohol and like the German people we like our glass of wine with dinner. Even though the restaurants were allowed to be open, there were so few customers due to the rules they chose to close anyeay😄
On the subject of fake IDs: Here in Germany, my mother always brought me certain alcohol (when I was 13 or 14) when I wanted some. Sometimes, when I was 14 or so, I could get some myself without being asked for ID. It varies depending on whether it's a big city or a village. I lived in a village, so of course you knew everyone - even the cashier. He always grinned and sold it to me anyway because he knew that my parents allowed it.
It was similar with cigarettes, by the way. According to the law, they are over 18, but could also be bought at 15/16. But that may have changed again today. That was almost 15 years ago. ;) By the way, I don't smoke anymore. :D
The video is funny as it reveals how Germany beats the crap out of the land of the free when it comes to alcohol. This also applies to traffic, prostitution, sex, gambling, and soft drugs. Must be so embarrassing for Americans to watch and wake up from their delusions.
@@KevinFeegers When I was young there were cigarette vending machines everywhere and you could get cigarettes as long as you had the necessary coins. Also when I was young (less than 10), my grandfather gave me some money and asked me to buy cigarettes or beer -- and nobody asked questions. That was the norm to send kids to buy stuff.
An other interesting aspect that shows, that german beer culture is more about taste than about alcohol: alcohol free beer gets more and more popular in germany. What i like about our legal ages is, that most germans are done with experimenting with alcohol, when they can have a drivers licence. Also our laws have the effect, that teenagers don't have to hide alcohol from adults. So parents often know, what their kids are doing, can talk to them and have a chance to teach them about resposiblity, instead of just forbid drinking. And kids also speak more likely to their parents when they had to much instead of hiding that they have done something forbidden.
Alcohol free beer being more popular than a decade ago has a lot to do with the fact that it has gotten much better. I still remember the days when it was pretty much just Clausthaler and that tasted like piss. Now every brewery has an alocohol free option and they actually care to make it taste good. You can still taste the difference to a regular beer of course, but it has become a tasty alternative. Why that happened is the old question of the chicken and the egg I guess.
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 :)
When my sons were about 16years old, and started to go out with friends (Fasching, Club or Band battles), we Parents always made sure, someone would Pick them up. Sometimes early in the morning, so they would Not Drink and Drive. It worked out fine.
I've been to the Oktoberfest in Munich as I have a Bavarian friends who live there. You must try the Munich Oktoberfest at least once, the sheer scale of it will blow your mind (even as an American!) Mt German friends told me of the origins of the beer gardens which are traditionally dotted with Horse Chestnut trees creating shade. Back in the day the beers were kept in underground cellars and without any electric refrigeration that we have now, they grew the trees above the cellars to create shade from the sun and keep the beer cool. That naturally became a place for workers to eat and drink their lunches and thus the beer garden was born.
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.
In Germany,, Austria and Switzerland you do not need to rush your drinking. You have a lot more time. This goes for going out and also for your lifetime. We usually have a longer life expectancy and a younger drinking age than the US American. 🙂
@@kelvinth117 I believe that is generally the case in Continental Europe. But, in my case, this is "believe" and not knowledge. My answer certainly leaves room for improvement. Thanks for doing just that.
Tbh I am a german, just got 22 and I have not gone out for around 2 years anymore, because I'm from the countryside, and there its normal to start drinking around 13 to 14. You can go out in places called 'jugendraum' -> 'youth room' where mostly people out of u village in the agespan from 13-25 are hanging out, drinking beer to liquors and you are more or less granted to get a taste from everything you want to drink. Its more of a chilled athmosphere than clubs, but as mentioned in the video you can go to one at 16 to 18. So yeah a lot of us stop drinking/partying actively and just drink on family events or birthday partys around the age of 25-30, or on gatherings with their friends.
I am 54 years old born an raised in (West) Berlin. Had my first beer at the age of twelve with my dad and it was great. But he also told how to use this as we call it in germany "Grundnahrungsmittel" (staple food) like our bread. Never drink it when you feel bad ! Never ever drink it alone ! See it as a gift when you have achieved something or to relax with others after a hard and successful day. Like every drug ! I could tell the story/reasons why beer came so late to Berlin and why the "Kneipen"(Pubs) in Berlin are allowed to open 24/7. By the way "Wegbier" is called in Berlin "FußPilz" which is a play on words. I wonder if you find out... 🙂
Remember being in Corpus Christi Texas with the german navy, going to a bar and our Crew members who were not 21 didn't get a f.... beer, i mean we are talking about german navy soldiers, it was ridiculous 😂
american legal age to become a soldier is under the drinking legal age ... you are allowed to kill but not to drink ... if aliens come and search for intelligent live in the usa they go home and tell everybody there is none
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 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!!!
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 think ur statement on why americans tend to like the taste of beer less is because you start drinking later. I for myself started drinking at the age of 15 (also going to "Zeltfeste" weekly). I didn't like beer at the beginning, but soon i learned to love it a lot. Greeting from Austria
While that may be partially true, American beer is AWFUL. As a Dutchie, Heineken is often referred to as piss water. But it's still one of the better beers compared to anything American. It's quite sad.
@@TheXshot the bi industrial light beer is nasty. small breweries made fine beer even over there. And it's not like all european beers are great either.
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.
However, Feli forgot to mention that if you've been drinking and then an accident occurs, a blood alcohol level of 0.3 per mille automatically means that you're at least partly to blame, even if the other party caused the accident. If you caused the accident yourself, you can say goodbye to your driver's license.
I think this drinking culture is the same in most of Europe. I'm Dutch, and here's it's pretty normal for parties to last until 6 or 7am as well. Most important thing for anyone organising a party is making sure that there's enough beer to last all night. It's generally considered a failure if the beer runs out before 6AM. 😆
When I owned a bar, restaurant, function centre in Victoria, Australia our licence allowed for trading hours from 7am-1am. Usually called last drinks at around 12.30am. We also had to adhere to a red line area in which alcohol could be consumed. Strictly enforced responsible serving of alcohol and controlled under age drinking with proof of ID. We were the only venue in the area that catered for 18 year old birthdays. We could also be visited at any time by the police to check on drinkers and ensure we were following the law. Never had any problems.
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
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! :)
The longest I ever went to disco was from 9 or 10 in the evening until 6 in the morning. That's when everyone was thrown out. That was also in a club in Barcelona. I still remember the last song. It was Nena with '99 Luftballons'.
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.
My mom sent me to the corner restaurant 'Gassenschänke' to buy beer and lemonade for the family when I was 8. Gassenschänke is a little takeout window with a separate entrance from the restaurant. Nobody bothered to check my ID. And coming back from the public outdoor pool, after a 5 mile ride on the bike, starting at age 10, I always got 'Radler' with dinner, which is a mix of 50/50 lager beer and lemonade. Very refreshing and invigorating indeed. Man, was it great growing up in the 60's and 70's, the best part being, nobody knows about all the crazy stuff we did, because there was no internet, LOL.
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! 🤨
My dad would let me drink mixed drinks since I was 12. There was like no taboo on it in our house. Since I was allowed to drink at such a young age, I didn't feel the need to impress anyone by drinking massive amounts later on. Don't get me wrong, I still had my "one to many's" after my 16th. But in general id say I drank much more responsible than my peers.
I always drink responsibly. I start with the responsibility of never spilling any. This is the first time you really sound like you’re ready to up and leave the US. We call the koozie a stubby holder in Oz. A stubby is a can sized bottle of beer.
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
So what we like in the north in winter and spring is the kale hike. You often see it between January and March, when a large group of people walks through the city or the parks, pulling a trolley behind them. In it are crates of beer, schnapps, Jägermeister or other liquids that are used to warm up during this cold season. These cabbage walks are very widespread here in northern Germany and are even celebrated in school days. When we were in high school (everyone was at least 18 years old), we walked from the main railway station across the city to the suburbs and parks. Until we arrived at an inn where we had made reservations beforehand. Either kale with pinkelwurst, Kassler with potatoes or schnitzel with chips and drinking until midnight.
Ive been drinking hard since 17 and now 46 in australia. Im half german on my dads side and my friends think im an alco but im not! This makes perfect sense to me and i love drinking on the streets too even though its stupidly illegal here.
Her speaking voice is so immaculate, no ehm, ö, ah, breaks. Not once, not ever. Very German, very organized. Felicia, the lucky one. Sometimes you bump into people, that have so many virtues, that you may ask yourself: "Where, the hell, is the corpse hidden in her cellar (German saying)."
Anytime there was some family celebration, my grandparents used to serve me and my cousins a shot of sweet liquor (the egg or chocolate one) and it lasted us the whole evening. It had 13-17% of alcohol, we were like 10-12 years old kids and all adults were completely okay with it 😂 Twenty years later, a thick, sweet liquor is still the only alcohol I like and drink and only when we celebrate something. Well, except for a little christmas punch or mead once a year at christmas market.
German here.... my dad let my try pretty much everything at a very young age, way below sixteen. The thing is, that I did not like beer or dry white wine at the age of 14..... one holiday somewhere in the north, though, was quite shocking to my parents, when they figured out, I liked Friesengeist which is a Liquor with 56% of Alcohol and usually served burning. I just took little sips, though, but it is quite sweet, as a matter of fact. Anyway, my parents did not allow me to drink more of it, before I was older. :-D
I remember in the 1980s going to a pub in the UK on a Tuesday evening. We stayed chatting and drinking until midnight. That was when the landlord said that he was going to bed, but to just help ourselves to beer and put the money in a tin. We only stayed there till one as we had to be at work the next day.
When we left a club here in Bavaria, it was usually around dawn. We'd walk a bit, talk and then go somewhere to have breakfast. My former boss took it to another level. When we were in Berlin for a meeting or fair, he would always go out on Friday evening and not leave the club before Sunday morning. In big cities there's sometimes clubs that are open 24hours on the weekends. 🤭
As a German in my experience alcohol was never anything special or significant rather it was just normal - so i never had a binge drinking phase - bc my mum prevented that with introducing it to me at around 14 to see how i react and take away the „rebellious“ aspect Edit: also for my region we say „Uwe“ to the last sip of the drink that stands for „unten wird‘s eklig“ which means „down low it get‘s nasty“ i guess 😅
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 😂
Beer cans used to be very popular, but then they introduced a rather high deposit for cans, 0,25€, to reduce waste for the environment and since that made the initial purchasing price so high and vendors did not want to bother with collecting the deposit, many manufacturers stopped producing them
The hard liquor law is a bit convoluted. Usually it is above 15% vol., or 30% proof. Here in Hamburg there's even multiple breakfast restaurants that have specialized in hangover breakfast foods. Their major sales are obviously on weekends.
Belgium, Europe, in the seventies. When my brother, sister and I were about 9, our mother gave us a small glass of wine every Sunday at noon, when my mom had cooked "Sunday lunch" (which was always soup, the main meal with some meat (like our own rabbit or chicken that we slaughtered the day before) and choice between different vegetables, and desert. Our bellies were full. My father was a simple bricklayer and my mother stayed at home. I always feel that I never had the same healthy meals later in life, and I'm grateful that they let me enjoy it with a glass of French wine.
We learn how to drink before we learn how to drive. I still say that is a healthy approach. First hold your liqour, then learn how to hold a steering wheel. ^^
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
we usually start the party at 11pm, 1-3am it´s most crowded in a disco and about 4-5am they leave and go in pub, drinking some beer with friends until the morning
If you go clubbing in Berlin, you will find clubs like Berghain where you can enter on a Thursday or Friday (if you get in 😈) and you can stay until Monday morning without having to leave. There are little shops inside the clubs with food, toothbrushes, bubblegum, sweets, everything you need, some clubs like Sisyphos even have outdoor areas with pizza and other things. A lot of raves also happen during the day. I regularly go out from 10am to 10pm, it's perfect to keep your rhythm, you can just club all day and go to sleep at your normal bed time 😂
There is a funny slogan for the german Techno-Scene in Germany: Eat, sleep, rave, repeat! Some hardcore guys live this slogan for real - however, most germans have the whole weekend (fri-sun) to recover from the hangover. I even have a T-Shirt with the town hall of my home town (Hannover/Lower Saxonia) as a well known landmark and a fat text under it, saying HANGOVER. I love it, even the metal group Manowar uses funny word creations like Hanowar for their tours or hidden gigs in my hometown. They broke the loudness record here, after all^^ But to be honest, especially young people will always find ways to try the "forbidden stuff" - that´s why 16 seems to be a legit age to me, in order to test out the own limits. Once a person found out, one can finally drive a car with 18 and have to be strict with the consume of drugs, since they will be fully responsible for their deeds. My favorite beer is Einbecker Mai-Bock, which is only seasonal available (around march-july) and contains 6.5% alcohol. Bavaria got way higher concentrated beers and a lot of the locals use to buy their beer directly in the bar and drink it at home, while using a "Maß" (means measure) which was around 1,069 Liter once, but changed to exactly a Liter, nowadays. Especially for Bavarians, beer is more like food, than alcohol and almost started a civil war in the history, when the government wanted to raise the price of beer, due taxes. Well, at this times, beer was the only secure source of clean water, since it was brewed - so, it´s understandable.
When it comes to drinking while driving: It certainly depends on a couple of factors. When you take a sip, it will not cause you to be intoxicated at that very moment. It will take awhile. Even though there is a time lag, you should not drink while driving. But if you do, in no case you should be involved in an accident -- even if the accident is absolutely not your fault i.e., you are obeying a red light and another vehicle rear ends the car behind you which itself rear ends you. Edit: corrected typo
There's a funny anecdote about beer gardens. A few hundred years back, a Bavarian king taxed restaurants and pubs differently from breweries and shops. The breweries were also selling beer directly to people. Someone had the bright idea to bring some benches so people could enjoy the freshly bought beer in the shade of a nearby tree, frequently with a bit of food they brought. That grew, the breweries argued they're not a pub since they can't keep people from drinking the beer they just bought. Then some brewery wanted to sell also food and tried to force people to buy the food from them as well. At that point, the king had enough and clarified: either people can bring their own stuff to consume on your furniture or you pay taxes for that business. This rule has stuck even today - in a beer garden, you should buy the beer from them but you're allowed to bring your own food, they cannot force you to buy from them. Sometimes, the outside area of a restaurant might look like a beer garden but isn't. The distinguishing factor is (AFAIK) if it's self-service. Some beer gardens in Munich (e.g. Michaeligarten) have two sections: plain benches -> beer garden, beer garden rules, you can bring your own brotzeit. The other section has nicer tables with table clothes and waiters and you're not allowed to bring your own food (a.k.a. restaurant part).
On the subject of beer and beer as a part of our culture Germany, as already told in the video, as a lot to offer - with each region having their own speciality - all brewed according to the German "Reinheitsgebot", which provides any additional add ons other than hops, malt, water and yeast - so there is a major different to other countries. However there is one region in the upper north of Bavaria - Franconia - where I come from where beer indeed is even more a lifestyle than anywhere else. We are officially the region with the most breweries/person - with more than 260 breweries, hundrets of beergardens and one "speciality of the region" hundrets of "Bierkellern" (beer cellars) beer is not so much something to gulp down to become drunk but to enjoy - especially as we have over 2.500 different typs (often similar typs even vary from brewery to brewery) - some of our beers probably might be considered what "modern movements" abroad call "craft beer" - we do craft beer since over 500 years ;D - maybe a little insight here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-qTBMQ0vlB0c.html
My school teacher even had a fridge full of alc in his office to sometimes drink a fresh beer with us after sports lessons and our classtrip to bavaria on the end of the abitur-period was essentially just drinking at any time of the day. So for me personally as a german (19yrs old) it is a normal thing. And when I had my first („Besäufnis“) drinking experience in the age of 12 on our Oktoberfest in my village nobody even cared that there where a bunch of 12 year old children drinking beer. Most of the adults even encouraged us to trink another one. It is especially outside the citys in the regions a even bigger part of culture than feli told us in the video. Maybe thats too much overall, but I love it that way. Great video btw and Im striked by that no open bottles of alc in the car thing.
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
So, about "hard liquor": It's actually not really related to alcohol content at all. Beer, wine, sparkling wine and wine-like beverages (e.g. mead), as well as mixed beverages containing those, but no additional alcohol, are 16+. Everything else is 18+. Can be less alcohol than wine, if it doesn't fit any of those categories, it's 18+ (e.g. cocktails/longdrinks).
@@mats7492 Among other things, yes. Eisbock as well, for example. Point is, the law isn't formulated as a list of things that are 18+. Rather, alcoholic beverages are 18+ in general, with some explicitly listed exceptions. If you come up with a way to make a new alcoholic drink, it'll be 18+, regardless of alcohol content, or whether it is distilled.
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".
Something she forgot to mention (maybe because it differs between states) if you go to certain clubs at age 16 you need to be accompanied by an adult who is on paper supervising you on behalf of your parents (often just an 18 year old friend). In practice this means all those 16 year olds who aren't allowed to buy hard liquor have someone that can buy it for them.
"Something she forgot to mention (maybe because it differs between states) if you go to certain clubs at age 16 you need to be accompanied by an adult " The Jugendschutzgesetz is a federal law. I think you mean under the age of 16 or when you are 16 and you want to stay after midnight. But then you need a parent ore guardian and not any adult. §4 Gaststätten (1) Der Aufenthalt in Gaststätten darf Kindern und Jugendlichen unter 16 Jahren nur gestattet werden, wenn eine personensorgeberechtigte oder erziehungsbeauftragte Person sie begleitet oder wenn sie in der Zeit zwischen 5 Uhr und 23 Uhr eine Mahlzeit oder ein Getränk einnehmen. Jugendlichen ab 16 Jahren darf der Aufenthalt in Gaststätten ohne Begleitung einer personensorgeberechtigten oder erziehungsbeauftragten Person in der Zeit von 24 Uhr und 5 Uhr morgens nicht gestattet werden. (2) Absatz 1 gilt nicht, wenn Kinder oder Jugendliche an einer Veranstaltung eines anerkannten Trägers der Jugendhilfe teilnehmen oder sich auf Reisen befinden. § Tanzveranstaltungen (1) Die Anwesenheit bei öffentlichen Tanzveranstaltungen ohne Begleitung einer personensorgeberechtigten oder erziehungsbeauftragten Person darf Kindern und Jugendlichen unter 16 Jahren nicht und Jugendlichen ab 16 Jahren längstens bis 24 Uhr gestattet werden. (2) Abweichend von Absatz 1 darf die Anwesenheit Kindern bis 22 Uhr und Jugendlichen unter 16 Jahren bis 24 Uhr gestattet werden, wenn die Tanzveranstaltung von einem anerkannten Träger der Jugendhilfe durchgeführt wird oder der künstlerischen Betätigung oder der Brauchtumspflege dient.
Here in Belgium the situation is pretty similar as in Germany (main difference is our beer is better), I was rather shocked when I learned about the "no public drinking" law in the US. Aldo a very typically Belgian thing is that alcohol is really connected to religion, and not in the sense of "my religion says don't drink alcohol", in contrary there are so many passages in the bible where wine is drunk and we have the whole consecration and all, plus the best beers are literally made by monks. that why our beer names often has a name with a religious connotation.
Belgian beer is better than German beer? -- I don't want to argue with the Bible or monks here, but with old German craftsmanship and local patriotism: Nobody can surpass German local patriotism. In the Middle Ages, today's Germany was a patchwork quilt of small states with at least one type of beer of their own. Most, if not all, of these beers are still brewed, sold and drunk today. There are so many of them that a comprehensive German beer museum would probably sink through the earth's crust and upper mantle to the lower mantle because of its weight. That would have effects similar to a supervolcano, so let's leave it as a thought experiment. From my own experience at the Brussels Beer Museum, however, I can say that there are really good Belgian beers. References for further scientific research: - de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Innerer_Aufbau_der_Erde - de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vulkanischer_Winter - Brussels Beer Museum: *****
I love that you mention that a lot of laws are not always enforced depending where you are in the US. My friend had the opposite experience at Bama (Roll Tide lol), when we walked on the Strip. Tuscaloosa PD was not amused and did not care at all that she had no idea it was illegal to carry a beer around. In the end she had to do community service and pay 600 Dollars. She was 27. 🤦🏼♀️
In Berlin there are clubs that open on Friday & close on Monday (like Berghain, Sisy, etc.). There you can party non stop for three days. Some people even brush their teeth there (I have seen it).
To get used to the taste of beer: In Germany you can buy Kinderbier or Malzbier - it's beer, but without alcohol. Very tasty - most kids like that, especially on a hot summer day, when their are at a Biergarten with their parents. They feel like grown up then as they are drinking real beer, too. ^^+gg
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
On my first work trip to Germany, I was most surprised, only being familiar with Australian alcohol laws, to see at morning work break, 'tea' or 'coffee break as we normally call it, in the office and lab at work, various of the people got out their snack, cake sandwich breadroll and small bottle of beer, rather than use the coffee machine in the office. In fact in the 8 story office building, you could go by lift to the ground floor level where a number of vending machines has snack foods sandwiches, cakes, water bottles, fruit juices, softdrinks (sodas) and a selection of beers in small 330ml bottles. In Australia alcohol was not allowed on work premises. Even small celebrations of someone having a birthday, could at a short break in office work include wine, beer and food. On one longer work time I arranged a farewell office party, with range of cakes, red wine white wine champagne, water and softdrinks. We had a two hour farewell celebration for end of my 5 month work stay, including department manager, to test technician and even had the division general manager stop in for some drinks and cake. Sealed many long term friendships, right to senior managers. I can not imagine that would be possible in most work environments outside Germsny.
In the UK we have a bit of that going on too. Many people will go to the pub at workday lunchtime for food & a drink, & will celebrate colleagues birthdays or leaving do’s or promotions with wine/bubbly/beer & cake. Not in all places but it happens. Ireland also. Office Christmas parties are the worst though…😂
about the "Wegbier" she mentioned, in the Netherlands, if you a leave a place and take a beer with you, it's called a BVO (biertje voor onderweg) which basically means a beer to go
most clubs in Germany are open until 5 am. Bars usually close around 3 or so...We used to go straight from the club to a quarry lake or river and party til the next day, sometimes going from the lake back to the club in the evening, We'd stop at a gas station after the club and buy some booze for the beach party.
Closing times are the same in Australia too (well in Melbourne/Victoria anyway). There's no blanket rule that says bars have to close at a certain time, it's just dependent on your individual liquor license. It costs more to get a later license, so a lot of places will only have a license until 1am or 2am if they won't be busy after that anyway, but businesses who do a good late night trade and are located in nightlife hot spots can get them if they want too, so there are heaps of venues especially in inner city areas that don't close until 3am, 5am, some are even 24 hours. Where I used to live, there were 2 nightclubs within a few blocks of me that literally didn't close at all between Friday night and Monday morning, they were just continuously open all day & night. And in the CBD (Downtown) when I used to go out more in my younger years, everyone knew the late ones so you'd finish at one place that closed at 3am then head to another that stayed open until 5am, then head to another one that was 24/7 if you still didn't want to go home yet. And there were options like that for pretty much any type of 'scene' or type of place you were into. We have 24 hour public transport on weekends too which helps people to get home - without driving - at any time of night.
Hey Dude, as a German I totally love your videos. 😊 Well, I work for a US company and was in Vegas for a business trip a few weeks ago, I always enjoy to be in the United States. So I understand and confirm all the litte differences. 😂 Hey, if you are ever here in Germany: Enjoy it and make a video.
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.
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.
In the UK it's legal to drink at home with your parents permission if you are over five years old. When I was seven years old I would cycle to the farm shop with my grandmother and on the way back she would get a couple of bottles of stout to share when we got home. I would frequently have wine with Sunday dinner from age eight. By fourteen I was brewing my own beer and wine and sharing it with friends.
One thing to note about closing times in Germany, most bars don't open until 5,6 or even 7pm. So oftentimes they need to stay open til 6am to make enough money.
I live in Bonn, south of Cologne in Germany. When I visited my brother in Swabia, in the biergarten I asked "Do you have Kölsch?" The lady behind the counter glared at me and replied, "You're lucky Dirk is your brother." Nobody should say that Germans are bad patriots. -- Beer is just part of every day life here in Germany. Just like wine is in France. -- A classmate at school once told me an anecdote about his older brother. He was a non-commissioned officer in the German army and worked with French non-commissioned officers in a bilateral brigade. It was normal then that they were served wine with lunch and dinner. I still remember how we always thought about the best route to take home from the club. (Rural area in the mountains and woods with the next club at least 50 km away.) With every suggestion, someone said, "The cops had been there once and checked all the drivers." This usually ended with "You are the driver. It's your choice how much to drink." -- This is how you learn responsibility.
As a Berliner, I am getting pissed off at so many young American tourists who cannot cope with alcohol, who rapidly get absolutely hammered and start becoming loud, aggressive and insulting. My local bar has banned them completely as they completely ruin it for us locals.
This is why we have the laws so strict here. Drinking isnt done for the taste, it's done to loosen up and get smashed. The more you can drink and maintain your composer, the cooler you are. It's really a competition. This mentality starts in highschool because it's hard to get alcohol underage so, when we do get it, we overdo it. This is alcoholism is such a problem here. Sad really.
back in 1996 I was partying in Berlin every weekend. started at E-Werk around midnight, changed over to Tresor around 9 a.m. and then maybe switched to SO36 or another club for chill out until 4 p.m.
The principle of my parents was: learn at home how to use alcohol responsibly. So it was normal that we, as teenagers, were allowed to drink a glass of wine with lunch on Sundays. My parents' attitude towards "hard" alcohol was that if you want to get drunk, do it at home the first time - that's where the bar is. My credo, which I try to pass on to young people, is: Don't waste your time with bad things! Better less, but better. Life is too short for bad alcohol. And my conviction regarding education: if you forbid and withhold everything from your children because you think you have to protect them, you only increase the desire and the greed and become all the more
When i was a child my parents gave me three simple rules regarding alcohol. 1) Know your limit 2) He who vomits is he who cleans it up 3) If you can drink in the evening you can also go to work in the morning.
