Cranachin, you are right: "when in Rome, do like the Romans".

I just wanted to know how the New Yorkers do. And what did I get from the New Yorkers? Mixed opinions.

Anyway, thank you all for your comments. I have got a picture.

FYI - opinions were not all that mixed. If you read some of the nastiness above, only 2 people said your almost-adult kids would likely be served. Many of the anectdotes were from many years ago when places were not nearly as likely to "card" (our term for checking ID) people.

Whether this law is intelligent or not is up for discussion - my 19 and 23 year old "kids" almost have me convinced age should be 18 as it was in many places when I was that age.

The main reason most places are so strict about age is that penalties are severe for serving underage people - suspension of liquor license and eventual permanent loss for repeated offenses.

http://www.abc.state.ny.us/
Article 5, § 65-c. states the following:

§ 65-c. Unlawful possession of an alcoholic beverage with the intent to consume by persons under the age of twenty-one years.

1. Except as hereinafter provided, no person under the age of twenty-one years shall possess any alcoholic beverage, as defined in this chapter, with the intent to consume such beverage.
2. A person under the age of twenty-one years may possess any alcoholic beverage with intent to consume if the alcoholic beverage is given:
(a) to a person who is a student in a curriculum licensed or registered by the state education department and the student is required to taste or imbibe alcoholic beverages in courses which are a part of the required curriculum, provided such alcoholic beverages are used only for instructional purposes during class conducted pursuant to such curriculum; or (b) to the person under twenty-one years of age by that person's parent or guardian.


I think you would have to read the alcohol laws in their entirety, including definitions, in order to figure what that means exactly and whether it applies to business establishments or just the privacy of home. I linked through the ABC.state.ny.us so hopefully they would not have out of date laws there but who knows. Does the City of New York have a seperate set of alcohol laws that one should look at?

I believe there are also exemptions for religious uses.

One thing you may want to clarify...oftentimes dinner clubs begin carding after a certain time. So, if you go early, an underage person will be able to get in.

If you go to a restaurant and they card everyone and take away your sons' wineglasses...they can take discrete sips from yours. That's what we always did, ssshhh!

That is really gross. Yuck

Echnaton,

I hope you have an enjoyable visit - and I hope the rain will have stopped before you get here! This has been a month for the record books across the Northeast.

Wonder what vjpblovesitaly opinion is for sharing plates of food?

Some restaurants will bring glasses for everyone when a bottle of wine is ordered, but sometimes they do ask for proof. When we'd take my daughter out at that age, we would just sit back and see if they offer her a glass automatically. If they didn't, then we wouldn't ask. Now she's 21, we would ask. My son on the other hand is 18 1/2 and barely looks his age, so he has yet to have a wine glass offered and we never ask. In any case, he's not crazy about wine.

It is a crime to give or sell alcoholic beverages to anyone under the age of 21 in NY State.

Some clubs may have certain nights for the under 21 crowd, most likely those clubs will be near NYU and Columbia.

I don't get it - a few of these very same posters would be the first to get on your case about breaking the law if you talked about going down to Canal Street and buying a knock-off purse. They'd give you all the reasons it's a terrible thing to do, from it being illegal to it supporting terrorism. Well I for one don't think you get to choose which laws you abide by and which you don't. If you think the law doesn't make sense, tell it to your legislator!

The state law, as posted by vjplovestitaly, reads like this:

A person under the age of twenty-one years may possess any alcoholic beverage with intent to consume if the alcoholic beverage is given: ... to the person under twenty-one years of age by that person's parent or guardian.

If read this correctly, a parent can order an alcoholic drink and pass it to the underage child. Am I right?

http://www.oasas.state.ny.us/ud/docu...dYourChild.pdf

"The exception for the parent or guardian does not extend to premises licensed by the State Liquor Authority".

Thanx.

There are reasons why we have a 21 age requirement in all the states. Mainly - too many instances of teen agers and slighltly above getting completely sloshed and then driving with tragic and disastrous results. The visitor's sons can enjoy their visit and most likely survive quite nicely without alcohol for a few days. I am a bit surprised by all the above comments ascribing this policy to "puritanism". And - yes - there was a time during prohibition when that attitude was rife. But you just don't see that stuff in any meaningful way around these days. But young people - in the past (and today when they do it in violation of law) have proved that they are not yet ready to take on those responsibilities.

>>>I am a bit surprised by all the above comments ascribing this policy to "puritanism".<<<

That's the historically correct explanation.

Here in Europe, we have a long philosophical tradition of freedom and civil rights. We think the state should not interfere in the lifes of the citizens (that is the reason why we do not agree to the US government's requirements of the homeland security act).

The reason why Europeans are more liberitarian than Americans is that we had badly suffered from oppression by kings and nobility. Therefore, we probably value personal freedom higher than the Americans.

BTW, we are very strict against driving under influence. And I think the number of people who are killed in traffic are much lower here (when related to the population).

I agree w/superc. When I was 18 I could drink, I could vote & I could get drafted. (OK there wasn't an active draft but I still had to register). As I recall the federal Gov't pretty much black-mailed the states into changing their drinking laws in order to get Fed Funds for roads & such. Am I recalling history correctly ?

>Here in Europe, we have a long philosophical tradition of freedom and civil rights. We think the state should not interfere in the lifes of the citizens (that is the reason why we do not agree to the US government's requirements of the homeland security act).<

ROFL!! Right, the Nuremburg Laws didn't infringe on anyone's rights.

Thin

<<Here in Europe, we have a long philosophical tradition of freedom and civil rights. We think the state should not interfere in the lifes of the citizens>>

Oh, please. Isn't paying high taxes to support people on the dole for years interfering in the lives of citizens? How about paying taxes so people can go for weeks to spas to hang out (which they do in Germany, I have a German friend whose mother goes to spas several times a year thsnks to the taxpayers). What about going in the army involuntarily? Some European countries still have mandatory service, don't they? Wouldn't that be interfering in your life? I have a Greek friend and I believe they had mandatory service, although that was a few years ago. How about paying taxes to support certain religions, isn't that interfering when it isn't voluntary and done by the state? A lot of European countries have all kinds of regulations that make it difficult for people to do certain things, like open businesses or change professions, or even get a university education after a certain age.

Now I do agree that the age of drinking in the US is too high, and I think should be 18 for beer, at least. As I said, this was done when E Dole was Sec of Transp in 1984. I don't know if raising it has helped drunk driving issues, but it seems to me, it would make more sense to have very strict drunk driving laws and actually enforce them rather than raise the age to 21. Well, Ronald Reagan signed it, and Congress passed it, so there were a lot of people involved, and maybe she was forced to support it. It was really the advice of Nixon's secretary, Volpe.

I'm with Cranachin and sf7307 here. Simply put, the law says you have to be 21 to drink alcohol in New York in a public establishment. It's not like the OP and family will to have to bear the yoke of tyranny there for too long. It's smart to know what's legal, what's not, and respect that wherever you travel. And if a particular statute is that big a deal-breaker, don't go.

What if the OP decides to visit Seattle and jaywalks? Or goes to Singapore and overstays their visa allowance time? Or goes to Istanbul and decides to buy heroin? Flouting the law in the above three cases will likely get the offender ticketed, caned, or thrown in a Turkish prison respectively. And "I don't agree with the law, so it's optional if I respect it or not" won't fly in New York or anywhere else.

I prefer to look at it as an opportunity to practice civil disobedience, in the great tradition of Thoreau and Gandhi. I believe it to be an unjust law, wrongfully imposed on the various states by a tyrannical misuse of Federal power. Or at least, that will do for an excuse.