Hi, I’m from Germany and here people can drink unlimited amounts of beer and wine in public at 16 years old and at 18 you’re allowed to also drink every other strong alcoholic beverage publicly such as Vodka.

I was reading online that in the US it’s not allowed to drink alcoholic beverages in public even if you’re over 21 and even if it’s something mild like beer. If I understood it correctly you’re not even allowed to be drunk in public? I was wondering if this is actually true and why that is the case.

And I wonder how strictly this is enforced. I assume it probably varies strongly between places so maybe you could give an example for where you are from or experiences from other places.

Like even if it’s technically illegal do people still drink a nice cold beer in the summer without getting in trouble? Because it’s hard for me to imagine that anyone would say something when someone simply enjoys a nice cold beer during the hot summer in a park or something.

And could you even be arrested when just enjoying the summer day by drinking beer? Cause that had to be the worst vibe killing situation that would make me paranoid of ever drinking in public.

  • simulacra_procession@lemmy.todayEnglish
    2·
    27 days ago

    Texas here, and no, not in most places and settings that aren’t bars clubs and restaurants. Although, as long as they’re not getting trashed most people will have some beers in the cooler and just keep them in coozies so they could conceivably be soft drinks. Nobody pretends to be fooled by the plausible deniability, but this would be mostly in local or state parks where you might fish or picnic, and again, hopefully not to the point of drunkenness. Because everything in Texas is a minimum 20-30 min drive we have a high DUI rate though, unfortunately. All that aside, people have already pointed out it depends. The south and Midwest or anywhere that could be considered ‘bible belt’ are going to have stricter laws on the books. That said, if you’re drunk in public and have people that care about you, you’ll probably just get an Uber home. You mostly see these laws applied to belligerent drunks causing problems or being disruptive. I’ve seen a guy get bounced, try to fight the bouncer in the street, then 3 off duty fire fighters backing him up, and finally the police that showed up, for example.

    Edit: actually, it’s worse than you think here lol, we have “dry counties” where it’s not illegal to drink but IS illegal to sell hard liquors in stores. Restaurants etc. still sell alcohol. Bottle shop is a county over.