How old were you when you first imbibed an alcoholic beverage?

[elperromagico]

[JohnKleeb]

1. whats imbibied mean?

I had my first alcohol at a family party when I was really young but I first got wasted only recently, hey I am the youngest possible opition here, woohoo!

[elperromagico]

3. Imbibed = Drank.

I'm not really sure what "imbibied" means. ;) :P

[RevolutionaryActs]

2. BWHAHA There was a cake choice! I was compelled to pick that one!

:9

[da_chimperor]

10. So age 7, then?

:)

[tjwmason]

4. I'm guessing around 6

But only a small sip of champagne at Christmas though. I started drinking regularly mid-teens; a little wine with Sunday dinner, or beer if eating out at a pub.

English law is that you can drink off licensed premises (implied parental supervision), you can enter a bar at 14, you can drink in a restaurant with a meal at 16, you can buy alcohol at 18, also can drink it in a pub then.

[tigereye]

17. I think the Brits have a better take on this

[tjwmason]

23. Europe's even better than we are

We have very large problems of yobbish behaviour when youths binge drink at week-ends and then fight, vomit, and urinate in the streets.

By contrast the European approach seems to be more laid back, with a cafe style culture, also more family consumption of alcohol at home.

Many Americans (especially right-wingers) are shocked by my drinking history, and refuse to accept that I am anything other than a pretty hopeless alcoholic.

[Solly Mack]

5. My mother, the evil know it all

I was 13 and spent the night with a friend. We ended up totally wasted on vodka. I was sick...beyond sick. The next day I got myself together as much as possible and went home.

I pulled myself out of the backseat of the car, where I has been laying down still trying to recover.

I straightened up, walked up the driveway, up the steps, and through the door. My mother was seated in the kitchen waiting for me. (like a spider)

She took one look at me and then asked if I was hungry. I said no. She said:"Oh, I think you're hungry." Didn't want to argue. Didn't want to get in trouble.(stupid me) So she places a huge bowl of beef stew on the table and says "Eat". She then gets a big piece of cornbread and gives it to me.

So I eat, hoping to avoid suspicion (silly me)...I manage to finish the stew and the cornbread without dying. So what does she do? She makes me eat another bowl!

Shit eating grin on her face the whole time!

She then allows me to get up from the table.

Evil, I tell you! Evil!

But she never said a word about my having a hang over.

[TXlib]

27. How passive-aggressive!

Nothing like making you deal with the consequences!

[Dookus]

6. 18 years?

My parents still talk about how at 18 months I downed a whole beer my father left on the floor. Probably a Schlitz.

[Piperay]

7. Very young

my family would have wine with dinner and that included all of us.

[nuxvomica]

11. Same with me. Chianti at dinner with the family

My grandfather, an Italian immigrant who made his own wine, used to give it to my older sister when she was a baby. Also, whenever any of us had a bad cold, my mom gave us homemade cough syrup -- honey, lemon juice and Canadian Club. None of us grew up to be alcoholics.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

12. Fava beans too?

[nuxvomica]

15. Oh gosh yes

My dad is a big fava beans eater but I never cared for them. He eats them cooked in olive oil but no organ meats. Hey, nice photo of Antony Hopkins.

[tigereye]

18. it's probably naive

but I have always wondered that if people thought of alcohol as not such as forbidden fruit, or a big deal (as in your example), if there would be less tendency to try it so early, or to binge drink.

[nuxvomica]

25. I think how your parents treat it really is an important factor

I had my binge drinking period in my 20s due, no doubt, to peer pressure but now I rarely drink and only as part of a meal. The same holds for my sisters. Extreme parental attitudes about drinking are to alcoholism as inactivity is to heart disease -- it may not be the only factor but it's probably a significant one and, for some folks, may be the critical one, IMHO.

[Piperay]

28. I think so too

I never cared about alcohol that much because I could have it when I wanted. I think the 'forbidden' is often what the attraction is, when you can have something whenever you want it...it's no big deal. I never even got drunk until I was in my late twenties, I did it on purpose just to see what it was like. Cause alcohol is so often a 'forbidden' many people in this society never learn how to drink in moderation only to excess and seem to think the only purpose for drinking is to get drunk. :-(

[tsakshaug]

8. 12 or so

Most of my teens were a in a haze of one type or another.
I managed to get through without killing myself or others driving drunk.
Self medicating through depression I guess, I don't drink much now, and beer only, had enough of the harder stuff when younger, figure I get full before I get drunk on beer.

I wonder where I would be if I was not that way back then, or if mental heath care was what it is now.

Oh demon alcohol,
Sad memories I cannot recall,
Who thought I would say,
Damn it all and blow it all,
Sad memories I cannot recall,
Who thought I would fall,
A slave to demon alcohol.

[shesemsmom]

9. 17 Got drunk

got sick, statred a pattern. I do it very seldom. About once every ten years

[kick-ass-bob]

13. this seems to be a very odd breakdown

I might change to "very young <14"
14-16
17-18

and the others...

[tk2kewl]

14. Drinking age was 18 when I was a kid so we were all hanging out

in bars with fake IDs by junior year in HS

[driver8]

16. Same here...we all had fake IDs

I grew up in a college town with two colleges and lots of bars (the town was small). I had a friend who worked in one of the bars and used to do cleanup. He found so many student IDs, and would sell them to high school students. When I was 17, I had a college ID that said I was 21 and it never failed!

Fall of my senior year in high school I turned 18 and I was legal to drink. Scary thought...

First time I ever got drunk I was about 13. I was at a wedding and got drunk (and sick) on beer and whiskey sours!! (ugh...)

[catmandu57]

19. My father and uncles gave me beer when i was old enough to drink

from a can. Then later my dad would give me a can of beer when we were fishing, real man stuff. I was probably ten, maybe younger.

[Jessica]

20. I was 15 ...

... and it was a bottle of orange Mad Dog. x(

[RaleighNCDem]

22. So as I...

And it was Strawberry Boone's Farm.

:puke:

I also had that occasional sip from my father's glass before that, but that doesn't count.

[WMliberal]

21. 4.

My parents were having a party. The drinks were red, so I assumed they were fruit punch.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

24. I was brought up European-style with about 50 German-American relatives

We got wine with dinner beginning at age 14, which was also the age at which we were allowed to take Communion (with real wine) in church. Some relatives would include me in the round of pre-dinner drinks, as well.

Because drinking was something I was allowed to do in front of my elderly relatives and in church, I was never tempted to rebel by drinking.

[More Than A Feeling]

26. Never

Can't say I am really missing it, to be honest with you. At some point, someone will probably convince me to take a drink, though.


on edit: Half way to 1000!