Traditional British lemonade drink sparks row in U.S. over trace alcohol content

[TenPenny]

Drinking age is a provincial matter.

Do they sell non-alcoholic beer in Maine? Are there restrictions on it?

Despite what others have said, I'd be surprised if there were many Puritans in Houlton.

 

[EagleSmack]

Drinking age is a provincial matter.

Do they sell non-alcoholic beer in Maine? Are there restrictions on it?

Despite what others have said, I'd be surprised if there were many Puritans in Houlton.

I am not sure about the "near beer". If I had to guess I would say that they do not sell it to minors.

I did a quick search and I cannot find anything about Puritans living in Houlton today but it was founded by Puritans as was most of New England. They are long gone from here. I've never met one or even heard of one except for in the history books. There must be some kicking around somewhere.

By the way Houlton Maine is celebrating their 200th year!

 

[TenPenny]

In Pennsylvania, people under the age of 15 are not allowed to buy or have non-alcoholic beer.

 

[EagleSmack]

Now Pennsylvania has the Amish. That is about as close to Puritans as you can get...I think. But the Amish have no effect on PA politics.

I LOVE central and western PA. The heartbeat of America there.

 

[Tonington]

The only place I've spent any time in south of the border is Lowell, Ma. Nice little city. I loved the canal and old textiles factories. Didn't really see or hear of any puritans though.

By the way, the Doubletree hotel in Lowell sucks. Worst customer service ever!

 

[EagleSmack]

The only place I've spent any time in south of the border is Lowell, Ma. Nice little city. I loved the canal and old textiles factories. Didn't really see or hear of any puritans though.

By the way, the Doubletree hotel in Lowell sucks. Worst customer service ever!

LOWELL! Are you serious! That place is one of the biggest dumps in Massachusetts. Yikes. Talk about a depressed city. I don't doubt is was the worst customer service...look where you were staying.

What ever brought you to Lowell?

You didn't get into Boston at all.

 

[petros]

The bottom line is kids under 21 can't drink ANY alcohol. Not 12%, not 5%, not 1%.

Are you sure that isn't PURCHASE alcohol?

 

[Tonington]

LOWELL! Are you serious! That place is one of the biggest dumps in Massachusetts. Yikes. Talk about a depressed city. I don't doubt is was the worst customer service...look where you were staying.

I dunno, the drive into the city was pretty nice. Well manicured lots, nice homes, granted we didn't travel around the entire city.

What ever brought you to Lowell?

A rock concert. It's a ten hour drive from our apartment to Lowell.

You didn't get into Boston at all.

Nope, had to get back to NS and our jobs.

 

[coldstream]

Wow...I take it you have never been to New England.

I still see the "Guiness is Good For You" and "Guiness for Strength" posters in bars and pubs.

Puritans? Are there any around? Do they even make Puritans these days? That was 300 years ago. I was in Salem this weekend...the hotbed Puritism in the 1600's made famous by the Witch Trials and the place was jamming! The only trace of Puritans I saw were 6 feet under the turf with an old headstone above them at the Ole Burying Ground. Right next door to the cemetary there was an outdoor bar and it was hopping.

The bottom line is kids under 21 can't drink ANY alcohol. Not 12%, not 5%, not 1%.

Puritanism has never left America. It's a recessive gene in the American cultural mosaic that reappears in a fierce sense of propriety and exclusivity.. and distrust of all outsiders. The Prohibition legislation was only rescinded 80 years ago. It had its roots in New England Puritanism.

True it is hard to typecast all of New England as Puritan. Certainly the American Revolution was cooperative effort of the Puritans and the Deist, Enlightenment thinkers such as Franklin and Jefferson. And no doubt the Irish, staunch lovers of spirits, became the major political force in Boston in the 19th and 20th Centuries.

But that Puritan character is still there in the American Social Church. It's sometime benign, and it's sometimes malignant, as with the Salem Witchhunts, and its latter day descendent McCarthyism, a mere 50 years old. AND.. there is still a Christian Temperance Movement in the U.S., you just don't here about it much. :smile:

 

[bobnoorduyn]

What was the drinking age in the Dark Ages?

It was certainly after the dark ages, but William Bligh signed up for the Navy at age 7; wasn't rum one of the main food groups for sailors?:beer:

 

[bobnoorduyn]

I know in the UK you could drink at 18, but the signs in the convenience stores say you have to be 21 to purchase. The drinking ages in Canada are provincially legislated. The recent history of drinking ages in the US is rather interesting. After the Vietnam war many states brought their ages down below 21 with the thought that if you could be conscripted to die for your country at a younger age you should be able to consume alcohol. Whether you call them puritans, neo-prohibitionists, or tyrants, federal law was enacted that would reduce or eliminate federal funding to states that would not raise their drinking age again to 21. I remember this happening but can't remember the woman's name who forcefully thrust this upon the more reluctant states. I also remember her being villified for excercising more dictatorial powers than the President and administration that employed her could.

 

[karrie]

apparently maine is one of few states that doesn't allow minors to buy or consume drinks with virtually no alcohol in them. To say it's 'the states' is faulty.

 

[AnnaG]

How’s this? Every 22 minutes someone dies in an alcohol-related motor vehicle accident. And perhaps, most horrible of all a disproportionately high number of those deaths and accidents come in the 15 to 24 age group. A lot of young people are, in fact, dying before they get old …dying tragic, meaningless deaths.
Teenage Drunk Driving

Yes the drinking laws are pretty much arbitrary, even in the U.S., but when exactly would be the appropriate age to allow your child to drink?
​

From prepubescence. France has the lowest "binge drinking" in Europe and wine is more of a staple in their diet than something special. Here booze is something special and I know very few kids who don't binge drink.

 

[bobnoorduyn]

From prepubescence. France has the lowest "binge drinking" in Europe and wine is more of a staple in their diet than something special. Here booze is something special and I know very few kids who don't binge drink.

It appears that the more the state arbitrarily restricts something the more allure that something has and the more tempting it is, expecially for the young. Even once they become "legal" it still creates problems because of inexperience, gaining experience quickly the hard way. I doesn't seem to matter what it is, be it alcohol, firearms, tobacco, cars, trucks, ATV's, powertoboggans, motor boats, fireworks, whatever.

 

[ironsides]

From prepubescence. France has the lowest "binge drinking" in Europe and wine is more of a staple in their diet than something special. Here booze is something special and I know very few kids who don't binge drink.

I wasn't referring so much to binge drinking so much as the person who drinks all the time and appears normal, but they are legally drunk. Their reactions won't even come close to a sober person. There the ones that come out of now where and crash into you. I know in the past Europe had much lower drinking ages than here. In Ireland - 1989, I saw kids 14+ drinking in bars and staggering all over the place in the evenings. Since then they have brought up the drinking age to 18.

I know my parents never offered me a drink till I was 17 and had just told them I wanted to join the Marine Corps.
:smile:

 

[EagleSmack]

Are you sure that isn't PURCHASE alcohol?

Well if you are caught drinking or intoxicated under the age of 21 you CAN get charged with underage drinking.

 

[EagleSmack]

Puritanism has never left America. It's a recessive gene in the American cultural mosaic that reappears in a fierce sense of propriety and exclusivity.. and distrust of all outsiders. The Prohibition legislation was only rescinded 80 years ago. It had its roots in New England Puritanism.

A modern American wouldn't know a Puritan if it hung him from a tree and called him a witch.

True it is hard to typecast all of New England as Puritan.

At one time it was all Puritan but those folks are gone.

Certainly the American Revolution was cooperative effort of the Puritans and the Deist, Enlightenment thinkers such as Franklin and Jefferson.

Puritanism, some say is a foundation for American democracy but I wouldn't say it was the driving force behind the American Revolution.

And no doubt the Irish, staunch lovers of spirits, became the major political force in Boston in the 19th and 20th Centuries.

The Irish are NOT Puritans. The Irish actually were looked down upon by Yankee Blue Bloods... decendants of the Puritans and WASPS.

But that Puritan character is still there in the American Social Church. It's sometime benign, and it's sometimes malignant, as with the Salem Witchhunts, and its latter day descendent McCarthyism, a mere 50 years old. AND.. there is still a Christian Temperance Movement in the U.S., you just don't here about it much. :smile:

McCarthy's investigations on Un-American Activities was nothing like the Salem Witch Hunts.

Temperance is Christian but not exclusively Puritan. In fact...Colonial New England had all kinds of taverns around. IN FACT...after the Witch Trials the judge and jury and congregation would go back to the tavern and listen to more accusations.

 

[ironsides]

Puritanism has never left America. It's a recessive gene in the American cultural mosaic that reappears in a fierce sense of propriety and exclusivity.. and distrust of all outsiders. The Prohibition legislation was only rescinded 80 years ago. It had its roots in New England Puritanism.

True it is hard to typecast all of New England as Puritan. Certainly the American Revolution was cooperative effort of the Puritans and the Deist, Enlightenment thinkers such as Franklin and Jefferson. And no doubt the Irish, staunch lovers of spirits, became the major political force in Boston in the 19th and 20th Centuries.

But that Puritan character is still there in the American Social Church. It's sometime benign, and it's sometimes malignant, as with the Salem Witchhunts, and its latter day descendent McCarthyism, a mere 50 years old. AND.. there is still a Christian Temperance Movement in the U.S., you just don't here about it much. :smile:

Don't know how to tell you this, but the Puritan character has moved on. They found no place where they could exist. The main reason they came to the New world was to be left alone. Now the Christian right is another matter, but they to moved but into western states, where who cares what they do. Underage drinking is a issue in every state, not only Maine.

 

[Niflmir]

Ah you get what I mean. Let's not nitpick because that is being absurd.

Yes indeed and many an 18-20 year old kids go up to Montreal from this area and get ripped up!

Your age?

1. This whole thread is about how 0.5% is nitpicking and absurd; however, you seem to be in favour of nitpicking. So no, I will not let that go. What percentage is the cutoff at? One part in a thousand? One part in a million? One part in a billion? Just how absurd are you? I am not the one nitpicking, since I say anyone should be able to drink whatever.

2. Which proves how arbitrary it is.

3. Old enough. Also, you are a bigot. I would use more colourful language, but at the very least this insult is completely justified: you are a bigot.

How’s this? Every 22 minutes someone dies in an alcohol-related motor vehicle accident. And perhaps, most horrible of all a disproportionately high number of those deaths and accidents come in the 15 to 24 age group. A lot of young people are, in fact, dying before they get old …dying tragic, meaningless deaths.
Teenage Drunk Driving

Yes the drinking laws are pretty much arbitrary, even in the U.S., but when exactly would be the appropriate age to allow your child to drink?
​

Well, by your argument it should be the driving which they cannot do until they are 21. Not the drinking. Since more teens die from driving without being drunk than from drinking too much without driving.

Moreover, driving they might kill somebody else! So by instituting a driving age which is lower than the drinking age you are saying that they are responsible enough to take somebody else's life into their own hands, but not their own. This doesn't make any sense. Shouldn't one be mature enough to danger one's own life before being mature enough to endanger other people?

People should be allowed to drink the minute they want to. This isn't a criminal matter. The police should not be playing the role of parents.

 

[AnnaG]

I wasn't referring so much to binge drinking so much as the person who drinks all the time and appears normal, but they are legally drunk. Their reactions won't even come close to a sober person. There the ones that come out of now where and crash into you. I know in the past Europe had much lower drinking ages than here. In Ireland - 1989, I saw kids 14+ drinking in bars and staggering all over the place in the evenings. Since then they have brought up the drinking age to 18.

I know my parents never offered me a drink till I was 17 and had just told them I wanted to join the Marine Corps.
:smile:

Ireland has a problem with booze, just like we do. France doesn't seem to have much problem with it at all. Besides that, I think it has something to do with societal pressures, parental attention, and a few other things. Our society is simply ill. We have to change it or it will simply get worse. Want to reduce crime? reduce the gap between wealthy and poor. Want to reduce drug problems? Legalize the stuff and regulate it. Adding more laws upon more laws and fiddling with existing laws to find the panacea is simply stupid. It isn't working. Time to tack in a different direction.