# I'm 17 and can't drink O'Doul's. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 25, 2004, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-17-and-cant-drink-odouls/231014 "2004-02-25T01:41:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![RandomLetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8edcca/32.png) [@RandomLetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandomLetters)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2004, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-17-and-cant-drink-odouls/231014/21 "2004-02-25T08:35:16Z")
[O’Douls is .4% alcohol](http://www.realbeer.com/edu/health/calories2.php) so you would need to drink at least 10 times as much to get the same effect as normal beer, which is more in the 4-6% range. Of course, it wouldn’t be too hard to distill the alcohol to a more drinkable level. ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2004, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-17-and-cant-drink-odouls/231014/22 "2004-02-25T08:53:31Z")
> [@RandomLetters](#): > > [O’Douls is .4% alcohol](http://www.realbeer.com/edu/health/calories2.php) so you would need to drink at least 10 times as much to get the same effect as normal beer, which is more in the 4-6% range. Of course, it wouldn’t be too hard to distill the alcohol to a more drinkable level. Do you seriously think that a kid that can figure out how to distill “NA” beer can’t get the real stuff? Though I’d like to see him in NASA. ---
**Author:** ![Jervoise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d2c977/32.png) [@Jervoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jervoise)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2004, 9:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-17-and-cant-drink-odouls/231014/23 "2004-02-25T09:12:42Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > “Shitty beer” is redundant, as far as I’m concerned. There is no such thing as good beer. I’ve had Guinness straight from the tap in a UK pub, and it was the nastiest liquid I’ve ever had in my mouth. Well there’s your problem right there–you gotta properly pour it into a pint glass first. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2004, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-17-and-cant-drink-odouls/231014/24 "2004-02-25T09:15:37Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > I’ve had Guinness straight from the tap in a UK pub, and it was the nastiest liquid I’ve ever had in my mouth. That’s because many UK pubs don’t serve Guinness correctly. You should have been drinking it in a pub in _Ireland_ where it’s actually from. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2004, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-17-and-cant-drink-odouls/231014/25 "2004-02-25T11:52:42Z")
Drinking Guinness in the UK to taste a good beer is rather like having an espresso in Italy when you don’t like the taste of coffee. Both will taste harsh to the drinker whose palate is not used to such strong flavors. Both beer and coffee are acquired tastes, but can be appreciated with some effort to seek out things that will be a gradual but good introduction to the drinks. In college, I drank only cheap crappy beer because that’s what was served. I heard “oh, Guinness is **good** beer though” but found it harsh and difficult to finish. It wasn’t until I went through some of the more fruity beers and worked my way up that I learned to appreciate beer. These days I homebrew as well as appreciating microbrews. I made an English brown ale which was a very deep chocolate brown in tone; even a woman who insisted “Ugh, no, I don’t like to drink anything that dark” had to admit that it was very smooth - not too hoppy, hints of chocolate in the taste. That was a wonderful batch. Right now I’ve got a Belgian honey ale carbonating; the 5 gallons included a pound of Belgian candi sugar, and a pound and a half of clover honey. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2004, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-17-and-cant-drink-odouls/231014/26 "2004-02-25T16:03:45Z")
1. In Illinois a clerk told me she needed to be 21 to sell O’Douls. I told her I was pretending it was beer so she could pretend she was 21. 2. It is my understanding that the small amount of alcohol in NA beer is high enough to trigger a relapse so AA tells its members not to drink it. It is certainly high enough to trigger the effects of Antabuse, but so does salad dressing. 3. I have never had a good Guinness. Usually it is too old and has grown skunky. At one ChiDope, at an “Irish” bar, it was fresh but ice cold and it was therefore still nasty. Looks like I need to go to Eire. ---
**Author:** ![UselessGit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/74df32/32.png) [@UselessGit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UselessGit)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2004, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-17-and-cant-drink-odouls/231014/27 "2004-02-25T16:44:16Z")
> [@](#): > > It is my understanding that the small amount of alcohol in NA beer is high enough to trigger a relapse so AA tells its members not to drink it. Actually, we’re not supposed to drink anything that tastes even remotely like alcohol. NA Beer would definately fall into that category. How about root beer and malt-drinks? Can kids buy those in stores? I’m not too sure on the alcohol content of root beer but I think standard malt-drinks are around 2.25% Alc.?vol. and kids can buy it over here, anyway… Is root beer perhaps the same as the malt-drinks? (I don’t really know what the hell I’m talking about here, so if my coherency and understanda…bility is somewhat lacking, feel free to disregard this paragraph) > [@](#): > > Europe doesn’t have these problems because they know and respect alcohol more than we’re allowed to here. Well… there is Europe and then there is Europe. Beer was outlawed _here_ until 1985 and alcohol is only sold in state-run liquor stores. Meet a drunk Finn, Icelander, Russian or, god forbid, Greenlander - then come back and tell us about European “respect” for alcohol. My heart bleeds for you, **Freiheit** , it really does. But at least you just have one year to go before you can start enjoying beer - and legally at that. I had to wait 'till I was 20 so I got a fake ID at 16. My first sentence in this post should give you an idea on the raging success I had as a young drinker… ---
**Author:** ![ElwoodCuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/edb3f5/32.png) [@ElwoodCuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElwoodCuse)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2004, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-17-and-cant-drink-odouls/231014/28 "2004-02-25T16:59:36Z")
They said you had to be 18? For NA beer or any beer? I thought all the drinking ages had long been raised to 21 nationwide after that federal highway funding extortion. ---
**Author:** ![mouthbreather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a698b9/32.png) [@mouthbreather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mouthbreather)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2004, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-17-and-cant-drink-odouls/231014/29 "2004-02-25T21:09:57Z")
> [@Aesiron](#): > > [http://www.beveragebusiness.com/art-arch/bryson01.html](http://www.beveragebusiness.com/art-arch/bryson01.html) > > ‘Non-alcoholic beverage’ is defined as any beverage intended to be sold as non-alcoholic beer, wine, or liquor. 😕 WTF is non-alcoholic liquor? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Freiheit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e8c25b/32.png) [@Freiheit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freiheit)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2004, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-17-and-cant-drink-odouls/231014/30 "2004-02-25T22:53:08Z")
> [@ElwoodCuse](#): > > They said you had to be 18? For NA beer or any beer? I thought all the drinking ages had long been raised to 21 nationwide after that federal highway funding extortion. NA beer. Of course, it’s 21 for real stuff, which I think is \*very \* high. 19 would be a good age, as some 18 year olds are in high school. Lousy irresponsible teenagers, keeping the drinking age so high… **Eleusis** , your friend’s buddies may have just \*thought \* they were drunk… ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2004, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-17-and-cant-drink-odouls/231014/31 "2004-02-25T23:29:19Z")
> [@UselessGit](#): > > How about root beer and malt-drinks? Can kids buy those in stores? I’m not too sure on the alcohol content of root beer but I think standard malt-drinks are around 2.25% Alc.?vol. and kids can buy it over here, anyway… Is root beer perhaps the same as the malt-drinks? (I don’t really know what the hell I’m talking about here, so if my coherency and understanda…bility is somewhat lacking, feel free to disregard this paragraph) I’ve never heard of alcoholic root beer. I thought it was just soda. Unless, of course, what you’re thinking of is different than what I’m thinking of. ---
**Author:** ![ENugent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/4af34b/32.png) [@ENugent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ENugent)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2004, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-17-and-cant-drink-odouls/231014/32 "2004-02-26T00:39:26Z")
> [@Eleusis](#): > > After Desert Storm, I was talking to a veteran in a bar who explained that Budweiser airlifted O’douls to the troups. > > He went on to say that it IS possible to get drunk off the stuff and also relayed the math involved. Assuming one six-pack = one regular beer, you _only_ need to drink a case and a half to get the alcohol in a normal six pack. A mere three cases of O’Douls and you’ve drank the alcohol in a normal twelve pack! > > He said they would end up leaving their dicks out and basically continually pee while chugging. > > Seems to me the danger would be moreso from the vast amounts of water being drunk, which could lead to [hyponatremia](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/020208.html), but I don’t know. Maybe there’s enough salt in NA beer to prevent swelling of the brain. Or maybe guys who would do this have some extra room in their skulls to accommodate the swelling… ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2004, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-17-and-cant-drink-odouls/231014/33 "2004-02-26T02:12:11Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > That’s because many UK pubs don’t serve Guinness correctly. You should have been drinking it in a pub in _Ireland_ where it’s actually from. You know, when I didn’t like beer in the US, everyone said, “Try Guinness! That’s the good stuff.” So I tried Guinness, and it was awful. But when I said that, everyone said, “No, you need to go to the UK to get the _real_ Guinness.” So I went to the UK, and I tried the Guinness, and it was just as bad as the crap back home. And now, of course, I’m told that I need to go to Ireland to try the “real” Guinness. I have no doubt whatsoever that when I finally go to Ireland, and try the Guinness, and hate it, I’ll be told, “Well, you didn’t go to the right _pub_…” ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2004, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-17-and-cant-drink-odouls/231014/34 "2004-02-26T02:23:26Z")
> [@UselessGit](#): > > Is root beer perhaps the same as the malt-drinks? (I don’t really know what the hell I’m talking about here, so if my coherency and understanda…bility is somewhat lacking, feel free to disregard this paragraph) Root beer is a carbonated beverage, much like Coca Cola. It has \*\*\*no \*\* \* alcohol in it whatsoever. ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2004, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-17-and-cant-drink-odouls/231014/35 "2004-02-26T02:50:08Z")
> [@Aesiron](#): > > Root beer is a carbonated beverage, much like Coca Cola. It has \*\*\*no \*\* \* alcohol in it whatsoever. I still got carded once trying to buy a six-pack of IBC root beer (it comes in brown glass bottles). I was 27 years old and in graduate school at the time. But then people generally think I’m younger than I am, and it was a college town with goofy blue laws prohibiting alcohol sales on Sunday or election day. But it’s always blown my mind that in the U.S., you can drive, vote, get married, and join the military before you can legally buy beer. ---
**Author:** ![Truth\_Seeker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5fc32e/32.png) [@Truth\_Seeker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Truth_Seeker)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2004, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-17-and-cant-drink-odouls/231014/36 "2004-02-26T08:07:18Z")
> [@Aesiron](#): > > Root beer is a carbonated beverage, much like Coca Cola. It has \*\*\*no \*\* \* alcohol in it whatsoever. Nope. > [@](#): > > “Non-alcoholic beverages can test positive on passive alcohol sensors. The Chemical Test Section study included open container testing on a limited number of “non-alcoholic” beverages including Sprite, Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Coca-Cola, Diet Coke with lemon and orange juice. The results indicated that there are trace amounts of alcohol in these “non-alcoholic” beverages that can be detected by passive alcohol sensors. Other published studies on ethanol content of soft drinks and other beverages (that an average person would not expect to contain alcohol) are consistent with the Section’s test results. [www.dot.wisconsin.gov/library/publications/](http://www.dot.wisconsin.gov/library/publications/) topic/safety/paschapter3.pdf ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Serpentine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3be4f8/32.png) [@Silver\_Serpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Serpentine)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2004, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-17-and-cant-drink-odouls/231014/37 "2004-02-26T13:04:37Z")
Huh. I’ve bought IBC RootBeer plenty of times before, never been carded. But I look mid-20’s. (21st coming up in July, woooo!) Even tho I’m underage, do I not drink? Like hell I don’t - I have friends. The moral of the OP is this: buy some Listerine and get sloshed. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Merkwurdigliebe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/74df32/32.png) [@Merkwurdigliebe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merkwurdigliebe)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2004, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-17-and-cant-drink-odouls/231014/38 "2004-02-26T16:03:19Z")
Nah the moral of the story is that we have a few immutable truths that we are ignoring, first of all: 1. Teenagers that wanna get drunk will drink 2. No matter how many laws we make we won’t change that. 3. The society as a whole doesn’t condone teenage drinking, but understands it. Teenage drinking wouldn’t be such a problem if it didn’t have such a stigma attached to it. Hell, kids that wanna get trashed can come by pot easier. If society as a whole said, its okay to go and drink a few every now and then, then we wouldn’t have teenagers running around doing it in secret. I had drank since I was 16, and pretty much got it whenever I wanted through fake IDs and older people. If there would be places for teenagers and community organization to help these drunk kids get home safely at night then it would be much more responsible. But God forbid we “condone” it! Who in a dry county won’t drink because the county is dry? They will go to a bar in another county, just increasing the driving distance and chance that he’ll get into an accident if he drives drunk. The stigma surrounding alcohol is what is missing in Europe. Sure they have public transportation systems that are far better than ours (mainly due to the population density) that prevent most D and Driving, but at least they don’t make kids criminals over it. Having said that I am 22, and I get really pissed when I get carded for alcohol, or even cigarrettes! How long do I have to go about feeling like I have to justify my right to buy alcohol? Anytime you want to buy it you have someone questioning you. I don’t like the interrogation crap. Well, as a 17 year old, just forget the Odouls. It tastes bad anyway! And to the guy who didn’t like guiness, please tell me you have tried other beers than American ones and Guiness. Try some German or Belgian beers or some American microbrews. I like Weizenbier myself (german wheat beer) its not bitter at all and has a good taste. ---
**Author:** ![Homebrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Homebrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homebrew)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2004, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-17-and-cant-drink-odouls/231014/39 "2004-02-26T16:32:54Z")
Interesting cite, **Truth Seeker**. Alchohol is a by-product of yeast consuming sugar. So almost any liquid that has sugar in it can ferment if yeast gets in it somehow. There is yeast in the air most of the time. So I can certainly believe that a cola drink left in the open can start to ferment. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2004, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-17-and-cant-drink-odouls/231014/40 "2004-02-27T00:25:56Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Bleh. Beer bad. And yet you call yourself **Miller** … 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-17-and-cant-drink-odouls/231014.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-17-and-cant-drink-odouls/231014.md?page=3)