# Is it legal in the US for 18-20 year olds to drink alcohol provided by others in private residences? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 19, 2009, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-in-the-us-for-18-20-year-olds-to-drink-alcohol-provided-by-others-in-private-residences/503505 "2009-07-19T03:08:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Starbreaker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ac8455/32.png) [@Starbreaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starbreaker)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-in-the-us-for-18-20-year-olds-to-drink-alcohol-provided-by-others-in-private-residences/503505/41 "2009-07-22T16:38:53Z")
I think mostly, as long as kids aren’t being disruptive or drinking in public, that cops really don’t give a crap. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-in-the-us-for-18-20-year-olds-to-drink-alcohol-provided-by-others-in-private-residences/503505/42 "2009-07-22T16:40:12Z")
> [@Serenata67](#): > > You _can_, legally, but they (the restaurants) can still refuse service. I worked for a restaurant, and we still never served anyone under 21. Parent or no. Spouse or no. No one under 21. (I live in WI, BTW.) Yup, service is at the discretion of the establishment, and I believe it also applies to letting 18+ but under 21 into bars. (That’s why I said “can” and not “must.”) > [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > My “grownup” buds feel the same way. Tsk, come to Milwaukee–I’ll get you some \*\*tasty \*\*beer. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![psycat90](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@psycat90](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psycat90)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-in-the-us-for-18-20-year-olds-to-drink-alcohol-provided-by-others-in-private-residences/503505/43 "2009-07-22T16:41:18Z")
> [@Serenata67](#): > > You _can_, legally, but they (the restaurants) can still refuse service. I worked for a restaurant, and we still never served anyone under 21. Parent or no. Spouse or no. No one under 21. (I live in WI, BTW.) This is true. I’d always expected this to happen at least once when giving my boys wine with dinner while dining out, but it never did. I was able to pour or order them a glass, no problem, starting around age 14 or so. But I’d been offering them wine with dinner at home since they were much younger just as my parents had, they just hadn’t acquired a taste for anything other than sweet dessert wines then. ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-in-the-us-for-18-20-year-olds-to-drink-alcohol-provided-by-others-in-private-residences/503505/44 "2009-07-22T16:49:49Z")
> [@Driver8](#): > > I don’t know if anyone actually does this but it does not seem unreasonable for high schools to offer classes in wine making, etc, especially in regions where this is an important industry. I can’t find it now but I could swear I read an article where certain high schools in the Western Cape wine producing regions in South Africa were doing exactly that. No doubt this would involve tasting of wines, and it makes sense that a school would be able to do this with parental consent. I teach in Culinary school in Florida where all students take a Wine and Beverage class that involves tastings. Students under 21 are required to taste and then spit it out. I am not kidding. ---
**Author:** ![KennerTheGreat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a8b319/32.png) [@KennerTheGreat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KennerTheGreat)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-in-the-us-for-18-20-year-olds-to-drink-alcohol-provided-by-others-in-private-residences/503505/45 "2009-07-22T16:52:57Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Incidentally, the bloody borders phenomenon still exists- on the Canadian and Mexican borders, since the drinking ages there is 18. Minor nitpick: here in Ontario, the drinking age (at least for buying it) is 19. I think it probably is 18 more or less everywhere else in Canada. My parents would buy for me and let me drink with them when I turned 18. I prefer beer now, because for me, it enforces moderation. Liquor tastes way too good, and coming home at four in the morning after my staff Christmas party to my 30 weeks pregnant wife(our spouses weren’t invited because my boss is too cheap to pay for them)…not fun ---
**Author:** ![KennerTheGreat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a8b319/32.png) [@KennerTheGreat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KennerTheGreat)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2009, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-in-the-us-for-18-20-year-olds-to-drink-alcohol-provided-by-others-in-private-residences/503505/46 "2009-07-22T16:55:40Z")
And having researched further [here](http://canadaonline.about.com/od/canadianlaw/g/drinkingage.htm), the legal age is 19 everywhere in Canada except for Alberta, Manitoba, and Quebec. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-in-the-us-for-18-20-year-olds-to-drink-alcohol-provided-by-others-in-private-residences/503505.md?page=2)