The debate over the drinking age in the United States is something we haven't thought about in quite some time, but it has recently come roaring back into the headlines courtesy of 100 college presidents. The esteemed group of educators from schools as varied as Dartmouth, Colgate, and Ohio State recently signed a petition calling on lawmakers to think about lowering the minimum drinking age to 18 from 21. The problem with the higher drinking age, they say, is that it encourages clandestine binge drinking by students. Bringing 18-, 19-, and 20-year-olds onto the right side of the law would eliminate the need for them to procure fake IDs and "pre-game" at home before heading to venues where booze is verboten to them.
We're not even going to wade into the debate. Rather, we'll point out that the U.S. drinking age is the highest in the world, which is one reason so many college kids sign up for that semester in Europe. So where can an 18-year-old Yankee travel to enjoy the sweet nectar of booze? Pretty much anywhere. The drinking age is almost universally 18 around the world, with a few strange exceptions: Ukraine, Fiji, and Kiribati require drinkers to be at least 21 for some reason. And in much of Canada you've got to be 19 to tip back a Moosehead Lager. Beyond that, you're golden.
As for young travelers from the rest of the world coming to America looking for a wee nip, we can't do nothin' for ya. There used to be a few trendy enclaves where the drinking age was still 18 - the French Quarter of New Orleans and Washington D.C.'s Georgetown neighborhood come to mind - but they've all since fallen in line with the national standard of 21. So just think of your visit here as a rehab, of sorts. There's plenty of legal alcohol awaiting you back home, or wherever your travels take you next.
Seizing some rare down time, Victor Ozols popped into Brooklyn's Sweet Ups recently for a vodka martini. Okay, two vodka martinis. Here's the verdict:
Some bars cater to the early-evening crowd, while others don't get hopping until after midnight. Sweet Ups, a slick-looking lounge on a quiet section of Graham Avenue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, is one of those late-night places, which is why we always make a point to get there by 9:00 p.m. As dorky as that may seem, we're not on the make or dying to interact with the hepcat hordes, so it works for us. At that hour, we're able to slide into a dark, curved banquette, order up a couple of cocktails, and appreciate the dim lighting and funky music that make this a lounge that wouldn't seem out of place in downtown L.A. - but seems to suit Brooklyn even better.
So I asked the bartender for a dry vodka martini, and he proceeded to pour me a limply-shaken concoction that was about 1/3 vermouth. It wasn't the worst drink I've ever had, but I made a point to order my second drink from the other bartender, a shaggy-haired young man who got it right by just whispering the glass with vermouth. We sipped our drinks as old Morrissey songs played on the stereo and a handful of patrons trickled in from the street, chattering about their hectic lives and chaotic relationships. We took in the scene as the red light gave everything a romantic sheen. Soon, the regulars began to take their designated bar stools, so we stepped back into the sultry summer night and made our way home.
Weekend editor Victor Ozols had one too many on Friday night. His pain is your gain as he describes the scene at Brooklyn's Sound Fix Lounge.
We started out at the Brooklyn Brewery as we have so many nights before, enjoying some fresh beers right at the source. But the brewery closes at 11:00, and we were feeling like one more, so we ambled a few dozen paces up the street to Sound Fix Lounge, a kind of record store/bar/coffee shop that seems to hit all the right notes. The place looked welcoming at first glance, with a long wooden bar, subdued lighting, and a pressed-tin ceiling - always a hallmark of a good hangout - so we staked out three barstools and settled in.
An affable barmaid greeted us and quickly served up a round of drinks which included a bottle of Brooklyn Lager, a Guinness "pub can" poured into a glass (I guess the tap was out of service), and a well-crafted Manhattan, up. As we sipped our nightcaps and discussed geopolitical affairs and the rise of China and India, I began to really appreciate the laid-back vibe and eclectic musical soundtrack of this funky everybar.
Being connected to such a well-regarded record store, the place serves as a venue for many up-and-coming bands who perform mellow acoustic sets (the neighbors are trying to sleep) before rocking out at nearby music halls. On this warm summer night in New York, however, there was no band in sight, just a handful of patrons getting comfortable at the dark tables and benches, savoring the taste of Friday night and trying to stretch it out a little bit longer. It's not especially fancy nor sceney, but Sound Fix delivers the goods when the night calls for one more.
There have been so many stories of people going berserk on airplanes lately that it's starting to sound like a Mad Lib. Just fill in the blanks for the name of the airline, holiday destination, and brand of booze, and you've got the latest episode of Insanity in the Skies.
This weekend's tale will sound familiar: Two twenty-something British lasses took a few too many nips off their duty-free vodka bottle on an XL Airways flight home from the Greek island of Kos. The belligerent duo smoked cigarettes in the lavatory, attempted to open an emergency exit, and attacked flight crew members with the bottle before being subdued by passengers and crew. The flight made an unscheduled landing in Frankfurt, where the women were arrested.
The scene is as scary and sad as it is predictable. Couldn't high-flying drunkards at least find a new way to cause chaos in the sky? Because the smoking-in-the-lavatory and trying-to-open-the-emergency-exit theme is getting awfully tired. How about it, knuckleheads? If we've got to read stories about your shenanigans every week, at least try to make them interesting.
Another airline passenger makes it into the annals of history this week after his very successful attempt at drunk travel.
This time it's a Kuwaiti man who decided to drink more than his fair share of on-board booze while flying with Qatar Airways from Doha to Bangkok. The man was so drunk that he refused to sit down (let alone wear that necessary seatbelt) and hit a flight attendant.
Obviously, hitting flight staff is a big no-no and so the attendants manage to tie his arms and legs together before the pilot made an emergency landing in Mumbai to offload the drunken troublemaker. And we thought Kuwaitis didn't even drink.
First it was Bill Murray with the golf cart. Now Mickey Rourke has been the second celebrity this year to get busted for an incredibly strange DUI. The incredibly plasticized Rourke was heading home from a club this morning on his green Vespa when he made a U-turn and started swerving. Rourke insisted he was sober, but failed a field sobriety test and was taken in to be booked.
This weekend, please don't drink and drive (any type of ride). Seriously, if we had a Vespa, we wouldn't even breathe on it when we were drunk. Same goes for a SmartCar or a Segway.
Pretty young women need to be banned from flying, it seems, to prevent them from starting drunken brawls that lead to planes being turned around half-way to their destination. Last Friday, passengers trying to get from St. Petersburg, Russia to Turkey were all delayed when exactly this situation occurred.
Apparently, three young Russian men had already hit the vodka when they boarded, and one of the men took a quick liking to a female passenger. When she rejected his advances, he slapped her face several times, sparking a multi-passenger brawl that prompted the crew to turn back and land in St Petes. Six hours after the original departure time, the plane took off for Turkey, without the three drunks and without the women who ended up at the doctor. Next time she'll wear an ugly disguise.
Luxembourg drinks more alcohol per person in a year than any other country in the world.
Why don't you go ahead and re-read that last sentence. That's right, more than Ireland, more than the Germans, more than the Aussies, and they basically double up the Americans (15.5 litres to 8 litres). Those 480,000 Luxembourgoise are really pounding.
Of course, this is incredibly valuable travel information to those of you traveling through Europe this summer. Luxembourg, long thought nothing more than a train stop, and long dubbed by guide book types as low on the nightlife, may have something more to offer than originally thought.
