Trevor said:
I made it longer than that. I had a mouthful of beer in my 20s but like President Clinton who didn't inhale, I didn't swallow (honestly!). It took much longer to actually drink. I still don't really care for the taste but the effects are generally positive.
Good grief! It must've tasted bad for you to spit it out!
xpluswearer said:
Only time I drank in College is while in flight between home and college and on my weekend worldwide journeys.
I used to love flying internationally as a kid. A few minutes wait to clear national airspace and its boring laws... then bring out the champagne! Once I got to 14, the air hostess didn't even look to my parents for approval before serving me.
Over here kids usually drink a little with their parents from age 13/14. Usually stuff like wine, Martinis, mixed spirits, cider, alcopops, etc. Then from 16, parents will buy beer for their kids to take to parties. So the idea that someone would get to 18 without having tried alcohol is pretty hard to imagine.
I remember a kid at college saying that he wasn't going to drink until he was 18. No one quite believed him, and sure enough he ended up drunk at the end of term, still aged 16. The funny thing was that he smoked like a chimney.
He seemed to think that he was old enough to smoke, but not to drink. I pointed out that the minimum drinking age in the UK is 5 years old. However, since he could legally buy cigarettes but not alcohol, he (briefly) stuck to his guns. Strange logic. :-/