Asklemmy

Nope. The first time I drank any alcohol ever was on my 21st birthday. My Dad made me a gin and tonic with Bombay Sapphire, and that set the standard for the kind of alcohol I will drink. It's a good thing I'm a lightweight because I only drink the expensive stuff. (The cheap crap burns too much.)

Or an older European. When I was young, the drinking age was lower here in the Netherlands and some countries had them absurdly low or non-existent. It’s only fairly recently that most countries adopted either 16 or 18 as drinking age.

Some countries had an interesting drinking culture for sure. Back in the 1950’s, French schoolkids under 14 could drink wine with their school meals. Half a bottle! It wasn’t until the 1980’s that they completely banned alcohol in schools. This was a viral fact on Facebook, but it’s also actually true:

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/french-children-wine-at-school/

This was also the era when people still smoked, and French teens in particular. So if you’re talking to an older Frenchman, there’s a good chance he was smoking and drinking his way through school. Can’t really call it ‘underage drinking’ if they basically handed kids a sippy cup with wine.

And I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s still plenty of French parents who let their early teen enjoy wine.