"Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy"

Some of you might recognize that quote as coming from Benjamin Franklin. Why is that the title of this post? Because today I will be treating you all to an analysis of the role of alcohol in German (as compared to American) culture.

Alcohol is a touchy subject in the American psyche, probably due to historical precedents such as the temperance movements in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and of course Prohibition in the 1920's, which banned the sale of alcohol nationwide. I haven't researched it thoroughly, but I'm quite positive nobody ever tried to deprive the Germans of their beer. Because of such events, alcohol has a bit of a tainted reputation; there is in America a tendency to view it as a harbinger of decay and depravity. This can also be connected to the fact that "alcohol" and "partying" are inextricably intertwined in the collective conscience. Especially in reference to the teenage/young adult population it is assumed that when alcohol is consumed, it is inevitably consumed in large quantities with embarrassing/dangerous/immoral consequences. This, and the late drinking age, leads to alcohol being viewed as forbidden and dangerous.

In contrast, alcohol is an ingrained part of everyday culture in Germany and begins at a younger age. It's common for kids as young as 9 to be offered a glass (or half-glass) of champagne to drink with the family on New Year's Eve. With 14 you can drink wine or beer in a restaurant as long as an adult is present, with 16 you can buy anything under 40 proof, and with 18 everything is legal. And from second-hand anecdotal evidence, it doesn't seem like the clerks/bartenders are too strict about checking idea, though I think that has been changing in the past couple years.

The stereotypes about Germans as beer-drinkers are well-known, but I can now confirm from personal experience: the Germans drink a lot of beer. In terms of volume consumed per capita per year, they are in 3rd place behind the Czechs and the Irish. But beyond just the quantity of beer consumed, what really strikes a visitor is how often they drink beer (or wine, or whatever). In America, among young people at least, drinking tends to be limited to Friday and Saturday night (and maybe Thursday as well). In Germany, among people of all ages, any time is a good time for a beer. That doesn't mean that everybody's cracking open a cold one before heading to work or school. Rather, Germans just enjoy the art of a leisurely drink or two. This could be with lunch, in the park in the afternooon with friends, at a rowdy bar after dinner, wherever. And the bars can be just as crowded Tuesday nights as Saturdays. The entire outlook on drinking is much more relaxed: it's an expected cultural ritual, not a vice.

However, that's not to say that the German system is all rosy and perfect and America should immediately lower the drinking age. Drinking at a young age is dangerous, as the liver and brain aren't fully developed yet. An informal poll of my European friends puts the starting drinking age at around 14, even in the countries where the official drinking age is 18 for all types of alcohol. In Germany specifically, people have told me that they got drunk (or at least had more to drink that just a glass of champagne at New Year's) as young as 13 or 12. Kids that young simply should not be drinking! I know of course that many American teens (at least from some social grops) begin drinking at about that age as well, but I think it is much more widespread in Germany, because people simply aren't as concerned about alcohol. So maybe Germany needs a little dose of American prejudice against drinking.

On a side not, these differing cultural perspectives create a bit of a conundrum for me in this Internet Age. In addition to this blog, I frequently post pictures to Facebook to share with my friends, or my friends post albums and tag me in them. Often, these pictures depict us sitting in a bar with a table full of beer glasses in front of us or lounging in a park with a bottle of wine. They are by no means crazy or depicting serious "partying" in any way. Your average German would look at the pictures and think, "oh, there's a group of friends having a couple of beers at the bar." But the important question for me is: what would American employers think (there's always warnings going around about people who lost/were denied jobs because of something on their facebook)? Would the mere sight of alcohol automatically bias them against me, assuming that I'm an unreliable partier or that I flount authority because I'm drinking under the age of 21 (though it's legal to do so here in Germany)? To be on the safe side I'll probably just delete everything off my facebook when I start job-hunting, but it's just interesting how the two countries can have such vastly different perceptions of the same thing.