Hi!
I'm currently doing a study of alcohol habits around the world, and would
appreciate any feedback the members of this forum could provide. This is not a
survey, just an attempt at getting some general trends from people as
well-versed in the topics of alcohol and bartending as you all are (ok, enough
sucking up =P).
To start it off:
In my experience, alcohol use is quite liberal in Northern Europe (my home
country is Norway, I'm currently living in Finland). Some would say, liberal
to the point of stupidity. In Finland public drinking and unconsciousness as a
consequence is perfectly common, children drunk out of their heads (yes,
children, down to 10-11 years old) is not an uncommon sight. Recently a law
was passed in the Helsinki area outlawing consumption of alcohol in public
places but so far I haven't noticed any changes, probably due to the fact that
public consumption is so widespread that the local authorities lack the
resources to control it. I guess the extent of outdoor drinking and
drunkenness is the most noticeable trend in Finland, in clubs and bars and
such the situation's pretty much the same as it is anywhere else in Europe.
Bouncers and bartenders tend to be quite good at removing "undesirables" and
besides, Finnish drunks are generally, by some weird occurence, not mean at
all. Most of them are in fact a lot more sociable than your average sober
Finn. That said, I know lots of perfectly sociable sober Finns, but Finns do
have a reputation for being rather reserved.
And perhaps their reservation is what makes them drink as much as they do.
Debut age for drinking alcohol is very low, I suppose a majority of Finnish
youth have tasted alcohol before the age of 12, and before the age of 16 most
have probably been drunk ("legal" age in Finland is 18).
Alcohol availability is high in Finland, the state runs a monopoly on hard
liquor, but grocery stores have a wide (and much appreciated and used)
selection of beers and ciders. Harder liquors and wines are expensive in
Finland, which is why Finns (and especially underage Finns) look to nearby
"safe" and cheap ports like Tallinn in Estonia for harder liquors. Also, one
can still purchase tax free hard liquors on the passenger ferry between Sweden
and Finland (the Finns got a good deal from the EU). However, the primary
source of harder liquors for underage Finns is surprisingly from their own
homes. Older brothers and sisters frequently provide their younger siblings
with alcohol and even parents quite frequently share their liquor with their
sons or daughters. In many families giving your son or daughter a Friday or
Saturday night bottle to take to your friend's party is perfectly normal.
There are a lot of arguments for and against this practice, but I won't judge
it here.
My experience in Norway is a lot less limited, I haven't lived there
permanently for several years, but there as well, alcohol consumption is quite
high, but much less public I believe than in Finland. Public drunkenness and
drinking is less common there, perhaps because of stricter control?? I'm not
sure of this myself, any feedback from Norwegians would be appreciated. The
debut age for alcohol is again quite low I believe. In my experience,
Norwegians drink quite a lot, but they do this in the comfort of their homes
and out of sight in bars and clubs, in company of friends or family in some
cases.
Hopefully my experiences give an idea of what I'm looking for. Trends in
alcohol debut age, alcohol availability, "outdoor" vs. "indoor" drinking, and
maybe even some insights in why people where you live drink as they do. My
focus is the alcohol use/abuse in the younger (underage) population.
I hope this wont be too much trouble.
Hoping to hear from you,
Mike.