this post was submitted on 29 Jun 2025
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I'm not a lawyer so I'm not familiar with the exact letter of the law, but as an American, I can tell you about my first-hand experiences. You can drink in public within restaurants/bars/places that serve alcohol for those 21+, but you have to stay within the confines of that place (if there's outdoor seating you can drink there). You can be drunk as long as you're not causing a scene. You can also enjoy alcohol in/on a private residence. I would be more careful about taking a beer to a public park, but you could probably get away with it provided you're not causing a scene and you clean up after yourself.
Couldn't you just fill the beverage in a non see through water bottle? I have one of these insulated metal bottles where no one would notice what's in there.
I guess the biggest problem probably is to "not make a scene" cause here in Germany we young people typically have many public spots where people drink lots of alcohol, listen to loud music and party. These aren't restricted places, those are just public spots of cities where many young people gather and typically party through the night (like on grass fields at a river or lake).
Idk how strict America is in that regard cause the media often portrays it as if there are lots of harsh police officers because people are allowed to carry guns and are more violent/unpredictable.
In Germany at least where I'm from you rarely see any police officers and if you ever see some (maybe twice a year when there's a car accident) they were just normal introverted people. One time I was very drunk when I was 17 or so and I talked to the police and they were just chill. I guess the typical Germans are more nerdy type people and the worst they could get is to argue about a math problem but I never see them get physical.
You would probably be able to get away with the opaque water bottle as long as you aren’t trying to take it someplace where those water bottles are forbidden. For instance, a sporting or concert venue might only allow you to bring such a bottle in if it is demonstrably empty, since that is such an obvious way to bring in a beverage that the venue would prefer to sell to you at 3-5x the normal price. And again, if you’re obviously intoxicated or otherwise causing problems police might take a closer look anyways.
Apart from the public drinking being a possible issue with what you describe about the public space parties, many jurisdictions have noise ordinances that would prohibit the loud music after a certain hour, often 10 PM. Usually only specially designated areas, like outdoor concert venues, would be allowed to make a lot of noise later than that. But again, for that to be enforced you’d have to be making a nuisance of yourself enough that someone would call the police. That’s the case with a lot of the laws: you have to be so egregious with it that you attract police attention or aggravate someone enough that they call the police.
Damn so it's actually a problem to be intoxicated alone, even if I drank the alcohol at home and then went to the public like to the beach?
I'm not talking about being disturbing to people but just slurring words and being euphoric where it's obvious that the person might had some drinks.
I mean how do you handle going to parties then if you have to get back home by tram or Uber and it's obvious that you had drinks? Are people actually doing something illegal if they commute home drunk (of course not driving themselves)? After I went to a club I usually drive home by bus or tram but of course I mind my own business and am calm or chat with a friend. So people might not even notice that I'm drunk but even if they did it would be completely normal and it wouldn't be illegal.
And addressing the music thing: Here (at least in my city) there are known places in the center where everyone knows that young adults go there every weekend to party. It's basically an outdoor party each weekend in the summer of maybe between 100 to 300 random people with JBL speakers etc. It's not a designated area or an event or so but they just let the people have their fun. It's just random people coming with alcohol and having fun. Doesn't this exist in America?
I've seen it in a few places.
Eg: Yesterday I was boating on a river and passed a dock packed full of young people doing all that stuff.
Keep in mind that the drinking age is different between Germany and USA. Teenagers will get in trouble for public drinking, so they tend to do it in secret.