Many Canadian bars in communities near the US border made their fortunes Friday night to Sunday serving Merkin 19/20 yr olds.

Chicago: Happy hours are banned but Happy Days (generally Tuesdays) are not

England: In terms of minors MUCH is up to the license holder. Law allows for 16's and older to have a beer with a meal with parents. BUT a publican has the right to just disalow kids after certain hours, often as early at 6. Found that the latter is only a real issue in cities.. Country pubs rock in England.

Germany (Bavaria): No idea how the licensing works but was stunned how easy it was to get good beer anywhere.. ie you can be walking through a city park and BOOM there is a beer garden.. totally awesome.

Eurostar: Not sure the exact rules but saw a group set up a picnic spread with wine and food..

Australia: Pretty good but no such thing as growlers (an awesome idea at microbrewries in USA.. this may have changed)

Growlers are pretty popular here at the microbreweries in Vancouver as well.

Growlers in the USA are getting to be more of a general, non-boutique thing. Around here you can get one filled at gas stations.

I believe the rule is that bars cannot sell discounted liquor by itself. So they have food specials and "buy one get one free" specials.

Also I think Vegas and the French Quarter in New Orleans are the only places in the US that allow you to drink while walking down the street.

True, and over 21 (I don't recall whether they allow it with a parent or spouse) so many undergraduates can't benefit. The Union is unusual in having a bar because the Board of Regents used to meet there and insisted on being able to get beer.

There used to be bars here and pubs in England that gave away sandwiches so that people could drink or keep drinking after hours.

Interesting because usually a hotel room has the same standing as your home for most purposes.

I've encountered the "must be a member of the club" to drink thing in Dallas. This was in maybe 2000, but we had to ring the bar's doorbell, the bouncer unlocked the door and let us in, and then we had to pay $1 and sign the "membership registry" to join. The whole thing was just crazy.

Late 90s in Ireland (not sure if it's still the case) you couldn't order a mixed drink -- you had to order the ingredients separately and mix it yourself.

I've been spoiled living my entire life in a state where Anheuser Busch wrote the alcohol laws. Their beer may taste like toilet water, but at least they had a good influence on Missouri's laws.

People who visit from other states are always amazed that you can buy booze at gas stations, grocery stores, Walgreens, etc. Just about anywhere, really. Likewise, I find it nuts that in some states, you can only buy it at state run liquor stores.

Germany is my favorite though. Pretty sure it's never not acceptable to drink. You can have a beer anywhere at anytime without people wondering if you have a problem

Many German public transport companies ban alcohol consumption on their premises, there are also some towns that have banned public consumption of alcohol. Berlin had such a ban as well which however was lifted a few years ago (likely due to the money generated by booze tourism) but it's still a heated issue. Not all Germans view boozehounds in a positive light given their association with vandalism etc.

Years ago at the end of a group tour in Egypt, I was walking down to the pool area with a couple of 6 packs of Heineken or L�wenbrau (or something) that I wasn't going to have time to finish off, just thought I'd share them with the other people on the trip. I happened to walk onto the hotel gift shop, where the eyes of the man running the place lit up and he followed me to the back of the shop where he conspiratorially whispered a query about whether I wanted all the beer.

I was a little puzzled and responded with something sage like "Huh...?"

"I give you one of these statues for one beer...!"

"Well, I'm not sure...."

"I give you TWO statues for one beer...!"

By that point a colleague had joined him, his eyes sparkling as well.

"Yes, we give you TWO statues for each one beer...!"

Now, seeing that the little statues usually sold for $4-5 each around Cairo, and realizing that I had neglected to grab as many gifts as I should have for everyone back home...

Well, you can guess what happened. I ended up one 6 pack lighter and 12 statues heavier for the trip back home. The two guys scurried off surreptitiously glancing over their shoulders with guilty smiles on their faces.

In retrospect, I've never felt like more of a drug dealer in my life..... Not sure if it was actually illegal, it didn't cross my mind at first.

I got that in Utah years ago.

On the Canada thing, my friends and I spent many a coin in Windsor, just across the border from Michigan, before we were 21.

And a sincere thanks from my extended family!

I remember drive through bars in New Orleans 20+ years ago .

The best for me was Pakistan. In Karachi (I think it was a Western chain but it was a few years ago) I had to sign a form saying that I needed alcohol for 'medical reasons'. I ordered one very small whiskey just to get to sign the form .

Dr. PITUK

Salt Lake City, Utah has some strange rules. In lots of places you have to buy food in order to be allowed to order a beer. They sell really cheep cookies that they count as a food order.

In Boston the liquor stores are all closed on Sunday by rule. Some places won't or can't sell you a double shot. Beer and wine is mostly only sold in liquor stores. There are some exceptions in the suburbs.

In all of New Hampshire beer and wine can be purchased almost anywhere, gas stations, Walmart, grocery stores, you name it. Liquor or spirits can only be purchased at state run liquor stores. The stores sell the alcohol at a really significant discount compared to Massachusetts. I know of a few restaurant owners that break the law and drive up to NH to purchase for their inventory because it is so much cheaper than wholesale through a distributor in MA.

Internationally I've never had any problems ordering drinks, although I haven't been anywhere in the Middle East or Africa yet. I do know that in many countries the drinking and driving rules are strictly no tolerance. For example, in Colombia I was told by some locals that any amount of alcohol in your system (even one or two beers with dinner) would make it against the law for me to drive.

I miss living in Chicago: you can buy anything anywhere anytime in most of Illinois. New York lets you sell beer just about anywhere, but wine and liquor must be sold only at a liquor store, which isn't allowed to sell anything but wine and liquor. The wine store in my old neighborhood originally wanted to sell wine and records and was told they couldn't.

Gonna be moving to Maine soon, which will be interesting. I hear you have to buy everything only at state-owned stores. You'd think the tea party would be all over this kind of socialism....

I remember in Dubai the only places that could sell drinks were bars attached to major international hotels. When I made a joke about the two Muslim locals I saw in the bar, my friend shushhed me and told me the story of the British guy who drunkenly walked up to a local in a bar and asked him how he could be there. The local, it turns out, was a friend of some big cheese, reported his license plate, and the British guy found himself deported the next day. That same friend also had to have an alcoholic drinks license (complete with smart chip and photo) that enabled him to buy booze at the two or three government owned stores. In order to get the license, he needed a letter from his employer.

In Jordan, India, and Israel booze was everywhere and nobody seemed to care.