The person looking at your ID behind the bar might need theirs checked, too. While you might need to be 21 to order a gin and tonic in the U.S., you increasingly don’t need to be 21 to make said drink in some states.
At least nine states have introduced bills to lower the alcohol service age since 2021 (seven have been signed into law, much faster than the 18 years it took for five states to make similar changes beginning in 2003), according to an analysis from Nina Mast of left-leaning think tank Economic Policy Institute (EPI). While you must be at least 21 to bartend in over half of all states, and at least 18 (legally an adult) in many other states, more and more states are trying to lower that age. Iowa and West Virginia both enacted laws that bring the minimum age to 16, and Wisconsin introduced a law to lower it to 14—the same age as a freshman in high school. The service sector has struggled to retain and recruit workers over the past couple of years amid a severe labor shortage; instead of addressing the root cause of such issues, such as fairer wages, they’re tapping into a new workforce: teenagers.
