Drinking in the US

6ix

Myself and my girlfriend are going to the US in about 10 days, and will be in New York, Louisiana and California for a few weeks. We're both 20, almost 21 (in a couple of months).

My question is regarding having a beer in the US. It's not of paramount importance, but when you're on holidays, its always nice to have a few drinks. Is there any chance that we would get served?

Anyone I've mentioned it to have said its really hard without a ID, so things don't look good. Plus, its unlikely we would be able to get our hands on a fake ID between now and then, although I may be wrong.

Anyone have any information/tips on the subject?

All input appreciated!

newgrange

They asked me for ID when I was in Los Angeles, and I was 38 (and very obviously over 21) at the time. I found it hilarious, but everyone was checked.

bounty_hunter

I've never been in the situation myself, but from what American friends and relatives have told me it seems that the authorities are very strict about the ID issue. Unless you look very obviously over 21 (and even then they will often ask, just to be on the safe side), you will almost definitely find it extremely difficult to be served without ID.

Jivin Turkey

Scanner, drivers licence, laminating paper, photo.

Apologies, I thought this was the art and design forum.

feylya

If you go to an Irish bar and let it be known that you're Irish, you might be lucky. Otherwise, forget it.

bounty_hunter

Jivin Turkey wrote:

Scanner, drivers licence, laminating paper, photo.

Apologies, I thought this was the art and design forum.

A driving licence is a lot more complicated to forge than that. Apart from anything else, the Americans won't just give it a quick glance like they do over here, it would have to look extremely professional to pass as genuine (although chances are they won't be familiar with every little detail on an Irish licence, but this could also mean that they wouldn't accept it as a form of ID).

galwaydude

in alot of the states, 21 is the legal age for drinking.
I was in boston in may and i went into an irish bar with my gf and one of our friends.I forgot my password so all they would serve me was a mineral even though im 26 and the barwoman was irish.So ye they are pretty strict over there. Hope you have a great time by the way.New york is great, you will love it there. Im off again on thursday wohoo cant wait.

whippet

you will find the odd place that will serve you, but my experience (mainly newyork) is you need to have your passport stapled to your head whenever you are ordering drinks.

it is not uncommon for the police to walk in to bar and ask everybody for ID.

Zapho

Well maybe you might be lucky. If for example your birthday is on the 07/12, well Americans read the first digits as the month and the second as the day so you might get away with pretending your birthday was on 12/07.
Thats all I could come up with!

Grem

Ive only been to California out of the places you mentioned your going to but we were only 19 when we went and had fake IDs so were sorted. But i dont remember being asked everywhere i went. Was in New York last summer and it was impossible to get a drink without ID. And we were 21 at the time. If you look old you might be ok, i think a lot of Americans look freakily older than they are for some reason...

themole

a lot of places in the us only accept passport of us drivers licence as id.

even a licence from another state is often not accepted, ie in mass they won't take a new york licence etc.

they are so strict because if they caught selling under aged they are fined a load and after three offences can loose their licence.

i do know people who used photocopies of their passports though. they said they didn't want to bring them out incase they lost them. incredibily this actually worked. (obvioudly they has changed the dob's)

Jivin Turkey

bounty_hunter wrote:

A driving licence is a lot more complicated to forge than that. Apart from anything else, the Americans won't just give it a quick glance like they do over here, it would have to look extremely professional to pass as genuine (although chances are they won't be familiar with every little detail on an Irish licence, but this could also mean that they wouldn't accept it as a form of ID).

Im afraid it is.

A mate of mine can do them in a couple of minutes (literally). And from my experience (two J1 stays, and two trips to visit people on J1 stays) I dont remember any time being refused with them, apart from once in a supermarket where we were already completely obliterated. They look good, but they are very easily distinguishable from the real thing. Its all irrelevant as a typical US bouncer may not have even heard of Ireland!

If you have no form of ID, I would suggest photocopying your PP and changing the date, as suggested by another poster. This will work some places if you are lucky, just give the speil that you are foreign, dont want to lose your passport etc.

I would definitely try and sort something before you go over, NY can be hit and miss with places. Clubs and the like will be strict, but there will be plenty of bars that you will get away in. California is stricter than NY from my experience. I have no idea what Louisiana will be like, those Southern states can be quite varied as regards drinking laws.

babaduck

I'm in my early 30's as is the hubby & we were not even allowed step over the door of pubs in Boston without the passport. They wouldn't accept our drivers licences at all, even though they knew we were well over 21 - it's not worth it to them because if they are caught with underage drinkers, they can be shut down on the spot. Same deal in NYC for ID but we were ok in Cape Cod.

bounty_hunter

Jivin Turkey wrote:

Im afraid it is.

A mate of mine can do them in a couple of minutes (literally). And from my experience (two J1 stays, and two trips to visit people on J1 stays) I dont remember any time being refused with them, apart from once in a supermarket where we were already completely obliterated.

No, it's not. It's nowhere near as simple as you suggested in your original post, especially as the OP has evidently never done it before. I'll admit you could knock up a fairly dodgy one in "a couple of minutes", but there's no way it would pass as genuine in Ireland, as you mentioned yourself -

They look good, but they are very easily distinguishable from the real thing.

I was referring to the use of them in Ireland, therefore, it's not that simple.

Its all irrelevant as a typical US bouncer may not have even heard of Ireland!

This is exactly my point. There's a very good chance they may not be accepted, as bouncers/bar staff/whatever won't know what to look for. However, if it's worked for you... well, good luck to the OP.

por

Firstly it’s highly unlikely that an Irish Drivers License would be accepted as a valid Id. Even out of state licenses are rarely accepted.

In NY you should be Ok in the Irish suburbs (Yonkers, Woodlawn, Sunnyside etc) I have never been asked for ID there.
In the city I’d expected to be asked all the time.

As for Louisiana if you are going to New Orleans it might be hit and miss, I was there a few time and honestly cannot remember how strict they were.
New Orleans is a fairly liberal drinking city by US standards. It has 24 hour opening and people can drink on the street.
There are street vendors selling beer and cocktails on the street in the French Quarter so you do not even have to go into a pub. They may be less likely to ask for id that the bars are, but as I said I can’t remember.
Also note that there are a lot of cops in the French Quarter discretely keeping an eye on people’s behaviour, so if you are drinking try to stay out of trouble, they wouldn’t take too kindly to you being underage.

Jivin Turkey

bounty_hunter wrote:

No, it's not. It's nowhere near as simple as you suggested in your original post, especially as the OP has evidently never done it before. I'll admit you could knock up a fairly dodgy one in "a couple of minutes", but there's no way it would pass as genuine in Ireland, as you mentioned yourself - I was referring to the use of them in Ireland, therefore, it's not that simple.

Well I see now where the use of a fake drivers licence in Ireland is relevant to this thread. Not.

OP if you have a scanner at home, give one a lash, believe me they are not difficult to do.

bounty_hunter wrote:

This is exactly my point. There's a very good chance they may not be accepted, as bouncers/bar staff/whatever won't know what to look for. However, if it's worked for you... well, good luck to the OP.

In general you will find that once you present them with some form of ID, added with a bit of Irish charm, they will be ok. They are only looking to cover their asses.

In Mass its different, but not surprising given its reputation. But Mass is irrelevant seeing as its not on the OPs itinerary.

For all the people claiming that one would have difficult getting served with an Irish drivers licence, have you been to the US recently? Its a total joke!

bounty_hunter

Jivin Turkey wrote:

Well I see now where the use of a fake drivers licence in Ireland is relevant to this thread. Not.

Really, what's your problem? If you want it to look in any way decent, it's really not as ****ing simple as you said in your first post. Genuine licences even look a bit amature imo, to get a fake one looking good you need a decent printer, scanner, proper paper, etc. And if it's not already your own photo on the licence it involves a bit of photoshopping. All I'm saying is that you make it sound like it can be done by a monkey in 2 minutes, when it can't. That was the only point I intended to make.
OP, go ahead and try it. Just don't rely on it to be 100% effective when you try and use it in the States.

Of course, all this doesn't really have much relevance to the topic, but I'm an argumentative bitch and have to get my point across.
</rant>

6ix

Ok everyone, thanks for the advice. As it happens, I actually have access to a High DPI version of a licence (PSD file) from a friend as it happens, and I'm able to use photoshop pretty well, so that's no problem. However, my printer is average. Do I just print to paper or is it card? And I dont really know how to laminate the licence properly. That's really all that's stopping me, because the scan that I have is v.good quality.

I have a mate who looks like me, and I could borrow his age card, but he needs his licence. From what I've read, it doesn't seem like an age card would be of any use, but perhaps a simple hologram of a harp could fool the bar people/bouncers.

At any rate, its not something I'm too worried about, if I can I can, its only a few weeks over there! Maybe I should be more worried about the fact that New Orleans will probably be blown away by the time I get there :rolleyes:

themole

the irish licence is paper.
and the laminate is sticky plastci, like the stuff people use to cover books.
you can buy similar stuff in easons etc.

the difference is that the ones on the licence have wavy green lines, but us bouncers will prob not notice. the photo is stuck on, so no photoshoppage required. just stick your photo in and put the sticky stuff over that. simple

i know a few people who did this and it worked.


most of the time its your attitude/mannerisms.

i was once going into a bar in boston in which my cousin worked. he had gotten me a licence from a friend of his. the boucer asked for id and i showed him the licence and he let me in.
when i got in my cousin introduced me to all the bar staff, including the boucer. he told the bouncer he had gotten me their friends id, i showed it to him again and he said he thought it had looked familar the first time. he knew the guy who's id i had been using!!

so sometimes its not that had. you just need something to show them. the id i used was belonging to a guy who was 25 and i was 19 at the time.

bounty_hunter

themole wrote:

the photo is stuck on, so no photoshoppage required. just stick your photo in and put the sticky stuff over that. simple

If it isn't your own photo on the original licence, you will need to photoshop the stamp from the original photo onto your own photo. This photo can then be stuck on. This is where the photoshopping comes in.

Edit: I'm talking not so much about the green lines that you mentioned, but the very obvious harp that is stamped over the photo on a licence. It's useless without this.

FX Meister

Five years ago my mate never had a problem with his faked drivers license, even when he would hand it in straight after me and mine was legit. Worth a shot anyway. Speaking of the same mate, he got busted by a cop in NY for skateboarding on the subway platform, he gave him the same license and the cop though nothing of it.

themole

bounty_hunter wrote:

If it isn't your own photo on the original licence, you will need to photoshop the stamp from the original photo onto your own photo. This photo can then be stuck on. This is where the photoshopping comes in.

Edit: I'm talking not so much about the green lines that you mentioned, but the very obvious harp that is stamped over the photo on a licence. It's useless without this.

i hear ya.

most people in ireland don't know that off hand, unless they are used to looking at driving licences/id's , let alone a bouncer in the us who has never even seen an irish licence before.

the photo would then have to be printed, which will look obvious, imho.

my opinion is that having a real photo without the harp lookes better than a printed one with the harp,

you won't notice the missing harp unless you are looking for it, in which case a printed licence prob wouldn't work anyway, where as you will always notice a printed photo more than any missing harp.

Jivin Turkey

themole wrote:

the irish licence is paper.
and the laminate is sticky plastci, like the stuff people use to cover books.
you can buy similar stuff in easons etc.

the difference is that the ones on the licence have wavy green lines, but us bouncers will prob not notice. the photo is stuck on, so no photoshoppage required. just stick your photo in and put the sticky stuff over that. simple

i know a few people who did this and it worked.

I posted something similar to this earlier but my computer crashed.

When you put the sticky plastic on top of your printed ID, just cut around the edges with a razor blade and presto you have your ID.

Sign the back of the photo.

Absolutely no photoshop is required.

bounty_hunter wrote:

If it isn't your own photo on the original licence, you will need to photoshop the stamp from the original photo onto your own photo. This photo can then be stuck on. This is where the photoshopping comes in.

Edit: I'm talking not so much about the green lines that you mentioned, but the very obvious harp that is stamped over the photo on a licence. It's useless without this.

Its not useless without this.

In America the last thing they are going to be looking for is the green lines and harp emblen.

My mate who was doing this for ages to service the hordes of people he knew going on J1s kept on "improving his service" and started to put the laminated ID back through the printer and printing straight green lines over the photo to make the licences look more "authentic", but they worked just as good without the lines.

AndyWarhol

Oh my god. I cannot believe you are even considering travelling to America with the intention of using forged ID, let alone a forged driving licence; that's like a forged passport - these are state documents and you will be severely punished if you try to use one, indeed are in posession of one.

There's no messing around with cops in the US and if they stop you in the street for some misdemeanour and go through your pockets and find a fake driving licence, you'll be screwed, without doubt.

chillywilly

AndyWarhol wrote:

Oh my god. I cannot believe you are even considering travelling to America with the intention of using forged ID, let alone a forged driving licence; that's like a forged passport - these are state documents and you will be severely punished if you try to use one, indeed are in posession of one.

There's no messing around with cops in the US and if they stop you in the street for some misdemeanour and go through your pockets and find a fake driving licence, you'll be screwed, without doubt.

i hate to tell you, but ive never heard of someone under 21 going to america WITHOUT a fake ID.

bounty_hunter

Jivin Turkey wrote:

Its not useless without this.

In America the last thing they are going to be looking for is the green lines and harp emblen.

I'm sorry, but if I was a bouncer the first thing I would look at is the photograph, and the first thing that would be noticeable is the gap on the photo where the stamp just suddenly stops.

As for the prited photo looking crap, whoever said it, this is where the bit about the decent printer comes in. Infact now that's it's mentioned, my genuine passport photo is a printed photo.

FX Meister

AndyWarhol wrote:

Oh my god. I cannot believe you are even considering travelling to America with the intention of using forged ID, let alone a forged driving licence; that's like a forged passport - these are state documents and you will be severely punished if you try to use one, indeed are in posession of one.

There's no messing around with cops in the US and if they stop you in the street for some misdemeanour and go through your pockets and find a fake driving licence, you'll be screwed, without doubt.

Did you read my post at the top of the page? Are you serious? Have you ever been outside of Ireland?

wheres me jumpa

i was in new york a few weeks back and everywhere we went i was asked for id which was fine as im over 21 now. last year i was in boston and everywhere asked for id but they literally would take a photocopy of some guys passport with the picture blacked out!

exagerrated yes, but it was crazy the way they would take a really bad id but not let others in as they didnt have id.

plus youre going for 10 days! stop being so irish!

Jivin Turkey

bounty_hunter wrote:

I'm sorry, but if I was a bouncer the first thing I would look at is the photograph, and the first thing that would be noticeable is the gap on the photo where the stamp just suddenly stops.

Ill ask again, have you been to the US recently? Did you use a fake ID?

How would a US doorman notice that the green harp is missing?

I was there for four years running. In that time I knew probably close to 60 or 70 people that all used fake IDs every single night of the week without fail. I dont remember anyone ever getting any hassle.

bounty_hunter

Jivin Turkey wrote:

Ill ask again, have you been to the US recently? Did you use a fake ID?

How would a US doorman notice that the green harp is missing?

I was there for four years running. In that time I knew probably close to 60 or 70 people that all used fake IDs every single night of the week without fail. I dont remember anyone ever getting any hassle.

You never asked me that to begin with. The answer is no, i haven't used a fake ID in the US.

He/she would notice because the stamp placed over the photo extends onto the paper on either side, which would mean that there's a big mysterious unstamped gap in the middle. Unless you photoshop this out, or the doorman in question is clueless enough to think it's just a pretty pattern.

I'm not talking about fake ID's in general, by all means use one, I'm talking about dodgy two minute knock up ones.

themole

bounty_hunter wrote:

He/she would notice because the stamp placed over the photo extends onto the paper on either side, which would mean that there's a big mysterious unstamped gap in the middle. Unless you photoshop this out, or the doorman in question is clueless enough to think it's just a pretty pattern.

ya.

most people would copy a bit of the green background and paste it over the stamp. a lot easier than trying to photoshop the pic.

i think the point me and others are trying yo make is that ****ty id's do work in the us. you just need something as they will card you, but most of the time the don't care what you have only that you have something.

some nightclubs even take your picture which scanning your id, so that if the cops show up and bust you for being underage they can show that you presented id of some sort

6ix

Thanks for all the advice. I probably won't get to touch up a licence, so in short, do u think I should...

a) use an Irish age card of someone who looks like me or

b) use a copy of my passport with some small amendments (i mean a paper copy - "I didnt want to bring the original out in case I lost it")

????

themole

passprot copy

they wouldn't take an age card, sure they don't take those in most pubs in ireland

bullrunner

if you are going to somewhere that the bouncers are used to seeing faked IDs then forget about bringing out fakes or photocopies..they wont entertain it.

The thing about photocopies is that the bar usually wants to see the original first, then puts their stamp on the copy which u can then bring out the next time.

But having said that...was in OC, Md. in 2001 and they only accepted passports...but as you could go in and out of the bars/clubs as often as you liked, we just had some poeple go in and then bring out the passports to the people waiting outside. The bouncers may say that u dont look like the person in the picture...but as long as you look somewhat alike u can bliff your way through 'old passport..changed my hair...etc.etc'

my advice is to forget about faked driving licences..our licences look faked in comparison to the US credit card style licenses ...so they don't usually accept them! I have seen in some places where they have a book with pictures of what real licences look like (incl security features) ...one from each US state and some more common international licences...


if you do take a chance..dont use your real name on the faked id

cotillion

6ix wrote:

I have a mate who looks like me, and I could borrow his age card, but he needs his licence.

Can't you get the lend of his passport then? Not that that's gonna be any good because your girlfriend will still have no id, unless you make her a driver's license.

edit:

themole wrote:

they wouldn't take an age card, sure they don't take those in most pubs in ireland

huh?

por

6ix wrote:

Thanks for all the advice. I probably won't get to touch up a licence, so in short, do u think I should...

a) use an Irish age card of someone who looks like me or

b) use a copy of my passport with some small amendments (i mean a paper copy - "I didnt want to bring the original out in case I lost it")

????

I’d be very very very surprised if you got a drink using any of the above as a form of ID. There are so many types of ID available in the states like drivers licenses from 50 states, all sorts of college IDs etc. that bouncers and bar staff usually only take a couple of forms as valid i.e. state drivers license and Passport (and some places will only take US passports)

One reason that doormen and bar staff are so strict is because a cop can walk into a bar and demand proof of age from everyone, if there is someone there that cannot prove their age then it’s the doorman who let them in or the bar person that served them (in the absence of a doorman) who is responsible.

Basically in NY expect to be asked in most downtown locations and very rarely in suburban pubs frequented by Irish (you are lucky the J1 rush is over, they usually tighten the rules when they first arrive)
New Orleans as I said earlier you might have better luck with the street vendors than in the pubs and clubs.
As for Cal. try get some info from someone who has first hand experience of how strict they are in the city you are going to.

Jivin Turkey

themole wrote:

most people would copy a bit of the green background and paste it over the stamp. a lot easier than trying to photoshop the pic.

i think the point me and others are trying yo make is that ****ty id's do work in the us. you just need something as they will card you, but most of the time the don't care what you have only that you have something.

some nightclubs even take your picture which scanning your id, so that if the cops show up and bust you for being underage they can show that you presented id of some sort

Agree fully.

por wrote:

I’d be very very very surprised if you got a drink using any of the above as a form of ID. There are so many types of ID available in the states like drivers licenses from 50 states, all sorts of college IDs etc. that bouncers and bar staff usually only take a couple of forms as valid i.e. state drivers license and Passport (and some places will only take US passports)

One reason that doormen and bar staff are so strict is because a cop can walk into a bar and demand proof of age from everyone, if there is someone there that cannot prove their age then it’s the doorman who let them in or the bar person that served them (in the absence of a doorman) who is responsible.

When is the last time you were in the States using a foreign form of ID (fake or real) may I ask? If what you say is the case, any foreigner would have trouble getting booze over there.

I can categorically state that that is just not the case.

Doormen are strict as in they ask everyone for ID (and scan IDs in a lot of places) but only to cover their asses if cops do come. If they card everyone going in, no one can say they dont have the ID on them.

If you arrive with some form of ID and the right attitude you will have zero problem gaining entry, even if your ID is foreign and fake. I know this because I did this almost every night I was there when I was underage.

por

Jivin Turkey wrote:

When is the last time you were in the States using a foreign form of ID (fake or real) may I ask? If what you say is the case, any foreigner would have trouble getting booze over there.

I can categorically state that that is just not the case.

Doormen are strict as in they ask everyone for ID (and scan IDs in a lot of places) but only to cover their asses if cops do come. If they card everyone going in, no one can say they dont have the ID on them.

If you arrive with some form of ID and the right attitude you will have zero problem gaining entry, even if your ID is foreign and fake..

I never had to use fake ID but was there (Boston) long enough (6 years) to see that anything other that Mass license or Passport were usually not accepted in downtown loactions.
One downtown Boston bar owned by an Irish man was boycotted by many Irish cos he refused to take Irish passports as a valid ID.

I know that attitudes of door staff and bar staff on what is reagred as valid ID differ from city to city and state to state but all I am doing is giving my advice to the OP on what to expect in the cities they are traveling to.
i.e. Don't be surprised if you Irish age card and photo copied passport get you nowhere !!!!

Jivin Turkey wrote:

I know this because I did this almost every night I was there when I was underage

Out of courosity where exactly was this ?

Jivin Turkey

por wrote:

I never had to use fake ID but was there (Boston) long enough (6 years) to see that anything other that Mass license or Passport were usually not accepted in downtown loactions.
One downtown Boston bar owned by an Irish man was boycotted by many Irish cos he refused to take Irish passports as a valid ID.

I know that attitudes of door staff and bar staff on what is reagred as valid ID differ from city to city and state to state but all I am doing is giving my advice to the OP on what to expect in the cities they are traveling to.
i.e. Don't be surprised if you Irish age card and photo copied passport get you nowhere !!!!

Mass as a state is known to be strict on laws (due to its Catholic history etc). Its a state thats even made fun of in things like The Simpsons for its law-making. Ive said already that in that state (well Boston anyway) they are stricter on things such as IDs.

por wrote:

Out of courosity where exactly was this ?

New York, New Jersey, whatever state Ocean City is in, Illinois, Missouri, Michigan, and California. I was also able to use my brothers ID as my own in Boston.

Fabrizio

Ok, here is what you do, I was in NYC for the Summer and a number of the guys i was with were underage. Get your passport photocopied and bring out a photocopied Passport as proof of I.D.

Simply photocopy it once. Cut out a number and place it over the last didgit of the year e.g. if it read 1980 then cut out the 1 from the first photocopy and place it over the 0 (on the 1980) and photocopy again!

And then u have a photocopied passport saying ur a year older!!!

Worked everywhere for my friends - Manhattan, Long Island etc. plus ur Irish Accent will help u!

bullrunner

Fabrizio wrote:

Simply photocopy it once. Cut out a number and place it over the last didgit of the year e.g. if it read 1980 then cut out the 1 from the first photocopy and place it over the 0 (on the 1980) and photocopy again!

And then u have a photocopied passport saying ur a year older!!!

Worked everywhere for my friends - Manhattan, Long Island etc. plus ur Irish Accent will help u!

That would make u a year younger...if you were born in 1980 and you change your dob to 1981.....That would make u a year younger.!!!!! :eek:

Funkstard

My dad is 56 and he got refused in Chicago because he had no ID without him.


Thats just..........just.............FREAKIN INSANE!!!!

Stephmurph

I was there when I was 20 but luckily for me my date of birth is 4/12/** - we read it as Dec 4th. Americans read it as April 12th, making me 21.
Wha hey!

Another time I had a friends old passport and that worked too. I did get asked for ID when buying cigarettes though..but I was 23 then. Was never carded when buying crack... Americans, go figure?

bounty_hunter

You might wanna reconsider going to Louisiana at this rate anyway.

6ix

Yeah, New Orleans is out. It's pretty tough for anyone down there so I'm very thankful the hurricane didnt happen next week when I should've gone. Anyway, it means that we've more time in New York and California.

I took Fabrizio's advice (thanks!!) and spent a long time perfecting the date on my copied passport, and it looks as good as I can get it. I think its almost perfect (time will tell!!). However, it all depends if places will take a copy passport. If they do, i'd nearly be certain this will work, so fingers crossed!

Overall, it's annoying having to do this, with only 2 months till my 21st, but hey, desperate times call for desperate measures.