Age verification on beer related websites?

Never understood this. Typing that you're 21 doesn't prove anything. It's annoying.

 

For a review site you do not need it.

EDIT: I'm not sure about US but Canada has no law enforcing age for canadian breweries.

 

It's a liability thing... sort of like the immigration forms asking if you plan on committing any terrorist acts

 

Any beer site that I go to that requires me to enter in an age, I just exit the screen.

Its like a news page asking me to like there page on facebook just read the latest headline.

Or a website that pops up a window that tells me to download there app instead of viewing on mobile browser.

 

the most annoying thing is when you are on a mobile devise and trying to access a brewery's website to see what their tap list is. DFH for example, hasn't formatted the their website for mobile devises and it can be annoying.

 

I usually just set my age to 100 years old if they ask.

 

What if you are 100 years old?

 

I have never understood this. Your not selling or serving alchool on a website and there is nothing in the law that states someone under the age of 21 is prohibited from going to a website about alchool.

 

I looked into this a while back since I was curious.

There is no law requiring the age prompt; it's purely voluntary on the part of the site's owners. Some sources indicated that it's done to head off potential legal requirements to do it, kind of like how movie and video game ratings were implemented to avoid the government imposing their own (likely more stringent) standards.

Of course those verification screens are a joke. Although why lots of them don't just set a cookie so you don't have to enter your age every time you hit the site is beyond me.

Is underage craft beer drinking really a problem? I always just think of this: http://www.theonion.com/articles/teens-get-drunk-on-awardwinning-microbrew,1699/

 

jesskidden already answered this: http://beeradvocate.com/community/t...ot-21-links-brewery-websites.1680/#post-23827

 

Haha - that's hilarious.

 

I have been told it's basically a CYA move in case they are accused of advertising to minors. The big guys can weather a lawsuit or two but a small brewery could get killed by legal costs.

 

The big guys do it too. Most breweries do. It is, of course, an absolute joke.

 

It goes a little further than just the Brewers Association guidelines. The FTC addressed this in 2008 (and I presume that the BA guidelines are probably a response to that). Here is the link:

http://www.ftc.gov/os/2008/06/080626alcoholreport.pdf

If you do a search on page for "Suppliers who operate websites to promote their brands" you will be taken to the exact spot that addresses this. But all of this from the FTC to the BA guidelines fall under self regulation within the industry, so there is nothing at this time that legally compels it, but it is obviously highly recommended. I would say that this initial level of self regulation is also what has allowed so much promotion through social media sites to continue unchecked, where no such verification systems are set up. We are in the heyday of social media, apps, etc. for promoting alcohol brands. Arguably, there is far more promotion happening over the internet through these other self identified locations on the internet, than there is directly on breweries' original websites (with many small breweries now only having Facebook and/or twitter sites). While it is a gray area, I don't think that it is too much of a logical leap to see how not using age verification (if it is even possible) on such social media destinations is at the very least violating the spirit of the FTC recommendations for self regulation, in an attempt to look at the strictest (if not also, now somewhat dated) definition of a brewery's website.

Now I am not saying this as if I am for or against any of this. I am just pointing out that nobody should be surprised if the next time around, that the FTC specifically addresses social media promotion and makes some sort of requirement of age verification for anybody who friends or follows a brewery and that it is also recommended that all content is then limited to be viewed only by those verified friends or followers.

 

I've been rejected with 11/11/1911 on a site or two. Apparently the world isn't ready for tech-savvy, beer loving centenarians.

 

how about sites that dont verify age for purchase of beer lol

 

Yeah, there definitely is not. There's no regulation stating brewers have to do it and they actually sell age restricted items, which I assume you will not be doing, so a site about reviewing beer is certainly not going to need such a thing. As you can see by the impotent rage about the "age verification", it would not be in your best interest in terms of generating traffic and keeping users.

 

Its kinda like when I buy beer and the cashier asks me if I'm 21....


Of course I say no and spend the next 3 minutes trying to remember my true age. Then I request to just show my ID because its easier than doing the math in my head.. (usually at this point they realize I must be old enough)

Funny I get carded more often for smokes than I do for alcohol