Sorry, les enfants! At long last, it looks like France — where you can drink beer and wine as young as 16 years old — is going to raise its drinking age to 18.

The good news: As has always been the case, no one is likely to ask for ID. From the AP story:

Deputies in the National Assembly late Monday approved an amendment to a health ministry bill raising the legal age limit from 16 to 18 for both alcohol and tobacco sales, bringing France in line with most of Europe.

With underage drinking on the rise across Europe, according to a recent study, the French bill, which still needs Senate approval, would allow mayors to ban take-away sales of alcohol at night in their towns.

The law will also outlaw open bars, seen as encouraging binge-drinking, as well as alcohol sales in road service stations after 6:00 pm.

Good luck with that, France!

75 years ago, this blog would not have been possible. Never mind that computers and the Internet didn’t exist — alcohol was illegal, too!

On December 5th, Prohibition’s Repeal celebrates its 75th anniversary: It was 1933 when we were finally cured of our disastrous 13-year run of bathtub gin and bootlegging. Colorful times, to be sure, but hardly the way a sophisticated country works.

Check out more information about the big event at the Jeff Morgenthaler’s RepealDay.org or the Distilled Spirits Council’s ProhibitionRepeal.com website. And, it should go without saying, knock a couple back today!

Well, nickel us, anyway:

Nickel-a-drink tax: Effective Jan. 1, 2009 Schwarzenegger would hike the alcohol taxes in the stat by a nickel per drink (defined as 1.5 ounces of liquor, 12 ounces of beer, or 5 ounces of wine)

What it would bring in: $293 million in 208-09 and $584 million in 2009-10.

Funny, we did the same thing back in 1990.

Actually, I’m fine with this. If you’re going to tax something, alcohol is totally fair game. If you’re sober enough to protest, this really isn’t going to affect you, anyway.