Can minors buy non-alcoholic beer in OR (Oregon)?

Comments

• Right. But what is "of age" for it then? 18 or 21? I have also read that the beverage contains .05% of alcohol or less. Doesnt that make it exempt from the laws and restrictions pertaining to alcoholic beverages? Since really most drinks are not considered alcoholic if they technically contain less than .05% alcohol? I dont know, I'm just saying what I have read.

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  by oregonredneck17 on June 10th, 2008

• 21. If a drink contains ANY alcohol, it is concidered an alcoholic beverage(to buy it) and you have to be 21 to buy it.

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  by medicgirl on June 11th, 2008

• ok. great thanks. that clears that up.

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  by oregonredneck17 on June 11th, 2008

• Sorry medicgirl, but you are mistaken.
  An alcoholic beverage, by Oregon definition (California too last I checked) is any beverage with an alcohol content of more than 0.5% (ABV). If it has less than 0.5% ABV, then it is considered non-alcoholic and anyone can purchase it.
  
  (My parolees were overjoyed to find this out, until they realized that they'd have to drink 6-10 cans or more (no way of knowing how much more because the cans only say 'less than 0.5% alcohol by volume but don't specify how much less - it's entirely possible to actually be zero) of NA beer to possibly consume the alcohol of just 1 beer! And that is the amount that their body would metabolize in the first hour!)
  
  So, by state law and OLCC rules, it is not 'considered an alcoholic beverage (to buy it) and you do not have to be 21 to buy it.
  
  However, and this is the big kicker - a retailer can have their own policies against selling it to minors. As long as they set this policy and don't discriminate against any protected group or class, then they can enforce this policy.
  
  Furthermore, there are groups who teach and encourage retailers and other providers/suppliers, that it is risky to sell to minors. For example, if you sell to a minor who is seated with a non-minor, and they switch glasses when you are not looking, how do you prove to the police or OLCC that you didn't sell to the minor? What happens when the police are called because someone sees a minor consuming what looks to be an alcoholic beverage? It's not really worth the hassle nor the risk.
  
  Finally, I know that there are other beverages (typically juice, especially orange juice) that have similar levels of alcohol (yes, we've measured it), that are perfectly legal to sell to minors, because they are not in the alcoholic beverage industry and are not considered to be alcoholic beverages. But, from a legal perspective, it is because they contain the 'less than 0.5% alcohol' and not because they are not in the alcoholic beverage industry.

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  by Sean_M752 on July 15th, 2011