Originally, the legal drinking age varied from state-to-state here in Australia, but as of now it's 18 nationally, with people arguing to both reduce it 16, or increase it to 21. That said, as far as I'm aware the drinking age only applies to public space; children can drink within the privacy of a household, but reckless drinking would then probably count as some kind of fineable/jailable offense for harm to a minor.
I'm 22, so I've been drinking for about 5 years now (started in my 17s at friends parties). There are stages of drunkness, that range from buzzed to tipsy to off your loving tits. I don't often have beers unless offered; I'm not big on bitter tastes, and they take too long to get me to the ideal state of "stuffface brickhoused". My choice of drink is a mix of Rum and Coke (originally Vodka and Lemonade); I start with more Coke than Rum, and slowly tweak the percentages as the night goes long (it's much harder to drink less-diluted alcohol when you're sober, so I need to warm up to it).
I've definitely abused the stuff in the past, hence my liver beginning to fail (and aggressively, with me throwing up many nights). The problem is that you get so complacent with the way you feel when you get to certain levels of pissed, when you finally have increased access to the goods, you keep pushing (dangerously) to those levels. I really do love the state of being drunk (I'm a happy, lazy drunk), and the people around me love me being drunk, but if I keep going with it, I probably won't be doing much living in a little while.
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