The In Between of the Young Adult Drink

If there is anything that Dublin is not short of, is a perfectly poured pint and a good chat. The only thing missing in this holy trinity of an Irish summer is a sunny and scenic place to enjoy this pint and chat. With the recent closures and strict drinking policies, Dublin’s go-to drinking spots have been disappearing. 

But it doesn’t seem to be angry shop owners that are shooing people away, McCaffertys at the Barge, has seen its fair share of Garda cars start towards them. Often, on the (numbered) sunny days in Dublin, groups of working professionals migrate from the offices nearby Charlemont Luas to the canal that every Luas stop overlooks.  

Naturally, as more and more people gather, pint in hand, sun on their face, the young adult crowd begins to gather as well. Instead of tailored paintsuits, many young adults are repping old pairs of jeans along with their talent for being able to comfortably sit anywhere and anyway. 

Unfortunately for the relationship between the Garda and the young Irish adults, it seems dark cloudy days are ironically the only time they are on good terms with each other. As these jeans always seem to find themselves on the grass of the canal, followed not long after are the sirens of the Garda and the Public Order Unit. 

So it seems to be more of a question of age that attracts the Garda and disapproval from the public. But what is it about young adult drinking habits that is so problematic? After all, young adults don’t seem to need much. 

But maybe the young adult drinking experience is more complex than that. There may be a deeper reason that the young adult craves the perfect drinking environment, yet never the socially correct one. 

At this stage in their lives, young adults crave to get a glimpse into the world they are readying themselves to enter. Going out to grab a drink is not an after work ‘take the edge off’ it is entirely sitting at the ‘edge of things’. While going out and grabbing a drink may seem to be an act of young recklessness and a mess waiting to happen to the many shop and pub owners around Dublin, it is actually one of the very few moments that young adults are able to be in between the carefree naivety while at the same time putting themselves in the centre of a fully formed and running society. 

It is as if they are both in the past of their youth yet reaching out for the future of their community. These big steps into the future may be masked by humour and wit but what these young adults are craving more than anything is not only to be a part of their community but to create it. They see a hard-hitting job market followed by now robotic performance, and the only thing they can cling to is the vulnerability and familiarity they have known all their lives within the walls of their home. 

But as we can not stay in our homes forever and we can not cling to our parents forever, university becomes its own four walls of a home. Where academic learning is just as important as emotional learning. So as young adults go on to the pubs they are actively building the walls of this new home, meeting people, gaining advice, people watching, seeing their community in action. 

And as you’re bound to see on a sunny day outside campuses, there is something still adolescent and transitional about the young adult. Where it is almost second nature for them to run towards the green earth as the sun shines down on it. And drinking culture for them is no different. They aren't ones to object to a pub inside when it’s pouring, however when the sun is out, they crave to be as grounded as possible. 

To touch the grass as they did when they rolled in it as children, yet taste the sweet elevating experience of alcohol as an adult. This in between transition of the once frustration of not knowing one’s own emotions to intentionally twisting them as in to take away all power from them. 

Maybe that entire subconscious power is what ends up in between what young adults crave and what society expects of drinking culture. While society, and more obviously the Garda, represent a power of control and influence in what is appropriate, young adults still have this naivety and hope instilled in them that they can redefine ‘power’. Whether in their personal lives or in the broader world, a young adult's biggest fear is arguably losing their own power over themselves. 

Losing the ability to make mistakes and not have a reputation looming over their heads. After all, most of the conversations held surrounding a drink with friends, are the conversations of dreams and plans that are discussed as if the dreams and the person themselves are boundless. And in many ways, at this age they are boundless. 

But to be boundless in a bounded society, always leaves them at the edge of things. On kerbs or on the grass where they are neither respected as adults nor forgiven as children. So perhaps it’s time to stop trying to define young adult drinking culture, as it’s as unpredictable as it is undefinable. As young adults enter this transitional time in their lives from extensions of society to society itself, may they always find themselves under the sun, one hand to the grass, and another with a drink shared among their built community. 

Written By: Sophia Arceo

Edited By: Kirsten Baldwin