When Maik Duennbier was 14 his parents prepared to mark his birthday with the right of passage that befalls most German teenagers when they reach that age.
However, unlike other young people, he insisted the drink he was legally allowed to drink with their approval was non-alcoholic, much to his parents' surprise.
"There is a tradition that we are welcomed into the circle of adults," he says.
"I was supposed to give thanks and have a little speech and I negotiated with my parents that it would be alcohol-free.
"My mum told everyone but not because she was proud - she found it a little bit strange.
"There is this belief that parents can train their kids because parents assume that all kids will start using alcohol.
"It is really problematic because the data shows that when kids are familiarised with alcohol at home, they actually consume more and in more high-risk ways."
Germany has historically had the highest number of alcohol-related cancer deaths in Europe, ahead of France and the UK, but its laws are among the most relaxed in the world.
Children are permitted to drink beer and wine at 14 with their parent or guardian's approval.
At 16 they can legally consume the same drinks in a bar unaccompanied but must wait until they are 18 before they can drink spirits.
Beer is seen as an important part of German traditions and culture. In 2020, the country ranked third in Europe in terms of per-capita beer consumption, behind the Czech Republic and Austria.
Maik is director of strategy and advocacy at Movendi International, a global campaign group with a remit to help prevent alcohol and drug harm.
It is lobbying the government to bring Germany into line with other countries which have a minimum drinking age of 18 but despite polls showing 60-70% of the public would be supportive there are no plans for a change in policy.
"I'm turning 40 this year and I was born in 1984," says Maik.
"I think there is a new younger generation - the Gen Z - like many other high-income countries who stay alcohol-free longer.
"If they do consume alcohol they are consuming less. They are more health conscious and sober-curious - this modern term that we have.
"But Germany has a massive problem with under-age and young peoples' alcohol consumption.
"The number of hospitalisations due to alcohol intoxication is off the chart."
READ MORE:
- 'I know my limits because I started drinking earlier'
- 'If my wife wasn't here I'd punch you': Has pressure to sell booze ruined live theatre?
Germany has some of the highest rates of binge drinking (categorised as six or more drinks on one occasion) among 15 to 19-year-olds in Europe, behind Denmark and Belgium.
In Germany, almost 46% of young people aged 15 to 19 years drank till intoxication at least once a month in 2019, compared to 28% it in the EU.
Maik says little is being done to stop the alcohol industry "pushing products onto young children". Tax rates for alcoholic beverages in Germany are below average compared to the rest of Europe.
"We have a very permissive alcohol culture," he says.
"In Germany as a society we have not arrived at the conclusion that alcohol is a problem and in Scotland you have arrived at this. You are addressing it."
"The earlier you start drinking, the higher the chance that you will become addicted," says Dr Katrin Shaller, who heads up the Cancer Prevention Unit of the German Cancer Research Centre in Heidelberg.
"It's always better to start later.
"The drugs commissioner called it accompanied drinking like accompanied driving - when you get your licence you have to be accompanied by a parent or an adult.
"It shows how crazy it is," added Dr Shaller, who also advised government on tobacco control.
"The awareness of the health risks of alcohol drinking in the population [now] is like it was for smoking in the 1960s and 1970s - we are lagging behind and we need to raise awareness of the risks of alcohol."
She says alcohol consumption amongst young girls has been rising since 2010.
"What we also see is very low prevalence among the 12-15-year-olds but a real jump from about 4% of the younger ones to 23% the 16 to 17-year-olds.
"At the moment they are allowed to drink beer and wine and they do. It's important to raise the age to delay the start of the drinking age."
Despite research showing a majority of the German public would like to see some changes in alcohol policy, "nothing at all is happening".
She said changes in alcohol advertising were promised but have stalled. The only restriction is a ban on adverts before 6pm in cinemas.
"Alcohol policy in Germany is even worse than tobacco control," said Dr Shaller.
"It's in the coalition treaty. They should do something - any kind of advertising restrictions because there are no restrictions at all and we have very low alcohol taxes, which would be very important."
She said Germany's proliferation of breweries and regions with wine meant there would be "many many, many members of parliament who have alcohol industry in their region and they don't want to restrict anything."
"The farmers association, the brewers association, they run the show when it comes to alcohol policy in Germany" added Maik.
"But it's also because our discourse is so limited. In Scotland you managed to have a broader discourse that looks at all the harms alcohol is causing and really made it a concern of society.
"In Germany, we are not there yet.
"We need to put pressure on lawmakers because we are losing tens of thousands from alcohol and cancer every year."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here