5 Times Newly Legal Shawn Mendes Talked About Alcohol

Credit: Lionel Hahn/AbacaUSA/Instarimages.com

5 Times Newly Legal Shawn Mendes Talked About Alcohol

There wasn’t anything holdin’ him back — well, except the drinking age in the U.S. Shawn Mendes has been sipping alcohol in his hometown of Toronto for years, and now he can finally drink legally in the States! The Grammy nominee turned 21 on Thursday, August 8, in the midst of his eponymous tour. He has three days off and plans to celebrate with friends in New York City before his next concert on Saturday, August 10, at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. He returns to the Big Apple later in the month for back-to-back shows at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. “In America there’s this kind of pressure that builds inside of needing to go to the bar that by the time you’re 21, which is like a full adult, you just explode,” he explained to Rolling Stone in May 2018. “I feel like a lot of crazy things kind of happen to kids when they first go out instead of if it was a few years younger. Maybe they wouldn’t have been so tempted to go that crazy.” In honor of the milestone, scroll down to see five of Mendes’ best quotes about alcohol through the years.

Credit: Lionel Hahn/AbacaUSA/Instarimages.com

5 Times Newly Legal Shawn Mendes Talked About Alcohol

There wasn’t anything holdin’ him back — well, except the drinking age in the U.S. Shawn Mendes has been sipping alcohol in his hometown of Toronto for years, and now he can finally drink legally in the States! The Grammy nominee turned 21 on Thursday, August 8, in the midst of his eponymous tour. He has three days off and plans to celebrate with friends in New York City before his next concert on Saturday, August 10, at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. He returns to the Big Apple later in the month for back-to-back shows at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. “In America there’s this kind of pressure that builds inside of needing to go to the bar that by the time you’re 21, which is like a full adult, you just explode,” he explained to Rolling Stone in May 2018. “I feel like a lot of crazy things kind of happen to kids when they first go out instead of if it was a few years younger. Maybe they wouldn’t have been so tempted to go that crazy.” In honor of the milestone, scroll down to see five of Mendes’ best quotes about alcohol through the years.

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Cheers to Britain

When comedian Jack Whitehall pointed out during the Brit Awards in February 2019 that the singer was not “old enough to drink” at the Grammys earlier that month, Mendes pointedly reached for his glass of white wine. “Thank you, U.K., for this,” he said, raising the glass. “Thank you.”

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Playing Catch-Up

“I drink a s--t-ton when I go home, and I just don’t drink in America. I get it all out when I go home,” Mendes said in the aforementioned Rolling Stone interview. “I don’t find it frustrating [being in America] because I care about alcohol. I care about time with friends in bars. I’m being denied a social experience, not an alcoholic beverage. I wish I was allowed to just go in the bar and drink a pop because then I would at least be there with everyone and I wouldn’t have to be in my hotel while everyone else is at the bar.”

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Turned Away

Security guards at the iconic Dublin bar Bruxelles denied entry to the former Vine star in April 2019, four months before he turned 21. Mendes took it in stride though, graciously replying, “OK, thank you. Wow. All right, bye. I tried.” His next stop? A nearby McDonald’s.

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Go-To Order

“I love rye and ginger,” Mendes told Rolling Stone. “But I had to slow down because they don’t feel good the next morning, so I just started drinking tequila, and it’s better. I drink either Don Julio or Casamigos.”

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The Big Day

Mendes told fans at a backstage meet and greet in August 2019 that he had plans to ring in his 21st birthday in New York. “I will celebrate it the same way you’d expect a 21-year-old to celebrate it!” he teased. “I bought [all of my friends] AirPods because I knew they were getting on a long bus ride.”