Minimum Legal Drinking Ages: 1975 (IMAGE) Washington University School of Medicine Caption By 1975, many states had lowered the minimum legal drinking age from 21 (shown in yellow) to 18 (brown) or 19 (orange). Credit Washington University School of Medicine Usage Restrictions None License Licensed content Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.