Thanks to Peter's latest drunken antic (trying to drink from a fire hydrant, getting knocked into the local library, and drowning Jack London's "White Fang" for "ruining his eighth grade summer"), Mayor West raises the town's drinking age to 50, meaning Peter (who is in his 40s) and his friendsnote can no longer booze it up. When they learn that Brian is of age to drink and purchase alcohol, thanks to dog yearsnote and Brian happily procures alcohol for Peter, Quagmire, Joe, and Cleveland...until Brian gets in trouble for buying alcohol for underaged people.
Tropes:
- Artistic License – History: Played for Laughs when Cleveland says that he thinks Anna-Nicole Smith died from drinking water directly from a fire hydrant. Anna Nicole Smith actually died of a drug overdose (though it probably would explain why Quagmire didn't find that funny. He probably knew the real reason why she died).
- Acquired Poison Immunity: According to Cleveland, blacks become immune to the pain of hot sauce due to being pepper-sprayed by the age of two, and also need to put it on their food to be able to taste anything.
- Beer Goggles: When Peter and his friends are drinking, they look at a picture of Rebel Wilson. After they take another drink, she becomes Kate Winslet; after another she becomes Jennifer Lawrence, and after a fourth drink, the famous person becomes Neil Patrick Harris. They immediately start chugging coffee to sober up and try to get the last image out of their heads.
- Blazing Inferno Hellfire Sauce: The hot sauce Jerome gives Cleveland acts like this to Peter. Cleveland, however, is immune, as he was pepper-sprayed when he was a child.
- Call-Back:
- Quagmire's given age remains at 61 from "FOX-y Lady" so buying beer under the ban should not have presented a problem.
- Jerome's given age was revealed to be 42 in "Baby Got Black", yet he was still allowed to serve alcohol to Brian.
- Mayor Adam West gives Peter's age as 42. Peter had previously been listed as age 43 in "The Tan Aquatic with Steve Zissou" and had an unspecified birthday in "Baby, You Knock Me Out".
- Comically Missing the Point: When Brian asks Peter if he knows what's going on after Carol says Mayor West poured her some wine before dinner, Peter expresses surprise over how late she and West eat.
- Department of Redundancy Department: After Peter drinks down the hot sauce after being dared by Quagmire, he sees several images, culminating in an Afro-Brazilian woman at Carnivale; of this final image, Peter says “That last one was more caliente than hot.” In Spanish, “caliente” literally means “hot”. So he basically said, “That last one was more hot than hot.”note
- Didn't Think This Through: Peter's plan to get Mayor West to change the drinking law is to threaten to kill the mayor's nephew. Brian points out Peter's holding a gun to Chris's head.
- Everyone Has Standards:
- When called out on his hypocrisy, Mayor West actually admits to it and is willing to resign for breaking the law that he demanded. However, Brian and Peter convinced him to change the law instead.
- In a brief moment, Peter gets mad when it is revealed that Opie was not mentally disabled but was instead very drunk the entire time he knew him.
- Forgot Flanders Could Do That: Peter and Brian both recall (while drunk) how close they were early on in the series (prior to Brian and Stewie's friendship forming in "Road to Rhode Island).
- Hypocrite: Mayor West said that people under the age of 50 aren't responsible enough to drink alcohol, yet he still gave wine to his wife, Carol, who's probably in her late-30s at the absolute youngest which Brian calls him out on this. To Mayor West credit, he does consider resigning from his position for breaking the law until Peter convinces him to restore the original drinking age limit.
- Hot Sauce Drinking: Peter does this in the beginning of the episode to win a bet.
- Hypocritical Humor: Brian accuses Stewie of being jealous of him hanging out with Peter. Stewie quips he doesn't want a morbidly obese idiot for a friend. Cue Chris telling him to come over to see his latest stunt, and Stewie immediately obliges.
- Lampshade Hanging: In response to both Adam West and Jay Leno being elected mayors, Cleveland asks who's voting for these kinds of candidates, with Peter answering that "Rhode Island is a mess from top to bottom".
- Loophole Abuse: Although Brian's only 8 years old, this translates to 56 in dog years, so he's technically old enough to drink.
- "Not Making This Up" Disclaimer: During a cutaway, Thomas Edison steals the lightbulb and the phonograph from other inventors, after which a jingle sings "Look it up, Edison was a dick!"
- Plot-Induced Illness: Peter claims that Chris has Crohn's Disease.
- Queer Establishing Moment: Bruce is officially stated to be gay for the first time.
- Rule-Breaker Rule-Namer: Peter's pretty unhappy that the new drinking law is named after him.Joe: This new law sucks. I gotta say, it's pretty uncool of Mayor West to call it Peter's Law.
Peter: No kidding. Now I know how Megan from Megan's law felt.
Quagmire: I... I don't... I don't think you know how she felt. - Shout-Out:
- The image of Neil Patrick Harris in his underwear was taken from the 2015 Oscars when he took the stage in a parody of Birdman.
- When the 80s FBI arrive during Chris' hacking attempt, "The Heat Is On", originally by Glenn Frey, plays.
- The video clip of the samba dancers takes place at Rio de Janeiro's Sambadrome during Carnival.
- "Brass Monkey" by the Beastie Boys plays during the guys' drinking binge.
- Smart Ball: After Peter's drunken antics, Mayor West comes to the conclusion that if people in their 40s can't drink responsibly, then the legal drinking age should be raised to 50. This is especially sensible of Mayor West, who's normally an extreme Cloud Cuckoo Lander that makes Peter seem sane by comparison.
- Take That!:
- Cleveland's comment about black people liking hot sauce because most have been pepper-sprayed before they turned two is this trope towards police brutality against African-Americans.
- Jack London's White Fang also gets this treatment, as Peter and Joe work together to kill it in retaliation for ruining their 8th grade summers.
- Lastly, Jay Leno's limited wardrobe receives this trope. Then it treads into Self-Deprecation, as Leno appears as himself and cops to it.
- Peter notes how Adam Sandler's friends use him.
- Peter reports in that "Jimmy Crack Corn" is their wedding song.
- The Tooth Hurts: Peter breaks all of his teeth from biting into one of Mayor West's croquet balls, as he mistook it for a tomato.
- Ungrateful Bastard: Brian buys the guys beer, Peter sells out Brian to save his own skin, then goes to Brian later while picking up trash to ask he buy them more beer.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Brian denounces Peter for selling him out and using him for alcohol.
- With Friends Like These...: Despite Stewie's warnings, Brian thinks Peter is hanging out with him out of genuine friendship. When Peter faces being arrested for violating the new drinking law, he tells the cop that Brian bought it for him to save himself.
