Line #29 Main/LactoseOverLiquor


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6	[[quoteright:328:[[ComicBook/LuckyLuke https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lactose_over_liquor.png]]]]
7
8	->''"Gimme a milk! Chocolate!"''
9	-->-- '''George [=McFly=]''', ''Film/BackToTheFuture1''
10
11	Milk, it does a body good. But it's also got a bit of a reputation as a drink for children. Certainly, it's not the sort of thing you'd expect one to order at a bar. Not if you want to be considered macho, tough, or someone to be feared or respected.
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13	As to why bars might actually have milk available, some cocktails, such as White Russians, use it.
14
15	But some characters will do just that. They could simply be TheTeetotaler, too young to imbibe alcohol, not in the mood for a stiff drink, or suffering health maladies that would make alcohol a problem for them. Or maybe they're ordering it for the youngest person on their team, to make a joke about their junior status. Whatever the case, they have ordered milk at an establishment better known for flammable {{Gargle Blaster}}s.
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17	If the character is sufficiently {{Badass}}, they won't suffer needless harassment for their order. But eyebrows may be discreetly raised. Compare AgeStereotypicalFood for the "childish" association.
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19	A SubTrope of DrinkBasedCharacterization. May overlap with DrunkOnMilk, and StockAnimalDiet if the character ordering is a cat.
20
21	----
22	!!Examples:
23
24	[[foldercontrol]]
25
26	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
27	* ''Manga/BlackLagoon'':
28	** When she first appears in town, Roberta orders milk at the Yellow Flag, presumably having given up alcohol after becoming a maid for the Lovelace family. The next time she shows up, [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness she demands a bottle of tequila]].
29	** At the start of the Jane Greenback arc, when the CarnivalOfKillers is being assembled in the local tavern, everyone notices two of them (Lotton The Wizard and Claude "Torch" Weaver) have glasses of milk instead of beer like everyone else does. Lotton states he doesn't like the smell of beer, and Claude says drinking alcohol is against his religion.
30	* ''Manga/GalaxyExpress999'': Tetsuro, looking for information about Count Mecha, orders milk at the bar on Heavy Melder. Though laughed at by the other patrons, the bartender tells Tetsuro he'll drink with him. Later, when Tetsuro is trying to retrieve his Cosmo Dragoon from some rough customers at the bar, Captain Harlock shows up. He, too, orders milk, but this time, no-one is laughing, and he forces it down the offending android's throat.
31	* Badass giant robot pilot Van of ''Anime/GunXSword'' has as his drink of choice... milk. He does have an excuse, however -- he CantHoldHisLiquor worth a damn.
32	* In ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureGoldenWind JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Vento Aureo]]'', when [[TheMafia Passione]]'s [[QuirkyMinibossSquad Squadra di Esecuzioni]] goes to a restaurant, [[AntiVillain Pesci]] orders milk instead of alcohol or espresso. [[TheBabyOfTheBunch He is the most inexperienced member of the team and displays a hesitant, meek, and cowardly personality]].
33	* Parodied in ''Anime/{{Trigun}}'' when Meryl orders a banana sundae and Millie orders a fancy pastry with tea, causing the bartender to complain about them doing the gag wrong.
34	* In one episode of ''Anime/YuGiOh5Ds'', Yusei, the protagonist, gets directed to meet a contact at a seedy bar. As he approaches the counter, the barkeep taunts him by saying that "kids aren't allowed here." Yusei's response is to order a glass of milk before telling the barkeep who sent him.
35	[[/folder]]
36
37	[[folder:Comic Books]]
38	* In ''ComicBook/{{Asterix}}'', Obelix drinks goat's milk when he's DrowningHisSorrows. He has beer at other times, but since he DoesNotKnowHisOwnStrength, he doesn't want to be upset ''and'' drunk. In a few albums, he does drink wine, [[CantHoldHisLiquor and promptly gets drunk off his ass]], even from fairly moderate amounts.
39	* One ''ComicBook/{{Batman}}'' issue begins with Batman leaving Robin alone at a quasi-BadGuyBar while he goes to talk with an informant. Needled by the barman, Robin (who's drawn to look barely 12) fearlessly orders milk; one {{Beat}} later, a local HookerWithAHeartOfGold joins him.
40	* ''ComicBook/LuckyLuke'':
41	** In "The Pony Express", the new recruits for the Pony Express are forced to drink milk in the saloon since their contract forbids them from drinking alcohol. This gets them mocked by the members of the Pacific Railway (the Pony Express' main competitor). Their leader, the station master, even forces William Russell, head of the Pony Express, at gunpoint to drink a bottle of whiskey. In the comic, he actually drinks it, while in [[WesternAnimation/LuckyLuke1983 the animated adaptation]] Luke shoots the bottle. In both versions, Luke then gets back at the station master by forcing him at gunpoint to drink a bottle of milk. Topping off his humiliation is the fact that he accidentally burps afterwards like a giant infant.
42	--->'''Station Master:''' ''[as his co-workers lead him out of the saloon like he's drunk]'' I want to ''dieeee....''
43	** In "The Tenderfoot", Luke deduces a bartender is teetotal by the fact he has a glass of milk [[spoiler:and [[SpottingTheThread therefore]] that he hasn't, as he claimed, been drinking from the bottle of scotch behind the bar, and the one man who ''does'' drink it [[FakingTheDead isn't really dead]]]].
44	** Luke himself drinks whisky in a few albums early on, but usually abstains, though his drink of choice is lemonade or Cola instead of milk.
45	* A comic of ''ComicBook/TheSimpsons'' focusing on Moe's tavern starts with Chief Wiggum ordering a glass of milk. It's then [[SubvertedTrope subverted]] when Wiggum reminded Moe what he actually meant, as "milk" was part of a [[SpySpeak series of code names]] under which he ordered his drinks.
46	[[/folder]]
47
48	[[folder:Comic Strips]]
49	* ''ComicStrip/ThePhantom'':
50	** The UrExample is when the Phantom goes to town in the guise of Mr. Walker, to extract information. He will invariably visit the grungiest bar in the seediest part of Morristown and order milk. Nobody ever mocks him for it... more than once ("It is good for the bones" [starts breaking bones]). And they will always have a bottle handy. The Phantom is teetotal, which appears to [[LegacyImmortality go in the family]].
51	** He is at one point revealed to have a drinks cabinet filled with 300+ years' worth of various vines and other spirits that have been gifted to the Phantoms over the years, still unopened because neither he nor any of his forefathers have ever touched any of it. His [[DrinkBasedCharacterization trademark drink]] is milk -- which, no matter how seedy the bar he walks into is, they always have a bottle of somewhere.
52	** His now college-aged daughter Heloise is apparently continuing the tradition, with an amusing side-story detailing her college roommate's spectacularly failed attempt to drag her into a GirlsNightOutEpisode, where her offer to buy her a beer was met with a completely straight-faced "I am not even in the mood for milk". Then a random Guy got grabby and a BarBrawl started and she kicked their asses and she said that the next evening would be spent studying for their exams.
53	** A 2020 story had Her Father Kit Walker (The Phantom) visit her together with her mother Diana Walker, and they and Heloise and her Roomate Kadia went out for dinner. And it is casually shown that while all four of them was given Wine to dinner, both Kit and Heloise is shown covering their full glasses when they are offered a refill by their waiter.
54	[[/folder]]
55
56	[[folder:Fan Works]]
57	* ''Fanfic/InterNos'': The Himean soldiers all drink wine. The Otomeians prefer beer. Natsuki prefers milk. She gets some mild ribbing from Nao about it, but, having proven herself already in combat, no one actually questions her abilities at this point.
58	* ''Fanfic/IronWood'': In a future much like Mass Effect, but where all humans have superpowers, it is mentioned at one point that one shouldn't make fun of a human drinking milk in a bar. Either they're strong and tough enough that liquor does nothing to them, or they're afraid of doing serious harm and/or property damage if they get drunk. Neither scenario ends well for Krogans picking a fight.
59	* ''Fanfic/SunsetsIsekai'': Too young to drink in your home jurisdiction? Just don’t want alcohol? No worries, the milkshakes at the Isekai are great too.
60	** And don't bother trying to get an alchoholic beverage if you're too young to legally drink back home - the Isekai has spells for that kind of thing.
61	* ''Fanfic/WithThisRing'': Paul doesn't drink, but has a taste for unpasteurised milk, which is easy to get when you can teleport all over the world at will. Various characters are bemused. He also has a habit of offering to adjust the chromosomes of any lactose-intolerant friends (such as the Crocks) so they can tolerate milk.
62	-->'''Karon:''' Can I get you something to drink?\
63	'''Paul:''' Ah, yes please. Milk. Full fat, if you've got it.\
64	'''Karon:''' Bit early in the evening to be on the hard stuff, isn't it?
65	[[/folder]]
66
67	[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
68	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Barnyard}}'': At the party, the animals get [[GRatedDrug drunk on milk mixed with honey]].
69	* ''Franchise/{{Shrek}}'':
70	** In ''WesternAnimation/Shrek2'', Puss in Boots and Donkey go to the Poison Apple (a tavern on the outskirts of the city), where Puss drinks a large glass jug of milk.
71	** In ''WesternAnimation/PussInBoots'', the titular character enters a bar and orders a shot of ''leche'' (Spanish for milk), much to the amusement of the other patrons.
72	[[/folder]]
73
74	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
75	* ''Film/AlienNation'' is something of a subversion, as the alien Newcomers ''can'' get DrunkOnMilk... or, in their case, spoiled milk.
76	* In ''Film/BackToTheFuture1'', George is about to approach his crush Lorraine at the MaltShop. He needs LiquidCourage and heads over to the bar to order... chocolate milk. In this case, it's probably intended to indicate the relative wholesomeness of Hill Valley in 1955 and/or the fact that George is a somewhat wimpy dork.
77	* ''Film/{{Catwoman\|2004}}'': Patience Phillips pounces, meows, and walks with a SupermodelStrut through Gotham city. In one scene, she goes to a club and orders a White Russian without ice, vodka, or Kahlúa. Even the bartender seems amused when he ends up getting her the drink, which is just straight-up cream.
78	* ''Film/DestryRidesAgain'' is probably one of the earliest examples. Destry walks into the bar, and the bartender guesses that Destry would order milk. Destry confirms.
79	* ''Film/DocSavageTheManOfBronze''. While Doc Savage and his crew are at a party with Captain Seas, Johnny orders a glass of milk. His order shows how clean-cut he is.
80	* Throughout ''Film/EddieTheEagle'', Eddie orders milk instead of alcohol when at a bar, much to the amusement of his hard-partying fellow athletes.
81	* Sheriff Geronimo of ''Film/FinalJustice'' orders a tall glass of milk while trying to pump the bartender for information, an act that earns him the ridicule of a tiny Maltese man who was standing nearby. This then leads to a massive BarBrawl which Geronimo handily wins. While we never do see the Sheriff imbibe alcohol, his stated reason for ordering milk is that it helps to [[AcheyScars soothe an old gunshot wound]], rather than teetotalism.
82	* In ''Film/InspectorGadget2'', Gadget tries to infiltrate Dr. Claw's operation by going undercover as a thug at a BadGuyBar that Claw's been hiring henchmen out of. The cover begins to fall apart when our family-friendly comedy protagonist orders a "nice, tall glass of milk". When the other patrons react, he amends his order to "''chocolate'' milk. Make it a double!"
83	* Leon from ''Film/TheProfessional'' is almost always shown drinking milk as opposed to his manager Tony who does drink alcohol.
84	* In ''Film/{{Sidekicks}}'', Chuck Norris drinks milk... [[MemeticBadass which automatically means milk is awesome]]. When Barry first orders it, in a Western fantasy with Chuck, the other patrons at the saloon laugh at him. But they all cease as soon as Chuck reveals his gun to them, before also ordering a milk.
85	* In Film/TheThreeStooges short "Punchy Cowpunchers", after Moe and Larry order their shots at the bar, Shemp orders a milkshake. When a cowboy at the bar spits out his drink in disgust, Shemp adds "''... with sour milk!''".
86	* ''Film/VictorVictoria'': {{Exploited\|Trope}} by King when he becomes uncomfortable with playacting as half of a gay couple, and goes off to a working-class watering hole to pick a fight, apparently thinking to reassure himself of his masculinity.
87	-->'''King:''' ''(to the barman)'' Milk.\
88	'''Bystander:''' Cow's milk, or mother's milk, monsieur?\
89	'''King:''' How about your sister's? ''(cue BarBrawl)''
90	[[/folder]]
91
92	[[folder:Literature]]
93	* In one of the ''Literature/TheAdventuresOfSamuraiCat'' books, Miaowara Tomokato goes into a rough bar and orders a saucer of milk. And gets it, though he needs to disassemble most of the patrons before being allowed to drink it in peace.
94	* ''Literature/AClockworkOrange'': Alex and his friends are too young to order alcohol, so they drink milk laced with drugs that make them super-violent instead.
95	* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'':
96	** In ''Literature/EqualRites'', Esk, an eleven year old ChildMage, orders a goat's milk at a seedy tavern, and the bartender is about to say they don't have any, when he realises that something about the barrels behind him suddenly doesn't feel right...
97	** In ''Literature/MenAtArms'', when most of the Watch are drowning their sorrows in beer, the exceptions are Detritus (whose differing metabolism means he gets drunk on molten sulphur), Nobby (who's gone for an UmbrellaDrink), and Carrot, who orders milk. Carrot being Carrot, nobody questions or makes fun of this. (In [[Literature/GuardsGuards his previous appearance]], he'd tried a shandy [half beer, half lemonade] and hadn't liked it.)
98	* In one of the adventures in ''Literature/IncognitoMosquitoPrivateInsective'', the protagonist goes into a tough bar and orders a glass of milk. Realizing that it's a conspicuously un-tough drink order, he quickly adds, "Make it a double -- and serve it in a dirty glass."
99	* Milk is the favorite drink of Archie Goodwin, the title character's right-hand man in the ''Literature/NeroWolfe'' series. While he's not a complete teetotaler, the milk preference does subvert the hard-drinking private eye stereotype.
100	[[/folder]]
101
102	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
103	* B.A. Baracus, the resident ScaryBlackMan from ''Series/TheATeam'' is a strict teetotaler and only drinks milk. This might be intended to indicate [[BruiserWithASoftCenter his softer side]]. The preference usually goes uncommented-upon because the rest of the team is used to it after all this time (enough that drugging it is one of their methods of choice for sedating BA in case they need to fly).
104	* Barnaby Jones from the show ''Series/BarnabyJones'' was a somewhat elderly private eye who always ordered milk in bars and restaurants, usually to the disbelief of the criminals he chased.
105	* The [=McPoyles=] from ''Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia'' are an incestuous, inbred family obsessed with drinking milk and keeping a warm temperate climate that often antagonizes the gang. They have tried ordering milk at Paddy's only to be outright denied and shooed away by Dennis and Mac. Their milk-drinking habits are used to portray them as off-putting, weird, and gross.
106	* ''Series/TheITCrowd'': In "The Final Countdown", Moss becomes part of an exclusive club for those who make it through eight episodes of the titular game show ''Series/{{Countdown}}''. The club is full of {{Stereotypical Nerd}}s showing off their [[ALadyOnEachArm arm candy]]. Moss, who is known for his [[{{Adorkable}} awkwardness and dry wit]] drinks milk rather than alcohol, attesting to his vanilla lifestyle.
107	-->'''Moss''': I came here to [[ChewBubblegum drink milk and kick ass]]. And I've just finished my milk.
108	* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': In "Hollow Pursuits", Guinan reveals that the neurotic engineer Reg Barclay goes to ten-forward, the bar, every evening, but all he orders is milk, specifically ''warm'' milk. Geordi says, "Seriously?", and Guinan replies that [[WarmMilkHelpsYouSleep Geordi should try it because it helps you sleep]].
109	[[/folder]]
110
111	[[folder:Podcasts]]
112	* ''Podcast/WoodenOvercoats'': Rudyard strongly dislikes alcohol. Eric remembers this and offers him his preferred beverage of milk when the entire cast goes out drinking at the end of an episode.
113	[[/folder]]
114
115	[[folder:Video Games]]
116	* In ''VideoGame/CytusII'', Xenon is TheTeetotaler. When he spends time with his friend Joe, who's a bartender, he orders milk instead of alcohol.
117	* ''VideoGame/{{Discworld}}'': At one point, in order to get some information from a big, gruff, tattooed sailor with a [[TalkLikeAPirate pirate accent]], you have to buy him a drink. When you ask him what he would like, he asks for a glass of milk... but then specifies milk from "the venomous she-bats of Re", served in a dirty glass. (It helps with his stress.)
118	* ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'': Nords use "milk-drinker" as an unflattering epithet for people who can't handle alcohol.
119	* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'', a sidequest sees Cecil having to go to a bar and buy some time by talking with the barmaid. So, he orders a drink. What does newly-reformed soul-full-of-light Cecil order? Milk, of course.
120	* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'': Milk is Ramza's drink of choice, too, prompting the bartender to comment.
121	* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask'' features a bar where only milk is served.
122	* ''VideoGame/LiveALive'': {{Invoked\|Trope}} in "The Wanderer" chapter (which takes place in TheWildWest). Pike, an outlaw from the Crazy Bunch, decides to order a glass of milk for the Sundown Kid as a [[CondescendingCompassion "friendly gesture"]]. Should Sundown refuse, Pike will get angered and mock him with a claim that he "won't drink any milk that won't come from [[YourMom his mom's tits]]", and once Sundown responds to him with his own YourMom insult, Pike draws his gun, and the two fight, thus kickstarting the chapter's main plot.
123	* In the Battle for Azeroth expansion of ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'':, one Alliance quest chain sees the player order a drink at a bar. They can choose ale, milk, or milk... in a skull mug. The skull mug milk item has the description, "When you want to drink milk and look badass doing it."
124	[[/folder]]
125
126	[[folder:Webcomics]]
127	* PlayedWith in ''WebComic/TheHeroOfThreeFaces''. Superman, in keeping with his squeaky-clean reputation, drinks milk -- which his BizarreAlienBiology metabolizes into alcohol. "After all, lactose and alcohol are just sugar with ideas above its station."
128	[[/folder]]
129
130	[[folder:Web Videos]]
131	* ''WebVideo/CriticalRole'': Milk is Jester's drink of choice whenever The Mighty Nein stops by a tavern. She suggests to Caduceus, who also [[TheTeetotaler doesn't like alcohol]], that he should try ordering milk too, but he ends up not liking that either.
132	* ''WebVideo/{{Oxventure}}'': In their ''Dragonlance'' one-shot, Luke's very serious character Harold just orders a milk at the bar and sits there sipping it.
133	[[/folder]]
134
135	[[folder:Western Animation]]
136	* ''WesternAnimation/AlfredJKwak'': In one episode, Alfred has a dream in which he and the people he knows are living in the Wild West. At one point, Henk orders a milk at the saloon, much to the surprise of the bar owner and the other patrons. He nevertheless sticks to his choice.
137	* Crossing into DrunkOnMilk, in the ''WesternAnimation/{{Daria}}'' episode "Psycho Therapy", Daria convinces her father that milk will calm him down, and his copious drinking of it is treated like an addiction.
138	* ''WesternAnimation/TheFlightOfDragons'', After a recommendation by Peter Dickenson, the wizard Carolinus orders milk to help calm his ulcer.
139	* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueUnlimited''. In the episode "Flash and Substance", Captain Cold orders milk, and when his fellow bad guys look at him he explains that his ulcer has been acting up. A bit of HypocriticalHumor on the part of the other rogues, who had placed equally innocuous orders (an Arnold Palmer[[note]]iced tea and lemonade[[/note]], a cherry cola, and a decaf soy latte) without anyone raising an eyebrow.
140	* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'': In "Pest of the West", [=SpongeBob=]'s cowboy ancestor [=SpongeBuck=] walks into the Krusty Kantina (the saloon equivalent to the Krusty Krab) and orders a glass of 2% milk. [[DrunkOnMilk He acts intoxicated afterward anyway]].
141	* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': When Homer and Lisa are at Moe's together, Moe serves a beer to Lisa and a chocolate milk to Homer. Lisa tells him that ''she'' ordered the chocolate milk, so Moe apologizes and switches them.
142	* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSuperMarioBrosSuperShow'' episode "Pirates of the Koopa", Mario and Luigi pose as pirates to infiltrate 'Blackbeard' Koopa's hideout. Luigi asks the bartender to "I'll take a milk." At their odd looks, Mario adds, "In a dirty glass!"
143	* ''WesternAnimation/TexAveryMGMCartoons'': At the beginning of "Wags to Riches", an executor reads a will explaining the qualities of the dog who will inherit his late master's fortune, and as he reads, Spike acts out those traits in hopes that he will be the lucky dog. When the will mentions that the dog must be "sober", Spike appears uptight and holding a cup of milk... but when it also mentions that he should also be "one of the boys", and Spike immediately drowns himself in beer.
144	[[/folder]]
145
146	[[folder:Real Life]]
147	* In the Fifties, Pierre Mendès-France famously asked for milk to be served to pupils, to replace alcohols which were served at some schools, especially the ones where clean water wasn't readily available.
148	* Ghengis Khan's Mongols squared this particular circle by somehow fermenting an alcoholic drink called ''kumis'' from horses' milk.
149	[[/folder]]

Context Main / LactoseOverLiquor