It was a time when high school boozing was at its peak.
Brett Kavanaugh came of age in the 1980s, a time when high school drinking was at its peak.
His alleged heavy drinking in school is now in the national spotlight amid allegations of sexual misconduct.
“Brett groped me and tried to take off my clothes," Dr. Christine Blasey Ford testified during Thursday's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. "He had a hard time because he was very inebriated."
Following her testimony Thursday, Kavanaugh defended himself, saying he never drank to the point of excess.
"Sometimes I had too many beers," he said. "Sometimes others did. I liked beer. I still like beer but I did not drink beer to the point of blacking out and I never sexually assaulted anyone. If every American who drinks beer or every American who drank beer in high school is suddenly presumed guilty of sexual assault, it will be an ugly new place in this country. I never committed sexual assault."
The boozy decade when Kavanaugh was a teenager was mirrored in popular movies like "Weird Science” and “16 Candles.”
In 1982, 74 percent of male high school seniors drank alcohol and the figure for females was 65 percent, according to Monitoring the Future 2015.
Those numbers have been steadily dropping, as 36 percent of high school boys and 35 percent of girls reportedly drink, according to the same study.
How much Kavanaugh drank at the elite Jesuit school Georgetown Prep is now the subject of fierce debate. Was he a choirboy, as he's been portrayed? Or was he an out-of-control teen?
In the yearbook, he lists himself as treasurer of the "100 Kegs or Bust" club.
He choked up Thursday afternoon as he remembered those days.
“I think some editors wanted the yearbook to be some combination of 'Animal House,' 'Caddyshack,’ and ‘Fast Times at Ridgemont High,’ which were all recent movies at that time," he said. "Many of us went along with the yearbook to the point of absurdity. This past week my friends have cringed when we read about it and talked to each other."
He has hinted at some wild times during speeches at the school in his adult years.
“What happens at Georgetown Prep stays at Georgetown Prep and that's been a good thing for all of us," he once said.
At Yale University, Kavanaugh was a member of the party-loving Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity. He also joined a notorious secret society at Yale called "Truth and Courage," which is known as a "drinking club," according to The New York Times.
His roommate at the time has claimed Kavanaugh was "frequently ... Incoherently drunk." But another former Yalie says Kavanaugh was "not a big drinker."
Kavanaugh was asked about his drinking in an interview with Fox News earlier in the week, and he said he never drank to the point of blacking out. He has denied allegations by Dr. Ford.
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