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The Government is ready to consider making it illegal to supply alcohol to people under 18.
A review of liquor access regulations to find out how under-18s obtain and use it was triggered by the defeat in Parliament yesterday of a bill that would have raised the drinking age to 20.
Ministers said serious questions had been raised by MPs about binge drinking by young people and its disastrous effects.
Today Associate Health Minister Damien O'Connor said the review would look at making the supply of liquor to under-18s illegal.
"All the law is focused around purchase. I think we have to focus the law around supply and in that way reduce some of the harm," he said.
The Justice Ministry will lead the review with input from the Health Ministry but as yet there is no timeframe for it.
"I don't want to have some ad hoc rushed review," Mr O'Connor said.
Supporters of raising the drinking age were disappointed by the bill's defeat but said today the announcement of a review was positive news.
"It gives us a broader and better opportunity to really address the issue of alcohol abuse in our society," said Alcohol Advisory Council chief executive Mike MacAvoy.
"It is a very complex issue -- who can provide alcohol, and under what circumstances, and at what point does the providing of alcohol breach some sort of code or law."
Green Party MP Metiria Turei, one of those who voted against raising the age, also welcomed the review.
"The legal purchasing age has never been the real issue," she said.
"It is unrestricted advertising, wide access to alcohol, unrestricted supply of alcohol to very young people and the widely accepted culture of binge drinking that need to be addressed."
- NZPA
