Nobody expects to die or go blind drinking sterno, either. People do some pretty stupid things seeking a buzz at times.
While true, these boys were in a tavern. They did nothing more stupid than under-aged drinking.
>There are cases of methanol resistance, such as that of Mike Malloy, whom someone tried and failed to poison by methanol in the early 1930s
The original "Iron Mike", https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Malloy