American Oktoberfests continue into the early October weeks and you may find at these festivals or local German bars and restaurants a beer glass that looks oddly like a boot. Or you may already be familiar with this from seeing Broken Lizard’s 2006 film, Beerfest where “Das Boot” was a humorous plot point.
What most people don’t know is that the boot which may have seemed like a work of fiction is an actual traditional German drinking vessel known as a “Bierstiefel,” not “Das Boot” (which means “The Boat” and is the coining of the above mentioned film).
Although there are several different variations of the origins of the drinking boot, it comes from the German military of the early 20th century. One variation of the story states that a Prussian general committed to his troops that he would drink from his boot if they had won the coming battle. When his army defeated the enemies, he had a glass boot made so that he could fulfill his commitment without “having taste his own feet.” The other popular variation is that during World War I, German soldiers had nothing to drink from. Therefore they passed around a boot before heading into a battle and each soldier would flick the boot before and after drinking from it for good luck.
Regardless the origins, today the boot is used not only as a symbol of camaraderie, it is the object of an awesome and entertaining drinking game.
The Passing of the Boot
For this game you need a 2 liter boot filled with your favorite German beer. When we played this game, we used Warsteiner’s Oktoberfest. This game is intended to be played with a group of friends sitting around a table. For the game to be interesting, you can play with as few as 3 or with as many as you can fit at the table; although, I recommend not topping 8 players.
- The boot is passed around the table clockwise and each person at the table takes a sip of the beer with the shoe pointing away from them. If the boot is pointing any other direction, you drink again.
- Once the boot is picked up, it cannot be put back on the table until it is empty. If a person violates this, they must buy the next round or boot.
- Each person must flick the beer prior to and after taking a sip. If this is not done, they must drink again.
- If when drinking from the boot, you splash the beer onto yourself, you drink again.
- If you finish the boot, the person who passes it to you buys the next round or boot.
Keep the boot moving around the tables as fast as you can and after a few rounds of this game, you’ll find it gets more and more entertaining as the beer begins to hit you and you forget the rules.
Finding your own boot!
Right now you may come across authentic German beer boots for sale at various retail beer outlets or German bars & restaurants throughout the area. The cheapest and easiest option if you are looking for a fun beer glass as opposed to the collectable branded boot like the one photographed here is to go to your local Spencer’s Gifts where the boot is readily in stock.
Remember
When playing drinking games, always have a designated driver.