These Boots Were Made For Drinking: "Bierstiefel"

While listening to The Brewing Networks Sunday Session podcast, from June 11, 2006, they mentioned the German tradition of drinking out of a glass boot. I became fascinated by that and did a little research on the web about it. This is what I found.

The history of the beer boot -- called a Bierstiefel in Germany -- is mixed. Different sites around the web give different histories. For instance, in the above mentioned podcast, Dan Gordon, of the Gordon Biersch breweries, gives a short history saying that the tradition of the drinking out of a boot dates back to 1400s, in Heidelberg, Germany. There, fraternities would duel each other with sabers. Afterwards, the two fraternities would get together and drink out of their boots, starting the tradition.

However, according to a True Beer blog post, entitled "The History of Beer Boots," the beer boot only dates back about 100 years. Soldiers would drink out of their boots while on leave, mostly in the beer gardens of Bavaria.

According to that tradition, it is said that a Persian general promised his troops that he'd drink beer from his boot after they successfully sacked a particular town. When success was achieved, not wishing to drink out of a stinky leather boot, the general cleverly had a local glass maker fashion a boot out of glass to fulfill his oath.

Digging further, though, True Beer gives slightly conflicting histories. According to another place on their website, where they sell the glass boots, the tradition only dates back to World War I, which I guess is close enough to 100 years ago that it does not conflict too much with the blog entry mentioned above. That section of the website states that soldiers would pass around a leather boot filled with beer before engaging the enemy. The tradition dictates that one should flick the boot before and after drinking from it to bring good luck. A glass version of the boot was employed during World War II where American soldiers were introduced to the tradition.

Regardless of the history, the real trick to the boot is drinking out of it. If one is not careful, because of its odd shape, the beer trapped in the toe of the boot can rush out quite quickly, often spilling on the drinker. In fact, often times in German pubs, a full boot is passed around in a circle where people attempt to drinking out of it quickly without spilling.

So, there you have it: all you ever wanted to know about drinking out of a boot. Those kooky Germans.