Beer boot
{{Short description|Type of beer glassware}}
{{use dmy dates |date=December 2022}}
A beer boot ({{langx|de|Bierstiefel}}) is a boot-shaped beer glass. Beer boots exist in sizes ranging from {{convert|0.5|L|USoz}} up to {{convert|5|L|USgal|frac=8}}, but {{convert|2|L|USgal|frac=8}} is a more typical size. Beer boots are commonly consumed communally and are popular with younger people as part of drinking games.
Production
File:Oranjeboom laarsje (1960).jpg
Because of their shape, beer boots are often made from blown or pressed glass.
Origin
File:Cup in the form of a shoe MET DP-13615-012 (cropped).jpg, dating to late 16th century Germany]]
Shoe- or boot-shaped drinking containers have a long tradition; archaeologists have found examples at Urnfield culture sites in Unterhautzenthal near Korneuburg in Lower Austria{{cite book |first=Ernst |last=Probst |title=Die Urnenfelder-Kultur in Niederösterreich |publisher=GRIN Verlag |location=Munich |year=2011 |isbn=9783656051114 |url=https://www.grin.com/document/181820 }} or at the Glauberg in Hesse, Germany.{{cite journal |doi=10.11588/ger.2007.61114|year=2019 |last1=Baitinger |first1=Holger |title=Ein Schuhgefäß der Urnenfelderzeit vom Glauberg, Wetteraukreis (Hessen) |journal=Germania: Anzeiger der Römisch-Germanischen Kommission des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts |volume=85 |issue=1 |pages=47–59 }} In Asia Minor, shoe-shaped drinking vessels have been found dating to the early 2nd millennium BCE; others, dating to the early 1st millennium BCE have been found in Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Urartu sites near Lake Van.{{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=Reallexikon der Assyriologie und Vorderasiatischen Archäologie |volume=12 |title=Schuhgefäß |first1=Suzanne |last1=Herbordt |first2=Ursula |last2=Seidl |editor-first=Michael P. |editor-last=Streck |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |location=Berlin/Boston |date=2009–2011 |isbn=978-3-11-020384-4 |page=288 |url=http://publikationen.badw.de/de/rla/index#10613 }} Similar glasses are attested into the middle ages. The modern beer boot takes its form from the Hessian boot, which saw military use into the 19th century. Drinking from shoes was a common hazing ritual in the military, and which spread further through German student fraternities.
Use
Due to the size and volume, a beer boot is usually consumed communally. When drinking, if the toe of the boot is facing away from the drinker, a portion of the beer is held at low pressure in the toe. When the air reaches the toe, the beer can rush out into the face of the drinker.
The use of beer boots featured prominently in the 2006 film Beerfest.{{cite web |url=https://vinepair.com/articles/das-boot/ |title=The Surprisingly English History of das Boot |date=26 October 2016 |work=Vinepair.com |first=Nick |last=Hines |access-date=27 July 2023 }}
References
{{Commons category|Bierstiefel}}
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