The Great German Superlative- Sau
Drinking beer out of a stiefel or glass boot is a common ritual in Germany. The common stiefel can hold 2 litres of beer. It can be a fun passtime to share with your friends. But there are rules and rituals involved with drinking a stiefel. If you don’t get the sequence correct of the ritual to drink it, you will get penalised with a schnapps or any other spirit or liquor.
The rules can vary from region to region and pub to pub. Here today we bring you on of the many sequence of rules you might find in your travels
The stiefel will always be greeted before the first sip, and the host shall be thanked with these words:
„We thank (host) and greet the stiefel (3 times) Zicke Zacke Zicke Zacke HOI HOI HOI, Zicke Zacke Zicke Zacke HOI HOI HOI, Zicke Zacke Zicke Zacke HOI HOI HOI!!!“
The stiefel then has to be passed on to and drunk by every man at the table. Before drinking, one must knock on the table (first with the elbow, then with the fist, lastly slap the stiefel to greet it properly).
After this, you cannot spill anything! The trick is how you hold the stiefel to avoid spilling it. The best known way of not spilling while you are drinking is to hold the tip of the boot to your right or left. If you place the tip of the boot at pointing straight outwards from your chest an air bubble will form and it will spill in your face.
As you are passing the stiefel to the next person, you will have to say „Tschüss“ (engl. Goodbye), then slap elbow on the table, fist on the table, and flat hand on the stiefel just like before.
The stupid thing about this tradition is that you will have to pay with an additional stiefel for every mistake. Otherwise, the person drinking after the one finishing the stiefel has to buy the next one. This is important, because it gives the person with the stiefel the choice of finishing it off, or passing it on to the next person. This will likely mean that one will have to pay the next round.
So be careful who is sitting next to you! Once you have finished a stiefel, do not forget to lay it down on its side. Otherwise you have to buy a new one! This is not too easy in a sober state, just wait what happens when there are 3 stiefel making their way and the alcohol levels are rising.
Hofbrauhaus (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
A stiefel needs to be filled all the way to the marking. In a 3-liter stiefel, this means you will need about 9 beer bottles (0.33l). Once the stiefel is filled, the youngest man in the round begins.
He needs to start the round by slightly tapping the stiefel with the outside of his hand. He then needs to take the stiefel and take a drink. After this, he needs to tap the stiefel again. This means slap the stiefel while it is standing on the table again. This signals the next turn. The next person needs to do the same things. In other words, slap the stiefel, tap it, drink, and tap again.
As you know spilling the beer cannot happen! Now lets talk about the penalty drink, Schnapps. Everybody, that is not drinking, needs to make sure that all rules are followed at the table. By that I mean tapping, drinking, and slapping the stiefel. If someone skips one of these steps, they have to drink a Schnaps immediately. The last person finishing a stiefel can enjoy a small bonus; the person that gave him the stiefel needs to drink a Schnaps as well and refill the stiefel. Have fun, but be careful.
Zum wohl!
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