Andre The Giant's Beer Drinking Myths vs Facts
Truly amazing stories about Andre the Giant's ability to consume beer, wine and mixed drinks en masse.
| Read: 5 min
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You may be asking yourself, who is the greatest drinker of all time? We're here to tell you that it is Andre the Giant.
Sure, the world has seen some legendary drinkers. Hemingway comes to mind. Same with Bukowski, Churchill, and Hunter S. Thompson. The Man Show guy who pounds two steins in 3-4 seconds.
Andre the Giant bests them all. Even the almighty Wade Anthony Boggs looks like a minor leaguer against Andre, and ol' Tampa Wade could out-drink a thirsty camel.
The Eighth Wonder of the World
Andre the Giant's biography cover, "... the burning questions, outrageous stories and common misconceptions about his height, his weight, his drawing power as a superstar, and his seemingly unparalleled capacity for food and alcohol."
Buy on AmazonHow many beers did Andre consume in one sitting?
According to accounts on the matter, Andre the Giant could consume 119 beers in one sitting. Then again, some accounts claim 156 brewskis (a synonym for beer). In short, Andre is his own small party. If this were a football tailgate, somewhere between 15-30 college coeds would be highly intoxicated. Comprehend this, if it were dollar draft night, Andre the Giant would need between $119-156 dollars to settle up his bar tab, depending on who you believe.
That is outstanding.
Furthermore, just how fast does one have to drink to consume that much beer? Beer drinking should really be a sport. In a list of sports that begin with b, it would fit right between Beach Water Polo and the Biathlon.
Andre holding a beer can
It needs to be seen to be believe. He's fully palming a beer can in the photo below. It's so complete.
Quotes from Andre the Giant Drinking Stories
Over the years, various interviews have been conducted with former professional wrestlers, TV hosts, actors, directors, and a whole host of other folks who knew Andre and the quotes are second to none. High profile media outlets including CBS, HBO and Vanity Fair have captured amazing footage.
Late Night hosts like David Letterman have collected stupendous soundbites. Former colleagues like Mike Graham (wrestler) and Princess Bride Co-Star, Cary Elwes, have compared drinking with Andre to gassing down a concoction of "Airplane Fuel" and actually raising the overall beer consumption total to the mid-150s in the case of Graham.
Here's a few quotes that we love:
- "You’ve got to realize brother he was 7′ 4″ and he went between 500 and 700 pounds depending on how he ate, his health and stuff like that. I’ve got two quick stories for you. The first one I was in Tampa — and once we became friends after he destroyed me for about eight years and I finally won him over — he was changing planes in Tampa. I was over at my mom’s house visiting and I get a call. ‘Hey boss I’m at the Tampa airport. I’ve got a one-hour layover.’ I was like okay, it’s fifteen minutes or so from my mom’s house. So I drive over the airport and I met him at the Delta Crown Lounge. By the time we sat down we had about 45 minutes before he had to walk to the next gate. He drank 108 12-ounce beers.” - Hulk Hogan (WWF Pro Wrestler)
- "Another quick story from when I was in Japan. I went down to the bus and the bus driver told me it was Andre’s birthday. I was like ‘Oh my god’ — it was like 7:30 in the morning and I forgot. Thank god I got down to the bus before him. So I went down to this little karaoke bar right down the street from the hotel and I bought a case of Pouilly-Fuissé wine — 12 bottles of this very powerful, powerful, strong white French wine. Andre came down to the bus and I was like, ‘Hey boss happy birthday!’ I always sat in the seat ahead of Andre because it was always so hard for him to get up and sit down. All of a sudden we left the hotel about 8 in the morning for an eight hour bus ride. About three hours later he shakes the seat. He says, ‘Boss. Bossss. I need pit stop.’ Three hours on a bus he drank 12 bottles of wine." - Hulk Hogan (Opponent in Wrestlemania III)
- “Well,” rumbled the Giant, “It usually takes two liters of vodka just to make me feel warm inside.” - Andre the Giant
- "Andre used to ask me to get him six bottles of Mateus wine and ice them down. He would drink those before we went to the ring and no one could tell. One night in Sarasota, Andre is traveling with us. So we pull over and get two cases of tall boys. By the time we get from Sarasota to the Tahitian Inn on Dale Mabry, the two cases were bone dry." - Gerald Brisco (WWF Pro Wrestler)
- "Everyone catered to Andre, justifiably so. You know, a case of beer, it was always booze, you know, it was always whatever it is that Andre wanted ... he enjoyed the party afterwards." - Vince McMahon (Owner of WWE)
- "Brother I was with him one night and we drank 106 beers. A hundred a six. Yeah. That's Andre the Giant, brother! - Ric Flair
Andre the Giant Beer Mug
Here's what it says on the back of this special glass stein.
"Andre the Giant is one of the most popular athletes in the world. He is the biggest man in wrestling. Though a native of Grenoble, France, Andre speaks perfect English in his comically ultra-deep voice. Loved by young and old alike, Andre the Giant is very humble in spite of his strength. He always wrestles against bad guys; and sometimes outnumbered as two or three team up agains him."
Andre the Giant Drinking Facts
- 119 12-ounce beers in a single sitting, which has to be an unofficial world record or something.
- $40,000 bar tab from the Hyatt London hotel bar during the filming of the Princess Bride
- Drank 40 vodka tonics in/around Kansas City after last call, imbibing booze until 5am
- After approximately 75 beers, Andre and Dusty Rhodes hijacked a couple of horse-drawn carriages and proceeded to joyride around New York.
- Drank a concoction of 40 ounces of various liquors known as "The American", according to Elwes
Who was Andre the Giant?
For those of you born after 1993 (when he died), Andre the Giant was a man of many talents, drinking being one of them. He was dubbed, "The Eighth Wonder of the World", which made sense because he was 7 feet tall and 500+ pounds. He was a superstar of the American Pro Wrestling scene. He was a Hollywood actor. He was a man with killer mutton chop sideburns, chops that may have only been bested by martial artist and actor, Jim Kelly (Williams in Enter the Dragon).
Andre was born André René Roussimoff in Coulommiers, Seine-et-Marne, France in 1946. Suffering from a then undiagnosed case of acromegaly (gigantism), Andre was already 6 feet tall by the time he was 12 years of age.
Andre the Giant FAQs
What was Andre's real name?
Andre Rene Roussimoff.
How tall was Andre the Giant?
Andre was said to be somewhere between 6'9 - 7'4. Somehow we know how tall ancient mummified fossils are, but not a person living in the 20th century? Best to just say Andre the Giant was about 7 feet tall.
How much did Andre weigh?
Somewhere between 400-550 pounds. That's extraordinary.
When was he born?
May 19th, 1946.
When did he die?
January 28th, 1993.
How strong was Andre the Giant?
Stronger than you or I, that's for sure. His liver, as we've covered, was made of steel. He could move a car all by himself, according to Sports Illustrated. At 7 feet tall and 400+ pounds, his body needed to be immensely strong to support his size. In short, we'll never know exactly how strong he was, but it can best be described as extremely.
What kind of beer did he drink when he drank?
We're not totally sure what kind of beer Andre the Giant drank on the regular. Was it a European beer? Was it a popular American beer such as Coors or PBR?
Wrapping Up
Listen, the WWE might be fake, but Andre's drinking prowess was real. Hats off to a legend.
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References & Sources
- https://www.foodrepublic.com/2012/11/15/lets-meet-5-of-the-worlds-greatest-drinkers-of-all-time/
- https://www.andrethegiant.com/
- https://www.biography.com/athlete/andre-the-giant
- https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/acromegaly/symptoms-causes/syc-20351222
- https://books.google.com/books?id=lPptAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA49#v=onepage&q&f=false
- https://boston.cbslocal.com/2014/06/25/toucher-rich-hulk-hogan-shares-andre-the-giant-drinking-stories/
- https://drunkard.com/10_06_andre_giant/
- https://deadspin.com/gerald-brisco-has-more-incredible-stories-about-andre-t-1784227984
- https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2014/09/princess-bride-andre-the-giant-drinking-tales
- https://vault.si.com/vault/1981/12/21/70987
- https://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2016/05/19/andre-giant-sports-illustrated-profile