At this point, probably everyone in the world has heard at least one tale about the absolutely absurd amount of alcohol that the legendary Andre the Giant was able to consume. Andre the Giant drinking stories have practically become a discrete subset of American folklore. Heck, that’s probably at least half of the reason there is an Andre biopic in the works. (And a big part of why we’ll watch it, even if Joss Whedon isn’t at the helm.)
In Sunday’s Tampa Bay Times, fellow WWE Hall of Famer Gerald Brisco related a couple new (to us) tales of André’s drinking acumen. For some unfathomable reason, the Brisco interview is not online in any capacity at the time of this writing, but thankfully Timothy Burke of Deadspin is there for us with the heads-up reporting and transcribing assist.
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.
Yep, no big deal, just six bottles of rosé down the hatch before a wrestling match. You know, just to take the edge off.
And I’m not going to nitpick what exactly constitutes a “case” of tall boys at the time, because even if you just assume that’s 12 tall boys, that’s 24 tall boys.
It’s just under 56 miles from Sarasota to the Tahitian Inn in Tampa. Which is a little over an hour of driving time. Which is a minimum of 24 tall boys of beer in an hour. WHICH IS FOUR AND A HALF GALLONS OF BEER IN AN HOUR.
Holy lord, I think I need to lie down.
