When you look at the size of him you can easily believe that Andre the Giant could tie one on and most likely did during the filming of The Princess Bride. Look at the size of the man and try to do the math when it comes to just how much he could consume versus an average person. A human being of average-sized can hold up to about a liter of liquid in their stomach. One night Andre was said to have consumed the equivalent of 55 liters of beer. Now honestly he likely had to use the bathroom a few times but that kind of stretching of the bladder and the stomach is hard to fathom without wincing just a bit in pain. Even with his increased size I doubt he could have held much more than 2 to 3 liters at a time, and even that would be painful.
But his alcohol tolerance was legendary. Cary Elwes even confirmed some of the rumors and went so far as to state that while he did drink beer Andre tended to prefer something a little stronger called ‘the American’. This was in essence a bunch of different liquors tossed into a pitcher, around 40 ounces, and mixed together. Oy, as an American I don’t know whether to be proud or dubious of that title since it would take a man with a cast-iron stomach the size of a cooking pot to hold all that in. Does anyone even understand what it means to drink a 40-ounce drink? That’s FORTY SHOTS in one pitcher. If you’ve ever done shots in your life then you know that doing them one at a time can mess you up pretty badly. Andre was taking them all in one pitcher, a gulp at a time.
It wasn’t all liquor thankfully, but if it wasn’t then it was wine or beer, and it was A LOT of both. There are tales of Andre needing as many cases of beer as could be carried to be satisfied and entire boxes filled with wine bottles to ease his thirst. You might call the guy an alcoholic today but quite honestly everyone that ever really knew him said that he was the nicest guy you’d ever want to meet. Apparently this extended to his drinking binges as well since it’s been said that anyone that tried to fight him would eventually end up ten feet away after a mere shove from the giant. Drunk or sober he wasn’t a person to be taken lightly even if he was a nice guy.
There’s even an account that during the filming of the Princess Bride he racked up a $40,000 bill while staying in London. I’ve been to weddings that didn’t cost as much as that kind of bar tab. To say he could drink people under the table is like saying that a dog can eat faster than a human. It’s a known fact but you still kind of want to see it in action to make sure you’re not being tricked. And sure enough, Andre could have probably drank at least four or five people under the table at one time.
Follow Us
