boilermaker

An excellent 15k road race held annually in Utica, New York. This upstate New York town is home to Saranac beer, who sponsor the race, which is held in hot July weather. After completing 15k, one is given free Saranac beer to slake his thirst.

Alcoholic drink

The Classic Boilermaker
Drop a a shot glass filled with the whiskey of your choice into a glass of the beer of your choice. Chug it!

Russian Boilermaker
Replace whiskey in above recipe with vodka of your choice. Chug it!

Here's why the Purdue University Boilermakers are called Boilermakers.

When Purdue first got a football team, they sucked. A lot. So the football coach decided to recruit a bunch of especially large men who worked on the local railroad to join Purdue's football team. Since they worked on the railroad, these players were referred to as the "Boilermakers", since boilers are an integral part of the steam engine.

Think of slowly sipping whiskey. Now think of drowning in beer while doing so.

The problem with boilermakers is that the whiskey stays in the shot glass. So you have a nice glass of beer, then, as you get to the end, you tip the glass far enough that the shot glass pours out. Now you have to sip whiskey mixed with beer. Sure, that might not be so bad if you're in your Carlsberg Years, but if you're a Blue Light-swilling fratboy that's the last thing you want to be tasting (well, not the last, but it's pretty bad).

A much better plan is just pour the whiskey in. Or, if you want the boilermaker experience without getting your shot glass wet, you can drink a bottle of beer, then pour yourself a shot glass of whiskey and drink that. It's basically the same, trust me.

This has been a Noding While Drunk production.

Here in South Korea, they make a similar drink, except with a shot of soju dropped into a mug of maekju (aka beer). Soju has less alcohol content than either whiskey or vodka, so Korean boilermakers go down more easily. The only time I've had one, it sent me off down the slippery slope to an incredibly drunken night.

Ask for a boilermaker in most bars and you will get a shot of whiskey dropped into a beer. Not the greatest drink in the world, by any means. You pretty much just drink beer till the end, then get the shot. The reverse of best procedure.

However, the true boilermaker is a much more satisfactory spread. As served in certain Irish pubs to this day, it consists of three shots of Irish Whiskey and a pint of Guinness for use as chaser. A much more satisfactory drink all the way around, and a real boon for the man on the run who doesn't have the spare time to stick around long enough to get a buzz the slow way. You should be able to get this drink in any pub or tavern which serves hard liquor by simply specifying the shots and the pint rather than using the name - if they don't have Guinness feel free to substitute a microbrew Stout such as Sam Adams Creme Stout. An interesting variation is to use Rye Whiskey or Bourbon instead of Irish, and Porter instead of Stout. Redhook Ale Brewery makes a wonderful Porter, perfect for this purpose, called Blackhook Porter.