# Andre the Giant drank 117 beers in one sitting, how is that possible **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 23, 2014, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andre-the-giant-drank-117-beers-in-one-sitting-how-is-that-possible/699290 "2014-09-23T01:40:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![OldOlds](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a3d4f5/32.png) [@OldOlds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldOlds)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2014, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andre-the-giant-drank-117-beers-in-one-sitting-how-is-that-possible/699290/41 "2014-09-23T19:19:01Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > Not necessarily. Long-term alcoholics can not only develop an unusually high tolerance for alcohol, they can sometimes develop the ability to metabolize it much faster than a normal person as well. Andre the Giant had many unusual physical characteristics related to his extreme size. His liver would have been much larger than normal and may have gotten really efficient at processing alcohol. If he drank them over many hours, his body may have been able to process much of the alcohol from earlier drinks before he got to the end. > > We don’t know that it was 5% alcohol beer either. It could have been 4.2% Coors Light or something even weaker. 117 beers is obviously a whole lot for anyone and that is why he mentioned it but it is somewhat plausible given his unusual physical stature and routine drinking habits. He passed out at the end of the night so he obviously found his hard limit. It was just a whole lot higher than most normal people’s. > > Some people can just consume an almost inhuman amount of things. For example, would you believe [this woman](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonya_Thomas) if she told you she can eat 37 hotdogs in 12 minutes. She really can and has. Agreed. If you’ve spent any time with real, long-term drinkers (and that doesn’t mean most of our college buddies) it’s really amazing how much ethanol they can take in. And then seem perfectly normal. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2014, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andre-the-giant-drank-117-beers-in-one-sitting-how-is-that-possible/699290/42 "2014-09-23T19:31:09Z")
Wasn’t there a news blurb recently about some well known actor that was downing something like 14 bottles of wine a day? And I doubt the actor was supersized either. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2014, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andre-the-giant-drank-117-beers-in-one-sitting-how-is-that-possible/699290/43 "2014-09-23T19:47:11Z")
> [@boffking](#): > > If a beer is 5% alcohol, then 117 of them is more than half a gallon of alcohol. Wouldn’t that kill almost anyone? I had a roomate who drank a quart of gin over one night of gin & tonics, and he was not a giant. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2014, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andre-the-giant-drank-117-beers-in-one-sitting-how-is-that-possible/699290/44 "2014-09-23T20:05:49Z")
Drunks tell bullshit lies. Which explains every claim in this thread. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2014, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andre-the-giant-drank-117-beers-in-one-sitting-how-is-that-possible/699290/45 "2014-09-23T20:13:03Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#): > > Drunks tell bullshit lies. Which explains every claim in this thread. Do you really have difficulty believing someone could do a quart of gin in a night? That hardly sounds outlandish to me. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2014, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andre-the-giant-drank-117-beers-in-one-sitting-how-is-that-possible/699290/46 "2014-09-23T20:26:03Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Do you really have difficulty believing someone could do a quart of gin in a night? That hardly sounds outlandish to me. Right. A quart is 32 ounces and a standard drink of gin is 1.5 ounces. That means that a quart equals 21 shots of gin. That is less alcohol than a case of beer and much less volume. Many, many people can drink that much in an evening. Some of them will be quite hammered and black out from it while the true drunks may consider that a light night. It isn’t unbelievable at all. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2014, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andre-the-giant-drank-117-beers-in-one-sitting-how-is-that-possible/699290/47 "2014-09-23T22:57:02Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > Bear in mind that most of these stories come from wrestlers, about another wrestler. Yes, Andre drank a lot. Claims of particular amounts should be viewed with skepticism. Yeah, “117 beers” just means: “He could drink a lot. I mean, you think your alcoholic Uncle Chuck can put them away, but Andre was at a whole nother level.” Andre was huge. Really huge. And an alcoholic. A really huge alcoholic with a gigantic tolerance. Habituated alcoholics can and do drink amounts of alcohol that would literally kill a typical weekend binge drinker. So the exact number of beers Andre could drink in a night is up for debate, but amounts that would kill or drown a normal person are quite believable. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2014, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andre-the-giant-drank-117-beers-in-one-sitting-how-is-that-possible/699290/48 "2014-09-23T23:08:20Z")
Pretty obvious to me, after 4 or 5 beers, who can count. “_You won’t find it in the Guinness Book of World Records, but Andre the Giant holds the world record for the largest number of beers consumed in a single sitting. These were standard 12-ounce bottles of beer, nothing fancy, but during a six-hour period Andre drank 119 of them._” [here](http://www.drunkard.com/issues/10_06/10_06_andre_giant.html) ---
**Author:** ![conway](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ec9cab/32.png) [@conway](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/conway)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2014, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andre-the-giant-drank-117-beers-in-one-sitting-how-is-that-possible/699290/49 "2014-09-23T23:11:06Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > Wasn’t there a news blurb recently about some well known actor that was downing something like 14 bottles of wine a day? And I doubt the actor was supersized either. [Gerard Depardieu](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/19/gerard-depardieu-14-bottles-wine_n_5850700.html), who isn’t exactly svelte. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2014, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andre-the-giant-drank-117-beers-in-one-sitting-how-is-that-possible/699290/50 "2014-09-23T23:14:19Z")
One thing for sure, after 100+ beers, the beer goggles must have made even the 90 year old women look hot. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Wiggler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/red_wiggler/32/13190_2.png) [@Red\_Wiggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Wiggler)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2014, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andre-the-giant-drank-117-beers-in-one-sitting-how-is-that-possible/699290/51 "2014-09-23T23:31:50Z")
> [@Lubricious\_Integument](#): > > Nobody can eat 50 eggs. Good Cool Hand Luke line. ---
**Author:** ![slowlearner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@slowlearner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slowlearner)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2014, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andre-the-giant-drank-117-beers-in-one-sitting-how-is-that-possible/699290/52 "2014-09-24T00:41:09Z")
Steve Burke drank 50 beers in one night and he only weighs 240. He’s a sure bet to put away 30 any Saturday. And he’s a happy drunk. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2014, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andre-the-giant-drank-117-beers-in-one-sitting-how-is-that-possible/699290/53 "2014-09-24T01:09:54Z")
The Erie Canal workers were paid 50 cents per day and a quart of whiskey. Every day. Well documented. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2014, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andre-the-giant-drank-117-beers-in-one-sitting-how-is-that-possible/699290/54 "2014-09-24T01:13:27Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Remember that everything on this guy was larger than usual. Presumably, yes, he DID have super-sized kidneys and bladder. > > Active alcoholics can put away an amazing about of booze, and Andre fell into that category based on typical consumption. Evenso, he was drinking 16% of his bodyweight in liquids in one night. If a 200 pound man attempted to drink 32 pounds of water (4 gallons) in one night he is gonna have a bad time. It isn’t just the ethanol he drank, it is how much liquid Andre drank. 88 pounds of water is a lot for a body to take in even if you do weigh 500 pounds. ---
**Author:** ![buddy431](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6a8cbe/32.png) [@buddy431](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddy431)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2014, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andre-the-giant-drank-117-beers-in-one-sitting-how-is-that-possible/699290/55 "2014-09-24T01:41:35Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > Evenso, he was drinking 16% of his bodyweight in liquids in one night. If a 200 pound man attempted to drink 32 pounds of water (4 gallons) in one night he is gonna have a bad time. > > It isn’t just the ethanol he drank, it is how much liquid Andre drank. 88 pounds of water is a lot for a body to take in even if you do weigh 500 pounds. It’s a lot of liquid, but it’s not an unbelievable amount of liquid, especially with a generous definition of what “one night” is. ---
**Author:** ![Dodgecity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cab0a1/32.png) [@Dodgecity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dodgecity)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2014, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andre-the-giant-drank-117-beers-in-one-sitting-how-is-that-possible/699290/56 "2014-09-25T14:40:47Z")
He could have vomited once or twice during his binge , this would give him extra capacity . ---
**Author:** ![Deser2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dfb087/32.png) [@Deser2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deser2)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2014, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andre-the-giant-drank-117-beers-in-one-sitting-how-is-that-possible/699290/57 "2014-09-25T16:22:04Z")
Obviously anecdotal evidence but I had a friend throughout highschool and college who was a HEAVY drinker since the age of 15. In his early 20s he was about 5’7 and weight probably around 175lbs. On any given night - and I promise you this is in no way exaggerated - he could easily consume a case of beers on his own (30 beers) and then some extras and did so regularly (as in 3 nights a week at least). At that point he was barely in control of own body and his mind was completely gone but after, call it 34 beers in an 8 hour period, I could easily believe someone almost 3 times my friend’s size could hit the 100 beer mark in a night. My friend would also be on a few other drugs in addition to the alcohol so maybe that had something to do with the amount he was able to drink but I no where near enough of an expert on the body to know if that would be the case or not. It really is amazing sometimes what the human body can handle. \*\*EDIT: I fogot to add that I rarely ever saw him throw up from drinking until well after the drinking was done. While he was downing them there was no waste removal aside from frequently urinating. ---
**Author:** ![Renee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/renee/32/287_2.png) [@Renee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renee)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2014, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andre-the-giant-drank-117-beers-in-one-sitting-how-is-that-possible/699290/58 "2014-09-25T17:09:45Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > Evenso, he was drinking 16% of his bodyweight in liquids in one night. If a 200 pound man attempted to drink 32 pounds of water (4 gallons) in one night he is gonna have a bad time. > > It isn’t just the ethanol he drank, it is how much liquid Andre drank. 88 pounds of water is a lot for a body to take in even if you do weigh 500 pounds. The whole “it’s too much liquid to be possible” thing…I’m not sure. 4 gallons is 512 oz of water. I’ve been sitting here sipping causally on a 20 oz glass of water for the past hour or so, and it’s empty. (I weigh 140 lbs). This is a pretty normal rate of water consumption for me, about 20 oz/hr, assuming I’m not doing anything strenuous. So I’d need to drink 2.5 20 oz glasses of water per hour for 10 hours to get 4 gallons in what I’ll call a “night”. I’d pee a lot, but I really don’t think it would damage me. I don’t even think it would be especially difficult. ---
**Author:** ![Lacunae\_Matata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lacunae\_Matata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lacunae_Matata)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2014, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andre-the-giant-drank-117-beers-in-one-sitting-how-is-that-possible/699290/59 "2014-09-25T18:15:06Z")
Anecdotal, to be sure, but I know long-term alcoholics. My father-in-law, in particular. He’s not a big guy - about 5’7", 150 pounds. I’ve personally seen him put away a case of beer plus a fifth of liquor in one night, and my husband tells me that FIL has slowed down considerably in his old age. (And that consumption was after his “regular” daily consumption. He has a beer or three to nerve himself for his insulin shots. Usually another to accompany regular cigarette breaks. His doctor probably cusses a lot.) Second-hand anecdote: When hubby left the Army and was at loose ends while looking for a job, he worked with his dad and uncle at the family farm for a while. A hot summer’s day of work was accompanied by 1-2 cases of beer EACH. At the end of a long work day, they’d start the real drinking - according to my husband, that was typically a half-gallon of liquor or more. Each. Fortunately, Tony found a “real” job and didn’t join his paternal family on the road to massive alcohol-related legal and health problems. In other words, don’t discount the effects of long-term consumption and its accompanying rise in tolerance. ---
**Author:** ![Drummond\_Bays](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8edcca/32.png) [@Drummond\_Bays](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drummond_Bays)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2014, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andre-the-giant-drank-117-beers-in-one-sitting-how-is-that-possible/699290/60 "2014-09-25T18:44:34Z")
> [@Lubricious\_Integument](#): > > Nobody can eat 50 eggs. Anecdotal I know, and a hijack, but… When I was young (ten-ish,) at a family reunion there were these amazing deviled eggs. I ate thirty-two myself over the course of about three hours, I was a fat kid. My uncle ate 118, he was 35-is at the time, 6’3", skinny as a whip. It’s still to this day a subject of conversation during family gatherings. That’s 59 whole eggs, with mayonnaise to boot. He said he could have eaten more, but there were none left. He was drinking copious amount of beer at the time as well. I myself can drink about 12-15 tall cans (473 ml) of 5.5% beer over 6-8 hours on a friday/saturday night just sitting on the computer with very little ill effects, probably more if I didn’t stop drinking during the week. I’m 6’, 205 lbs, okay shape, approx. 15% body fat. I work in heavy construction, and like Andre, drink mainly for pain-cessation reasons. All that being said, it is my NSHO that Andre could down 100 regular (341-355 ml) beers in one sitting with relative ease. Alcoholics tend to push the envelope when we don’t have to wake up early the next day. All opinion and anecdotal, of course. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andre-the-giant-drank-117-beers-in-one-sitting-how-is-that-possible/699290.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/andre-the-giant-drank-117-beers-in-one-sitting-how-is-that-possible/699290.md?page=4)