Indeed, the recipe for a boilermaker demands the foulest brownest whisky shot is dropped in a flat tap beer on the stickiest bar for ten miles. The art is in drinking the mess in one motion with the shot slowly slipping to the mouth without either spilling it or vomiting.
Welcome to the Straight Dope Message Boards, ibmwsq, glad to have you here.
When you start a thread, it’s helpful to other readers if you provide a link to the column you’re discussing. Saves search time, and keeps us all on the same page. In this case, it’s a very old column: http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/315/boilermaker-recipe-drop-the-shot-glass-in-the-beer
I also note that there’s already a thread on this, so I’m going to close this one and suggest that y’all post to the other thread. ibmwsq, you can either repost this or email me and I’ll merge it in. Here’s the other thread: origin of boilermakers - Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports - Straight Dope Message Board
I’ve also edited the title to make it a li’l clearer to readers. No biggie, you’ll know for next time.