# origin of boilermakers **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [March 19, 2004, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-boilermakers/235273 "2004-03-19T19:55:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2004, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-boilermakers/235273/21 "2004-03-26T02:42:56Z")
> [@mythago](#): > > My understanding is that the whiskey was always a chaser–you drank the beer quickly and followed up with the shot. . Not in the 1930’s-50’s at least. The other way was the most common. ---
**Author:** ![drichards\_iv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e495f1/32.png) [@drichards\_iv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drichards_iv)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2004, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-boilermakers/235273/22 "2004-03-26T15:42:27Z")
If you’ve ever seen old pictures of people making boilers, the process involves two men working on the cylindrical shell of the boiler (imagine this the beer glass). One man places and smashes rivets in from the outside, while the second man squats inside and smashes them back. I have always imagined the second man as the shot glass rattling around inside of the beer glass. Instead of rivets, it’s you getting smashed. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2004, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-boilermakers/235273/23 "2004-03-26T18:18:40Z")
I can think of 3 drinks that taste like root beer: The Charlie Brown appeared in Smirnoff ads. Root beer and vodka. Root beer schnapps. Kahlua and club soda is the best of the three. ---
**Author:** ![dman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f0a364/32.png) [@dman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dman)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2004, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-boilermakers/235273/24 "2004-03-27T17:35:43Z")
> [@drichards\_iv](#): > > If you’ve ever seen old pictures of people making boilers, the process involves two men working on the cylindrical shell of the boiler. Thanks for this! I love cocktail trivia, and this explanation of the term is wonderfully evocative. As a bartender I’d confirm that both “Boilermaker” and Depth Charge" refer to pretty much the same thing - the dropped shot, and is actually not bad. Nowhere near as bad as actually adding Baileys to Guiness anyway. Yes, the chaser original does have weight, But I can’t see it getting the “Boilermaker” tag on its own. Can’t say I’ve served any in a donkeys age however. The Dr Pepper is with Amaretto (dunno how 151 got into the mix). Do the drop - it helps. .dan. ---
**Author:** ![Sideshow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3e96dc/32.png) [@Sideshow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sideshow)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2004, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-boilermakers/235273/25 "2004-03-29T03:15:09Z")
I’ve always dropped it in. Using the beer as a chaser was for the people who didn’t want to chug because dropping the shot glass usually makes the beer foam over requiring you to drink it immediatly. ---
**Author:** ![tsar4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/71c47a/32.png) [@tsar4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tsar4)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2010, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-boilermakers/235273/26 "2010-07-12T02:57:10Z")
> [@byzcath](#): > > It has been years since I saw the movie, but I remember a scene in “The Right Stuff” of some of the Mercury astronauts in a bar and doing just this. They called it another name, related to the space program. I haven’t seen that movie all the way through, but the same “Shot IN a Beer” method was documented in the movie “The Reluctant Astronaut” (Don Knotts, 1967) in a bar called The Blast Off. I think that was the name of the drink as well. The movie is on Youtube (part 8) - around 2 min into the segment ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2010, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-boilermakers/235273/27 "2010-07-12T03:04:51Z")
I was going to mention _The Right Stuff_. > [@Cecil Adams](#): > > To tell you the truth, I’d never heard of dropping a shot glass of whiskey into your beer C’mon, Cece! The movie was out for nearly a month when the column was published! You need to get out more. EDIT: Whoa! [Zombie](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zombie_(cocktail)) thread! . ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2010, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-boilermakers/235273/28 "2010-07-12T05:17:49Z")
Boilermakers were my grandfather’s drink of choice. He too used it to drink it with the shot glass of whiskey or bourbon inside a glass of beer. From what my older relatives told me, I got the impression he’d been doing this since at least the 1940s. Incidentally, does anybody under the age of 50 still regularly drink boilermakers? ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2010, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-boilermakers/235273/29 "2010-07-12T14:39:58Z")
**tsar4** , welcome to the Straight Dope Message Boards, glad to have you here. Please, everyone, note that prior to **tsar4** ’s post, the thread dates from 2004, so please don’t necessarily expect that prior posters will respond (they may no longer be posting here.) And the column in question is from 1983, a lonnnng time ago. ---
**Author:** ![kfraser34](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/57b2e6/32.png) [@kfraser34](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kfraser34)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2010, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-boilermakers/235273/30 "2010-07-12T18:21:05Z")
> [@BabaBooey](#): > > Round these parts (Louisiana, LSU in particular) we’ve always done “Flaming Dr. Peppers”, in which an ignited shot of 151 is dropped into a beer. I have no idea why they call it that as it tastes nothing like a Dr. Pepper, but they sure as hell are efficient at getting one shitfaced… Dr. Pepper’s (the shot) as I have experienced was a shot of Amaretto dropped into a rock glass of beer… And they do taste just like Dr. Pepper… have never tried the “flaming version”… I have been in Bars where their version of the Dr. Pepper is Amaretto dropped into a cola… but and self respecting drinker would not even touch one of those… Another drop shot or depth charge I have seen drank was Amaretto dropped into orange juice… which I had always known as a creamsicle, but in the bar that I was recently frequenting they called them Gladiators… lol… how do call a wimpy combination like Amaretto and OJ a Gladiator… that always bothered me… a decent, if not entertaining, website about alcohol consumption as well as history is the site for [Modern Drunkard Magazine](http://www.drunkard.com/)… check it out it is hilarious… ---
**Author:** ![kfraser34](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/57b2e6/32.png) [@kfraser34](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kfraser34)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2010, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-boilermakers/235273/31 "2010-07-12T18:28:44Z")
oh and FWIW I have always known Boilermakers to be a glass of beer with a shot of whiskey poured in… not the whole shot glass, just the whiskey… I think it is a personal preference thing… drop the whole shot glass in if you are gonna slam it immediately or pour it in if you are gonna take your time… I would not call a shot of whiskey that is chased by beer a Boilermaker… ---
**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:** [July 12, 2010, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-boilermakers/235273/32 "2010-07-12T20:58:44Z")
> [@pnjman](#): > > In the UK the shot dropped in a beer is known as a “depth charge” as far as I know. That was my experience in Oregon. ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2010, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-boilermakers/235273/33 "2010-07-12T21:55:16Z")
FWIW none of the “boiler makers” I know drink boilermakers. ---
**Author:** ![kfraser34](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/57b2e6/32.png) [@kfraser34](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kfraser34)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2010, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-boilermakers/235273/34 "2010-07-12T23:56:48Z")
> [@Una\_Persson](#): > > FWIW none of the “boiler makers” I know drink boilermakers. I don’t know why anyone would… I’ve tried one and it tasted horrible… ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2010, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-boilermakers/235273/35 "2010-07-13T00:53:24Z")
If you read my posts from back in 2004, you’ll notice that the original “boiler maker” was a shot and then a beer chaser. Separate. From at least the 1930’s. All this depth charge stuff is just a later thing. Oh, yeah! While I’m at it—get off my lawn. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2010, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-boilermakers/235273/36 "2010-07-13T03:17:08Z")
Darn!! I thought at last we had an answer. ☹ :mad: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-boilermakers/235273.md?page=1)