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DIY Beer Olympics

beer olympics
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With the 2016 Summer Olympic Games happening now, this is the perfect time to evaluate your own fitness level. Maybe your pommel horse game isn’t quite what it used to be, but I’m willing to bet your beer drinking skills are at an all-time high. Instead of just sitting on the couch and watching “real” athletes compete on television, get some friends together and host your own Beer Olympics with these simple contests of skill and stamina.

Related: Ready to Rio? 2016 Olympic Sports to Watch

The Beer Mile

We’ve talked about this one before. There are several rules to follow for an official beer mile race, but the gist is this: drink a twelve ounce beer, then run a quarter mile. Repeat that three times and you have a beer mile. The keys to a successful run are 1) don’t take in too much air, and 2) don’t vomit. Good luck with that!

Beer Pong

A one-on-one tournament style game perfect for bracket lovers, this event sees opponents bounce table tennis balls into cups filled with beer. If your ball makes it in, your competition has to drink the contents of the cup. Mayhem inevitably ensues.

The Dizzy Bat Relay

You may have seen this event between innings at a minor league baseball game or remember it from your third grade field day. Two or more teams line up and take turns running to a coach, then putting their head down on one end of a baseball bat and spinning around it 10 times. The grand finale involves stumbling back to tag the next teammate in line. The Beer Olympics twist is to consume a beer before taking your spins. Expect more falling.

Bean Bag Toss

The bean bag toss (or “cornhole” if you’re nasty) is a leisurely pursuit where participants attempt to lob a square bag filled with beans into a hole in a wooden ramp. Basically, you just stand around and drink until someone claims to win.

To make your beer olympics event even more memorable, divide your friends into country teams. Once chosen, team members can only drink beer from those regions. Take it further and wear native dress and (attempt to) speak the local language. Have an opening ceremony parade down your street. Appoint a non-drinking friend to be the “rules enforcer” and settle international disputes. The possibilities go on and on.

Regardless of how amazing your beer olympics intentions are, be sure to drink responsibly. Keep consumption and physical effort at reasonable levels and provide lots of drinking water and sober rides home. Nobody wants an international incident.

Related Post: Running the Beer Mile

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Lee Heidel
Lee Heidel is the managing editor of Brew/Drink/Run, a website and podcast that promotes brewing your own beer, consuming the…
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