I had this buddy back in college. His "sure fire" method for picking up girls was to ask the one he wanted if he could drink a beer out of her shoe. Amazingly, most of them said yes. Whether it was out of morbid curiosity, a strange sense of flattery, or simply to see some poor bastard choke down a mixture of beer and foot funk. But he always ended up with her. A lot of the time with her beer soaked shoes abandoned next to his bed.

I'm not sure if drinking out of a glass Beer Boot from Bier Boot Haus would have had the same effect, but it definitely would have saved him from the Hoof and Mouth disease he likely contracted. And, trust me, the glass version is a helluva lot more fun to drink out of.

If you've seen the movie Beerfest, you know all about "Das Boot", which has become the adopted name of what Germans call "Bierstiefels". If you haven't seen it, lemme give you a quick rundown on the tradition: It is thought to have started back in World War I, when German soldiers would drink beer out of a leather boot that was passed around before battle. They considered it good luck to flick the boot before and after drinking from it. (And yet they lost anyway. So much for luck.) American soldiers stationed in Germany after World War II were introduced to the custom and brought the glass boots back home as souvenirs.

There's a certain obvious camaraderie that results from sharing beer from a giant glass boot, which has made them extremely popular during Oktoberfest. And although that party is still several months away, there's no reason not to get one (or more) for your next party.

They're available in a 1 liter size for individual beer booting, a half liter for lightweights, the traditional, 14-inch-tall 2 liter that holds 67 ounces of beer (you can keep your 40, Snoop), and a massive 3 liter that stands almost a foot and a half tall, weights nearly 5 pounds empty, and should come with a warning label.

Get yours plain, or decorated with one of a variety of crests and logos from famous German breweries. Or you can have your beer boot personalized for your party with a custom color decal or engraving. Think of it as a return label for when your guests are found wandering the streets in a beer induced haze.

(Drinking tip: Since the toe of the boot sometimes creates an air pocket, seasoned beer boot drinkers know to drink the the toe facing the side, not up. Which causes beer to splash in your face.)

$19.99 - Half Liter
$29.99 - One Liter
$53.99 - Two Liter
$69.99 - Three Liter
www.bierboothaus.com