Bars in the Boston area are running out of beer after Scottish soccer supporters flooded the city for World Cup matches, turning ordinary taprooms and stores into sites of emergency deliveries and wiped-out shelves. Boston was selected to host two of Scotland's FIFA World Cup matches this year, and the arrival of the Tartan Army has pushed local businesses into overdrive as fans drank through stock at a pace the venues say they had never seen.
Who Gets Crushed by the Surge
Boston Beer Co. manager of communications Devon Savage said, "It's been a wild time in Boston as the Tartan Army has taken over." Savage said the Samuel Adams downtown Boston taproom ran out of Samuel Adams Boston Lager over the weekend because the Tartan Army drank them dry. He said, "As large groups of Scots swarmed Boston this week to experience the best of American culture while cheering on their soccer team, they found the Samuel Adams downtown Boston taproom. And they happily stayed for more than one pint!"
Savage said that from Thursday through Sunday, the Tartan Army drank four times as much Boston Lager as the taproom runs through on a typical four-day holiday stretch, like the Fourth of July, and that the taproom had to schedule four emergency deliveries. He said the taproom sold more than 4,000 pints of Boston Lager for almost 90 empty kegs. Savage said there are 20 beers on tap there, including many available only at the taproom, but the Scottish fans were basically only drinking Boston Lager. He added, "We're trying to make the taproom their home away from home while in Boston."
The Businesses Left Reordering the Day
Noelle Somers, chief operating officer of Hennessy's Bar, told the Boston Globe, "We've been here for over 30 years, and we've never seen anything like it." Hennessy's tripled its St. Patrick's Day sales last weekend and ran out of beer, NBC reported. A refrigerator door at Federal Wine & Spirits broke from being opened too many times, according to NBC, and the store also had its Budweiser and Corona beer wiped out in one day.
The pressure did not stop at the barroom door. Scottish supporters got a head start on their way over to America, OutKick reported, and some airlines weren't prepared for the sheer volume of drinking they were determined to do. One report said they drank all the beer on their plane, with some starting to drink as soon as they woke up at 1 in the morning.
What the Crowd Did on the Ground
Last Saturday, Scotland defeated Haiti 1-0 at Gillette Stadium in nearby Foxborough, Massachusetts, the country's first World Cup win since 1990. The Tartan Army took a victory lap with kilts and bagpipes, and about 5,000 fans marched to Fenway Park, NBC Boston reported. One Scottish fan told the outlet, "You have a drinking kilt, for obvious reasons, because it might get some spillage on it. You have a dress kilt. So you always have two kilts."
A Reddit thread on the topic was generally supportive of the big-drinking tourists, with commenters saying, "Not surprised," "Was [at The Tam] Friday during the day, and it was bumping. Left for Beantown Pub 'cause it was way too hot at the Tam. Beantown was out of Coors, Modelo and a couple others by that time. Was just funny sitting at the bar, and every 10–20 mins hearing the staff bring up [it] was officially out or close to being out," "Was at Beantown Pub Saturday, most taps were kicked, bottles weren't in fridges long enough to get cold, and this was during the day. Also, they apparently ran out of bottles the night before," "We feel pride for a variety of reasons, but nothing swells the heart like hearing your fellow Scots have drunk another city dry," "Well that's just impressive, I ain't even mad," and "To be honest, I'm planning a trip to Scotland because of how fun the Scots are."
Scotland is set to play Morocco on Friday in Boston and Brazil on June 24 in Florida, keeping the flow of fans and the pressure on local bars and stores moving forward.