The Best Beer Scenes In Movies

Strange Brew, the epic SCTV-derived comedy starring the lovable Bob and Doug McKenzie, is basically just one gigantic beer scene. Why not start off with the best? When Bob and Doug investigate the strange goings-on at the Elsinore Brewery, the evil brew master (played by none other than Max Von Sydow) needs to get them out of the way. He throws Doug, along with two sympathetic allies, in a steel tank that is slowly filling with beer on the assumption that they'll drown. That's not the way to kill a McKenzie, though, as Doug drinks every last drop, ballooning to the size of a Volkswagen Beetle before taking a mighty whiz.

I'm not sure what kind of hooch Vince Vaughan is passing out here in Dodgeball, but I'll lay a bet that it's probably some pretty nasty, watery swill by the way it explodes in Justin Long's face. This is just a little snippet, but it illustrates an important element of Hollywood masculinity - if you don't know how to pop open a frosty beer, you're something less than a man.

"One gay beer for my gay friend, one normal beer for me." All of the dialogue in In Bruges crackles with sardonic wit and familiarity. It's a shame that the movie didn't get the critical recognition it deserves. Colin Farrell basically re-made his career from scratch with his role as a hitman forced to lay low in Belgium's dullest city, and you know that once the beers start flowing, trouble can't be far behind.

One of the most quotable beer scenes in filmic history gave rise to a tiresome hipster trend, but that's not so bad. Dennis Hopper's role in Blue Velvet solidified his reputation as a guy who can play scary, and Frank Booth is one of the most terrifying sociopaths in cinema. And yet, there's just something so perfect about the scene where he accosts a bargoer, demands to know his beer preference, and then lays the smack down on him, Pabst Blue Ribbon-style.