Are thirsty soccer fans drinking all the beer in World Cup host cities?

It's natural event in Boston and Vancouver, in Dallas and Toronto, and they're stocking up in Seattle to prepare for the inevitable.

People are blaming the Australians, the British and the Scottish, although the locals aren't exactly teetotalling, either. But while the details may be blurry, one thing is certain: soccer fans are drinking a whole lot of beer during World Cup games.

"We sold, last week, just over 3,000 pints of Boston Lager, equalling 70 kegs," Billy DeCain of the Samuel Adams Boston Taproom said.

"The Australians were actually trying to drink us dry," Vancouver's Tyler Broers told The Canadian Press earlier this week.

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Fans have been flocking to the 13 FIFA World Cup host cities in Canada, the U.S. And Mexico since the first kickoff June 11. On average, 65,483 people have passed through the stadium gates for each match so far, according to FIFA.

There was a full house of 52,497 spectators at B.C. Place in Vancouver Thursday, and 100,000 at the FIFA Fan Festival. Some 43,000 people packed Toronto's BMO Field last Friday. In Boston, it's estimated that 50,000 fans have descended on the city from Scotland alone.

They're loud. They're joyful. And evidently, they're thirsty.

"I've been in this business for over 30 years, and I've never seen anything like this," DeCain, in Boston, told Reuters.

Thirsty Scottish soccer fans drinking down Boston's beer supply

Bars in Boston are gearing up for a second tidal wave of drinking by Scotland's Tartan Army of football fans who nearly drained some pubs of all their beer in the first ​weekend of their World Cup occupation of the city.

When Scotland beat Haiti 1-0 last Saturday in their ‌first World Cup appearance since 1998, bar staff had to scramble for emergency supplies to satisfy the country's famously raucous and thirsty fans who have packed into Boston by the tens of thousands.

At one point last ​weekend, Samuel Adams Boston Taproom had to call in a special truck delivery from a Sam Adams brewery ⁠to cope with the seemingly insatiable demand for beer from the Scots, and even then DeCain worried that they might ​have to resort to selling only cans.

"We just about made it through. If we didn't have those emergency deliveries it ​would have been a tall task," DeCain told Reuters Wednesday, as fans sipped on pints as they killed time before Friday's match against Morocco.

At the Dubliner, manager Brian McDonnell told Boston 25 News Tuesday they've gone through roughly 100 kegs of Guinness and 80 kegs of Tennent's. Hennesy’s COO Noelle Somers told the news outlet they ran out of lager and ale Sunday.

"We have had to up our orders and our deliveries," she said.

But it's not just Scotland fans taking over Boston's bars, notes Boston 25 News. After England beat Croatia 4-2 Wednesday, it was English fans packing the pubs.

England fans also made a mark in Dallas, where police reportedly had to break up a raucaus party at the Londoner Pub. British media are reporting the fans drank some 5,000 beers at the Londoner Tuesday, spending about $56,000 Cdn.

"I feel sorry for the bar staff," John Gallivan, 39, from Bristol, told the Press Association, as reported by the Independent.

Mastrangelo, in Toronto, says that despite beer sales doubling, Cafe Diplomatico hasn't had any supply issues.

There might be more issue with specialty brands of beer, like Scottish lagers, Mastrangelo said, but his bar serves Labatt brands only. Another challenge is that a lot of suppliers are trying to avoid driving downtown on Toronto game days, he added.

"We're busy, we're prepared for busy, and if we can't get a delivery, we'll pick it up," Mastrangelo said.

In Vancouver, Tyler Broers told The Canadian Press he's never seen anything like what unfolded on Saturday. Australian World Cup fans filled his multi-level sports bar, Dublin Calling, before and after their team's match against Turkey, and nearly drank the bar dry. 

"That never happens. That was the first time I've ever felt like I was actually going to run out of booze," Broers, the bar's manager, said Tuesday.

"Today we ordered 200 kegs for the weekend," he said.

And across the border, in Seattle, bar owners says they're expecting monster crowds for Friday's U.S.-Australia game as many of the Aussies in Vancouver head south.

"They're definitely coming down from the north," Simon Minness, visiting from Melbourne, told Fox 13 Seattle. "I think there's going to be 5,000 to 10,000 Aussies here at least. We'll turn it green and gold."

"We have probably brought in enough kegs of beer to support three Seahawk games," Seattle tavern owner Farshid Varamini told the news outlet.

Bradley Howe, who runs Seattle's Kangaroo and Kiwi bar, told the Sydney Morning Herald he was ready for fans to drink the place dry.

"I've got kegs at my house, I've got liquor everywhere. We are stacked and loaded … Twenty-five years in the game and this might be my biggest, most exciting day," he said.

Senior Writer & Editor

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