Synopsis
After their grandfather's death, brothers Jan and Todd Wolfhouse travel to Germany to honor his final wish and encounter Beerfest, a secret international drinking tournament. Humiliated by their German relatives, they return to Colorado and recruit an unconventional team of competitors. Over the following year, the group trains for a rematch while uncovering long-buried family secrets and a legendary beer recipe.
Factoids & Trivia
- The idea grew out of Broken Lizard's 2003 promotional trip to Australia for Super Troopers. The group challenged Australian drinkers to a team chugging contest, lost narrowly, and later used the experience as inspiration for the film's international rivalry.
- Beerfest was originally developed at Sony Pictures before Warner Bros. acquired the project. The production was filmed in Albuquerque, New Mexico, which stood in for several American and European settings.
- Broken Lizard initially imagined a more irresponsible version of the story, involving a new beer festival with no drinking-age restrictions. The concept was later changed into the secret underground tournament featured in the finished film.
- The movie was promoted as a drinking-games counterpart to Fight Club, with competitive beer challenges replacing the earlier film's bare-knuckle bouts.
- The animal action received American Humane monitoring. The production used fake frogs for background laboratory work, rotated live frogs during the effects scene, and replaced a German shepherd with horses when the dog showed aggressive behavior around the sheep.
- The closing reference to a possible Potfest was intended as a joke about sequel bait. Fans continued asking about it for years, giving the fake follow-up an unexpectedly persistent afterlife.