For the fourth part of our ongoing series during the Winter Olympics, we’re going to look at the luge and a country that’s been dominating it: Germany. Germany grabbed gold for their luge skills in the men’s and women’s singles and doubles, as well as the team relay event.
Luge made its debut at the Innsbruck Olympic Winter Games in 1964 and it is definitely one of the most dangerous Olympic winter sports; luge involves sliding at high speeds on single or two-person sleds on a special track of artificially frozen ice. The sleds have been known to reach speeds of up to 140 km/hour (that’s almost 87 mph), so crashing definitely doesn’t feel very good.
When most people think of drinking in Germany, they automatically think of beer – and with good reason. It’s the home of the original Oktoberfest, after all. However, Germany is about more than just beer and according to recent reports, beer consumption is actually steadily decreasing in the country. So what else could Germans be drinking while supporting their country’s gold medal-winning lugers? We like to think they’re trying to warm up with one of their classic hot cocktails.
One hot drink in Germany is Buttergrog, which sounds like a mythical drink from Harry Potter or something. Grog really just refers to a type of boozy drink or punch and the name itself goes back to the 1600s. Buttergrog is usually served around Christmas, but we think the Olympics are also a good time to warm up with something yummy. Ingredients include apple cider, maple syrup, salted butter, vanilla brandy or rum, citrus peel, cloves and cinnamon.
Eierpunsch is another hot cocktail and it’s basically the German version of eggnog (but better). The biggest differentiator is that their recipe calls for the addition of white wine. It also uses egg yolks, whole eggs, lemon juice, water, rum and sugar.
Although beer is not as popular in Germany right now, it is still the biggest alcoholic drink in the country. So, if the German Olympics supporters aren’t knocking back one of these warm cocktails, there’s a good chance they’re imbibing in a delicious, cold beer.