Let me preface this post by saying, "Do not try this at home. Trained professionals took part in the making of this story."

Back when I was stationed in Germany my buddies and I used to frequent a club called the Green Goose. There were many locations in the country that sported a Green Goose club but the one I spent the most time in was the one in Nuremburg.

The Green Goose was a club that catered to white American G.I.'s. There were other clubs that catered to black American G.I.'s (yes, I have stories about them too) and some that just catered to American G.I.'s of all persuasions. What made the Green Goose particularly a favorite of us white boys was their penchant for playing rock music.

When you go to a club you are going to be drinking one of two things; beer or mixed drinks. I do not think there is a 'beer' drinking age in Germany but I do recall the drinking age for harder stuff was 16. The age of consent was also 16, need I say more?

When you order a beer at the Goose you always had it in a glass, unless you were ordering one of the few American beers they sold. German beers were always served in glasses because of the way they are made. A very good German beer as a certain amount of sediment at the bottom of the bottle and you do not want to drink that part! By pouring it into a glass you are able to keep the sediment in the bottle and produce a very nice head on your drink.

If you wanted something harder, say a Long Island Ice Tea for example, then you had a few more interesting options. Namely you got to pick just how big of a drink you wanted to get.

Yes, how big!

Sit down for this because some of you may not be prepared for what follows.

The average drink size was the same size as your beer. Nothing special there but wait, it gets better!

If you were willing to spend a little bit more money you could buy a bucket of your drink. What's a bucket you say? The first level of bucket (and most common) was an ice bucket filled with your drink and a ton of straws.

See, the bucket concept led to sharing and socializing. It was not uncommon to purchase a small bucket of something tasty and then saunter around the club letting various ladies (whom you found attractive) drink from the bucket. There was much goodness and happiness to be found with someone who had purchased a bucket. This size bucket was about eight times the price of a regular drink and held about that much.

The next size bucket was a wonder to behold! It was a half barrel! Yep, a 25 gallon bucket!

Oh, it did not hold 25 gallons as you had to leave some room near the top so you could carry the thing without spilling it all over but it held close to 22 gallons when ordered. This would cost you several hundred dollars to buy. It also guaranteed companionship.

If you had a barrel at your table a few things were true:

  • This was your table, all night long
  • Girls would come to you
  • Everyone would be your friend
  • You had too much money

    I never purchased a barrel on my own but one night that involved a barrel ended with me waking up in a place with padded walls.

    I did purchase smaller buckets on many occasions and I had a lot of fun at the Green Goose clubs. Stay tuned, I may post more of these stories!