The German custom of drinking from a beer glass shaped like a boot vessel supposedly started as a German army tradition during World War I. Soldiers would pass around a leather boot of beer before engaging the enemy. It was considered good luck to flick the beer boot before and after drinking from it. Americans soldiers were introduced to drinking from a glass boot while stationed in Germany after World War II. There is a trick to drinking from the beer boot, and if you don't know the trick you will wind up wearing your beer. The American soldiers had great fun with the beer boots and many of them brought back beer boots and beer steins with them when they returned to the United States . Beer boots recently saw a rise in popularity when the movie BEERFEST was released in 2006.