World Cup fans in Boston, especially the Scots, have put a serious strain on the beer supply in a city that is accustomed to big drinking holidays in St. Patrick’s Day and the Fourth of July.
The Haven, which has long served Scotland’s top-selling beer, Tennent’s Lager, has gone from four kegs a week to ordering 50 just for this week. Other bars have sold out of Tennent’s and have tripled their orders to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
Sam Adams said its Boston taproom ran out of their famed Samuel Adams Boston Lager last weekend after Scottish fans descended on the city.
Boston Beer Co. the parent company of Sam Adams said its Boston Taproom ran out of the brand’s flagship Boston Lager over the weekend because Scotland soccer fans in Boston for the 2026 World Cup drank four times as much as the bar usually sells.
To date, Sam Adams has sold more than 4,000 pints of Boston Lager, resulting in about 90 empty kegs, said Devon Sage, a Sam Adams spokesperson.
Boston Beer Co. said in a news release that from Thursday to Sunday, the Tartan Army — Scotland’s supporters organization — drank four times what the company normally stocks during a typical four-day holiday stretch like the Fourth of July, adding that it had to schedule an emergency delivery of beer Saturday morning and are adding extra deliveries this week to make sure it has enough.
“We’ve never seen anything like it,” Billy DeCain of the Sam Adams Boston Taproom told NBC Boston.
“The White Bull Tavern, there was no beer,” Scottish fan Dave Orr told NBC. “The Scottish fans just drank the place dry and all they had was Bud Light.”
“Pretty much everything. We ran out of everything,” Paul Morris of The White Bull Tavern said. “Tennent’s being number one.
“The fans have been unbelievable. They’re great — fun, drinking, partying — having a great time.”
Boston has been taken over by Scotland fans the past few days, as they’ve traveled over the Atlantic to witness their men’s soccer team play in its first World Cup in 28 years.
In a news release, Boston Beer Co. said, “There are 20 beers on tap there, including many you can only get at the taproom, but they were basically only drinking Boston Lager. We’re adding extra deliveries this week to make sure we have enough.”
Noelle Somers, chief operating officer at Hennessy’s Bar, told The Boston Globe that the sales “tripled St. Patrick’s Day.”
“We’ve been here for over 30 years, and we’ve never seen anything like it,” she told the Boston Globe.
On Saturday night, the fans watched Scotland defeat Haiti 1-0 at Gillette Stadium.
And after navigating the packed trains and traffic jams, the party continued long into the morning across Boston’s many bars. Then, just under 24 hours after Scotland’s win on the pitch, the Boston Red Sox put on “Scotland Day” at Fenway Park.
The Tartan Army led a fan march from Evans Way Park to the ballpark. It was led by a cohort of folks playing bagpipes as they brought a touch of Scotland to New England.
A conservative estimate saw at least 5,000 fans take part — but judging by eye in Fenway Park, thousands more made the trip to watch the Red Sox play the Texas Rangers.
