Friday, February 08, 2013

La Bebida Bigoteada

So, Chileans have this custom, "vino bigoteado" or just "bebida bigoteada" or simply "bigoteado," generically.

It means that you go around and take the dregs from everyone's wine glass, or cocktails, or pisco sours, or even beer or cigarette butts from nearby tables if you are feeling mean, and mix all those leftovers into a glass, and make it a "drink" (el bigoteado).  The origin is a slang take on drinks pasados por los bigotes, or "passed/filtered by the whiskers" of other people.

It is traditionally consumed under two circumstances:  (1) A macho (a woman doing it would be most rare, for reasons I think are obvious, since it is stupid) intentionally chugging the whole thing down, to show that he is a macho.  (2) An inebriate who is so drunk that he does not notice that his "drink" is in fact the left-over spit backwash of ten people he doesn't know.

#2 is actually quite effective as a prank, if done only with red wine, which in Chilean gatherings is usually easily done.  And the word originated with the practice with only wine, so it wasn't quite so nasty.  Now, all bets are off:  there is no telling WHAT is in the vaso.

Either way, obviously, hilarity ensues.  And, YOU have learned a new word, one you will NOT find on brendannyhan.com!

2 comments:

August said...

Wouldn't be so bad if they'd distill it first. Bigoteado moonshine. It would probably still require machismo.

Bob Knaus said...

Ask for "Hair of the Buffalo" at your local bar in the USA. A similar beverage, but prepared by draining the contents of the rubber mat behind the bar which catches overflow as the drinks are mixed.