Alcohol

Sam: Where's Bobby? Dean: In town, supply run. Sam: In this? Dean: Yeah, man's a hero. We were officially out of hunter's helper. (Dean gestures at his empty liquor bottle) – Sam and Dean, 6.15 The French Mistake

Alcohol - booze, liquor, hunter's helper, the good stuff, or rotgut - has a prominent place on Supernatural. Even a few Supernatural entities indulge. Every hunter drinks, sometimes to excess. Sam, Dean, and Bobby are no exception. They may only use flasks for holy water, but they always have a few bottles of alcohol, usually liquor or beer, on hand to get them through jobs and over rough patches. Dean will take a mixed drink if he thinks it will lead somewhere with a lady.

Brotherly Bonding

Sometimes Sam and Dean take a few moments to relax and drink beer by the Impala. The talk about their cases, the past, the future, and their thoughts. These moments produce some surprising revelations. When Dean finally revealed their father's dying words to Sam ("he said I might have to kill you Sammy") it was over a few bottles of beer. When Sam finally confronts Dean over withdrawing from him because of his deal ("It's just that I wish you'd drop the show and be my brother again"), while they are having beer by the roadside, they bond as Dean decides to show Sam how to take care of the Impala.

Months after his resurrection, it takes another roadside drink in for Dean to admit that not only does he remember Hell, he became a torturer there. After the revelations of their time in the past with their parents and confronting Michael, Sam and Dean share a drink and discuss Team Free Will. It is over beers in Bobby's salvage yard that Dean agrees to support Sam's plan to defeat Lucifer, whatever the cost. When Soulless Sam turned down a drink with his brother on the Impala after they defeat the fairies, it was another indication of how changed he was.

Drinking Habits

Hunting is a tough life, and while characters do drink to enjoy themselves, often they turn to alcohol as a way of numbing the pain.

Sam

We first see Sam drunk, on a combination of whiskey and Jager , as he struggles with what he may be, and what John's dying warning to Dean about him means. While obviously upset, he calls Dean "bossy...and short"... and then begs Dean to promise to kill him if necessary. Dean has to manhandle him into bed The next time we see Sam drunk, it's two in the afternoon and Dean finds him drinking whiskey, distraught over his failure to get Dean out of his deal

Sam hits the bottle hard for a long time following Dean's death. Ironically it is the reappearance of Ruby and her promise to tell help train him to kill Lilith that brings a return to sobriety

Dean

Over time, Dean's drinking has increased to a level of obvious dependence, although we never seen him drunk. His drinking increased markedly, and understandably, after his resurrection as he struggles to cope with his memories of Hell, to the point where Sam notices After Lucifer rises, and the Apocalypse begins it continues. At one point he admits that the number of drinks he has in a week is "somewhere in the mid fifties". Later, when Sam and Dean wake to be confronted by the hunters Roy and Walt, Dean's bed is surrounded by beer cans and liquor bottles.

After Sam ends up in Lucifer's Cage, Dean drinks a lot when he moves in with Lisa and Ben - half a fifth a night by Lisa's estimate. After he leaves the Braedens and returns to hunting, his anxiety over is wrong with Sam only seem to increase this

Even after Sam gets his soul back, dean's drinking doesn't change - it has become part of him. As he tells Sam about how he copes with his life and the things he's done. "You shove it down and you let it come out in spurts of violence and alcoholism."

Bobby

Bobby drinks pretty regularly, and certainly on occasions to excess -such as after Dean's death He often shares a drink with Dean - mainly whatever liquor or 'hunter's helper' he has around - rotgut aged three days he tells Crowley.

The other ritual Bobby has with alcohol is that he tests guests to his house with a drink of holy water and then offers them whiskey. We see him do this the first time Dean and Sam visit him and later when Ellen appears after the demon attack on the Roadhouse . Bobby offers Sam beer laced with holy water which reveals his possession by Meg. When Dean returns from hell however, Bobby simply dashes holy water in his face!

Castiel

Dean tries to introduce Cas to some earthly pleasures when he takes him to a brothel and buys him a beer . Castiel first seriously tries drinking at Bobby's, when Ellen challenges Castiel to a round of shots. Castiel downs five shots in quick succession, and suggests that he is "starting to feel something".

Following the revelation that God is taking no action to stop the Apocalypse, Castiel gets drunk. As he tells Sam Ï found a liquor store...and drank it".

future version of Castiel, a powerless angel who has come to enjoy drugs and alcohol, including absinthe.

Trivia

• According to Jared and Jensen at the William S. Paley Television Festival 2006, the prop master Chris Cooper makes fake beer labels for them to use:

Jared: The funny thing about the beers, our prop master Chris Cooper, he is… the beer labels are always fake labels that usually have to do something with the city we’re filming. Like in Texas, it will be Lone Star Lager, in Minnesota it would be Timberwolf Ale. But we are Texas boys.

From The French Mistake pop-up trivia

• The beer bottle labels are individually made by the Art department and then attached by the Props Department
• The alcohol they drink on set is tea.

See also Purple Nurple

Episodes

It's not possible to document the characters' every drink, but there are certain occasions when alcohol has led to scenes that are hilarious and scenes that are heartbreaking. And sometimes, it has been pivotal to a case.

1.01 Pilot

Celebrating his LSATs victory, Sam and Jess have shots with a friend at a Halloween party. Later that evening, someone breaks into Sam and Jess's apartment at night, and Sam fights him in the dark. Eventually, Sam realizes the intruder is Dean.

Sam: What the hell are you doing here?
Dean: Well, I was looking for a beer.

Dean tells Sam that their father is missing on a hunting trip. Sam is skeptical that their father needs help, suggesting that "he’s working over-time on a Miller Time shift; he’ll stumble back in sooner or later." Sam agrees to go with him, but tells Jess that his father is "just deer hunting up at the cabin and he’s probably got Jim, Jack, and Jose along with him."

1.06 Skin

Becky, Sam's old college friend, invites what she thinks is Dean in for a beer. In actuality, it is a shapeshifter.

1.17 Hell House

During the brothers' prank war, Sam puts superglue on Dean's beer bottle. His hand sticks to it immediately.

2.11 Playthings

Drunk Sam

The Winchesters are researching deaths at an old hotel. After another murder, Dean goes back to their room to find Sam. He is surprised to discover that his brother is intoxicated.

Sam: You're bossy.
Dean: What?
Sam: You're bossy. And short.
Dean: Are you drunk?
Sam: Yeah. So? Stupid.
Dean: Dude, what are you thinking? We're working a case.
Sam: That guy who hung himself. I couldn't save him.

Sam rambles about his fear or becoming evil, like the other special children. He begs Dean to kill him if that happens. Dean tries to brush off his plea, and Sam reminds him about John's last words. They argue, and Dean reluctantly promises while helping him off the floor and into bed.

Dean heads down to the hotel bar and has a drink himself while speaking to the bartender about the case, a reference to The Shining. The next morning, Sam is suffering from a bad hangover. Dean takes a little pleasure in the misery while Sam is on his knees in front of the toilet.

Dean: How you feeling, Sammy? (Sam groans) I guess mixing whiskey and Jager wasn't such a gangbuster idea, was it? I'll bet you don't remember a thing from last night, do you?
Sam: I can still taste the tequila.
Dean: You know, there's a really good hangover remedy, it's a, it's a greasy pork sandwich served up in a dirty ashtray.
Sam: (heaves) Oh, I hate you.

While Dean hopes otherwise, Sam does remember the conversation and Dean promise, and reminds Dean to keep it.

2.14 Born Under a Bad Sign

Sam went missing for a week, and when he finally phones Dean he claims to have no memories of where he has been. Dean retraces his steps, and discovers a gas station where Sam stole a 40 oz malt liquor and threw the bottle at a worker.

Sam later knocks Dean out and runs away. He goes to the Sandpiper Bar in Duluth, where Jo is working. Sam orders a beer, and talks to Jo for a while. He comes on to her, then attacks. She tries to hit him with a beer bottle but is overpowered. Dean bursts in and throws Holy Water on Sam, proving that he is possessed.

Sam escapes to Bobby's place to wreak havoc. Bobby invites him inside and offers him a beer. After the first sip, Sam doubles over in agony, while Bobby drinks impassively. He comments that the beer was laced with holy water, and knocks out the demon.

2.15 Tall Tales

Dean downs some nurples

Sam and Dean investigate weird happenings at a college. Dean, in the name of investigation, drinks Purple Nurples with a local grad student. In Sam's version of the story, he drinks three of the shots quickly. In Dean's version, the girl and he each savor a shot. The brothers keep beer in their hotel room fridge.

The Trickster, while reading the Weekly World News to come up with new ideas for his victims, enjoys a glass of champagne.

2.20 What Is and What Should Never Be

After escaping the Wishverse, Dean discovers that his girlfriend in his dream is a model he saw in an El Sol beer ad.

3.04 Sin City

In a city that seems overwhelmed with corruption, the Winchesters go to the local bar to ask questions. The parish priest, who is later revealed to be a demon, is at the bar, having a drink. Dean is taken with the bartender, Casey.

Casey: What can I get you boys?
Dean: What's your speciality?
Casey: I make a mean hurricane.
Dean: I guess we'll see about that.
Sam: You drink hurricanes?
Dean: I do now.

The brothers prevent a murder in the bar, and have beers afterward. Casey herself turns out to be a demon.

3.06 Red Sky At Morning

Sam, Dean, and Bela have champagne at a fancy party.

3.08 A Very Supernatural Christmas

The brothers suspect that an "anti-Claus" is kidnapping people near Christmas. According to legend, the creature should smell like candy. Dean thinks the culprit may be a local Santa, who smells sweet when he walks past. Sam counters that he smells like ripple, not candy.

Sam tries to make Christmas for Dean, who wants to celebrate it this year, his last. He gets a few presents, and makes eggnog with whiskey while Dean is out getting beer.

A Christmas celebration with plastic cups.

3.10 Dream a Little Dream of Me

Dean finds a depressed Sam in a bar drinking because he is unable to save Dean from his deal. They then get a call telling them that Bobby is in an apparent coma.

A college student has learned dreamwalking through the use of African Dream Root. He can enter a person's dreams if he has some of their DNA. He managed to obtain Bobby's DNA by offering him a beer, and traps Bobby in his own dreams. Sam and Dean manage to save him, and when he wakes Bobby reveals how his DNA was obtained to the brothers. Unfortunately, Dean has also accepted a beer from the student.

3.15 Time Is On My Side

Dean uses a secret weapon to see Rufus.

In the hunt for Bela, Bobby sends Dean to speak with a semi-retired hunter named Rufus Turner who has heard from her. He also instructs Dean to take along a bottle of Johnnie Walker Blue Label. When Dean reaches Rufus's house, the hunter is not interested in helping until Dean breaks out the bottle.

Rufus: Dean do I look like I’m here to help you?
Dean: I’m gonna say no.
Rufus: Then get the hell of my property.
Dean: All right, hey, hey, fair enough. I got one more question for you though. See, I got this ah, this bottle of scotch, and ah, I...is this considered good?

Rufus lets him in, and they drink.

Rufus: You know, I don’t even bother drinking unless it’s this stuff. Nectar of the God’s I’m telling you.
Dean: Yeah, it’s a nice change you know. Most of my whiskey comes from a plastic jug.

4.01 Lazarus Rising

Resurrected, Dean makes his way to Bobby's place. He notices an unusual number of empty liquor bottles around the place, and asks Bobby "What's the deal with the liquor store?" Bobby replies that the months since Dean died "ain't been all that easy."

4.05 Monster Movie

Sam and Dean investigate a "vampire" attacking people at an Oktoberfest celebration where they serve enormous mugs and steins of beer. Dean is impressed by the beer and the bar wenches.

Dean has a beer.

4.08 Wishful Thinking

After a reported sighting of Bigfoot, Sam and Dean follow large animal tracks to a burglarized liquor store. Bottles of amaretto and Irish cream are missing. Dean notes that if it was Bigfoot, then "he's a girl-drink drunk." Mulling over the situation outside the shop, the brothers see a young girl drop off a box of alcohol and magazines with a large 'sorry' note attached to it. They follow her home, where they discover that her teddy bear has become a giant, living, depressed stuffed animal. He drinks morosely while watching television.

Later, at their hotel, Dean wakes from a bad nightmare, clearly about his time in Hell, and takes a long drink from a liquor bottle labeled Skagit Cask, likely meant to be a product of the Skagit River Brewing Co.

4.14 Sex And Violence

Sam and Dean are searching for a siren. Sam and a doctor who has been examining the creature's victims share whiskey in her office. Meanwhile, Dean and FBI agent Nick Monroe have shots together at a strip club they are meant to be watching. Later in the Impala, Dean takes a drink from his flask, and then offers it to Nick. Nick drinks, then Dean takes another swig. Nick reveals that he is the siren. Dean, having been exposed to his saliva, is now under Nick's control.

4.17 It's A Terrible Life

Dean Smith has no alcohol because he is detoxing, perhaps the clearest sign of all that something is wrong with this world.

4.18 The Monster At The End Of This Book

Sam and Dean meet the prophet Chuck, who they soon discover is a heavy drinker, especially after his painful visions.

4.19 Jump The Shark

Adam Milligan tries to call John, his father, and ends up making contact with his half brothers. He tells them that John came to see him sometimes, even buying him his first beer when he turned fifteen.

Unfortunately, Sam and Dean discover that this is not their brother, but instead a ghoul who has killed Adam and taken his form and memories.

4.22 Lucifer Rising

While he is being held in the Green Room, Zachariah offers him a bucket full of bottles of Dean's favorite beer as a bribe. Dean is unimpressed.

5.03 Free To Be You And Me

Dean decides to take Castiel to a brothel for what may be Cas's last night on earth. Castiel is terribly uncomfortable. Dean gets them beers, and when he tries to introduce Cas to a girl, the angel nervously downs the beer in a gulp.

5.04 The End

Dean drinks a beer as Sam informs him by phone that Lucifer needs Sam as a vessel. Dean does not react favorably. He goes to sleep, and when he wakes up he finds himself four years in the future. He makes his way through a Croatoan blighted landscape to Camp Chitaqua, where he finds familiar faces, including his own. He also sees a future version of Castiel, a powerless angel who has come to enjoy drugs and alcohol, including absinthe.

5.09 The Real Ghostbusters

At a convention of fans for the Supernatural book series, bartenders are serving "Yellow-Eyed Coolers", bright yellow mixed drinks in tall glasses. Chuck gets one for Becky.

Chuck gets YECs for himself and Becky.

5.10 Abandon All Hope

The demon Crowley enjoys a tumbler of alcohol with lemon while waiting for Sam and Dean to reach him.

Later at Bobby's, Ellen challenges Castiel to a round of shots. Castiel downs five shots in quick succession, and suggests that he is "starting to feel something". The others stick with beer.

File:Crowleydrinking.jpg

Crowley drinking his favorite type of alcohol - Craig.

5.16 Dark Side Of The Moon

Ash's Heaven is the Roadhouse, and it's fully stocked with beer. Ash shares one with Sam and Dean.

Ash's bar heaven.

5.17 99 Problems

Sam and Dean stumble into a town full of hunters, and drink with the local bartender as they hear the details of the place. That is, until drinking is outlawed by supposed prophet Leah Gideon.

Later, Castiel appears in the brothers' hotel room in response to a voicemail from Sam. Sam quickly notices that something is amiss.

Castiel: I got your message. It was long, your message. And I find the sound of your voice grating.
Sam: What’s wrong with you? Are you…drunk?
Castiel: No!…Yes.
Sam: What the hell happened to you?
Castiel: I found a liquor store.
Sam: And?
Castiel: And I drank it.

A few hours afterward Cas seems to be suffering from a hangover. Dean gives him a bottle of aspirin, and advises him to take the whole thing.

Dean leaves suddenly at the end of the episode, and shows up on Lisa's doorstep. He tells her he is making arrangements for her and Ben so that they will be okay during the bad things coming. Lisa is scared and tries to persuade Dean to come inside for a beer. He turns her down.

5.18 Point Of No Return

At the beginning of the episode, Zachariah is in a bar drinking. Another patron named Stewart strikes up a conversation with him. Zachariah reveals that he has been fired, and he clearly expects to die shortly. The blinding light and lethal sound of an archangel fills the bar; Michael offers Zachariah one last chance. Zachariah accepts. He fishes a piece of broken glass out of his drink and finishes it before leaving the bar full of corpses.

Like his brother, Adam is offered beer and burgers in the Green Room.

Zachariah takes another drink as Michael makes his presence known.

5.18 Point Of No Return

Following the revelation that God is taking no action to stop the Apocalypse, Castiel gets drunk. As he tells Sam Ï found a liquor store...and drank it".

5.22 Swan Song

After Lucifer assumes control of Sam, Castiel suggests that Dean, Bobby, and he "imbibe copious quantities of alcohol and wait for the inevitable blast wave", as he sees no other options. Dean rejects the suggestion.

Once Lucifer is defeated, Dean keeps his promise to Sam and goes to Lisa's house. He asks if he can take her up on the beer she offered him in

6.04 Weekend At Bobby's

Not long after the defeat of Lucifer, Bobby summons Crowley to negotiate the return of his soul. He offers the demon a drink, and is quickly turned down for not having his favorite brand of scotch. Crowley prefers Craig, aged thirty years, while Bobby has only rotgut, aged six days.

Crowley refuses to return Bobby's soul, and over the next year Bobby tries to find leverage against the demon. He realizes that based on his alcohol preference, Crowley was probably Scottish when human. He mentions his theory to Rufus, and begins to explain what Craig is when Rufus cuts him off:

Rufus: It's scotch. Only made and sold in a tiny area on the north tip of Kadenus county. It's pd in sharp the long finish of citrus and tobacco notes. Hey what- what am I a heathen? I know what Craig is.

Once he has his leverage, Bobby summons Crowley again. The demon looks worn. He pulls out a flask and a glass, pours himself a drink, and drops two antacid tablets in the liquor.

Note: Scottish breweries Glencraig and Craigellachie are south of Crowley's birthplace, and did not exist when he was human. He may be referring to a smaller, local brewer. Elijah Craig is also a brand of whiskey, but is American in origin.

6.06 You Can't Handle The Truth

Dean calls Castiel when he suspects an angelic weapon may be involved in a series of deaths. Castiel searches and finds no sign. Dean then asks him about Sam and his odd behavior. Cas insists that he has nothing to add. Dean has a glass, and Castiel picks up a nearby bottle to pour him another drink. He tells him he will make inquiries about Sam.

Dean is at a bar drinking when he accidentally invokes Veritas's truth curse. The bartender offers him another drink. Dean says he's working, then decides he could use another.

6.14 Mannequin 3: The Reckoning

Dean says that the best way to deal with the trauma of Hell is to "shove it down, and you let it come out in spurts of violence and alcoholism."

6.16 ...And Then There Were None

Rufus dies because of Eve's latest creation. Bobby, Sam, and Dean bury him. As an act of remembrance, Bobby pours some of Rufus's beloved Johnny Walker Blue Label on to the grave, before having a drink himself.

6.17 My Heart Will Go On

Fate kills a man through a catastrophic chain of events just by moving his beer bottle.

It is an alternate universe, but Bobby is still grieving for Rufus, drinking more because of it. When Sam and Dean offer him coffee, he tells them to make it Irish. The brothers leave, but Ellen, Bobby's wife in this universe, arrives soon afterward. She comments that he smells like a bar, and orders him to take a shower. Later, he tries to get a beer from the fridge. She takes it from him and pours most of the bottle into the stew she's making, though she does take a swig herself.

6.18 Frontierland

Sent back in time by Castiel to locate Samuel Colt, the brothers stop in at the local saloon. Dean orders the "top shelf" whiskey. The bartender replies that he only has one shelf, and pours Dean a shot. Dean also orders Sam a sarsaparilla, much to Sam's embarrassment. Dean takes a swig of his drink and nearly chokes on the vile liquid. Sam on the other hand enjoys his sarsaparilla.

When Sam finds Samuel Colt, the hunter is drinking Rattlesnake brand whiskey.

6.19 Mommy Dearest

Dean decides on a back-up delivery system for the phoenix ashes that are Eve's only known weakness: he pours so of them into a shot of whiskey and drinks it down. He then taunts Eve until she bites him, and then dies from the ash in his blood.

6.21 Let It Bleed

Balthazar tells Sam and Dean that he "was drinking '75 Dom out of a soprano's navel when you called."

6.22 The Man Who Knew Too Much

Trapped inside his own mind, Sam realizes that he is actually unconscious at Bobby's house because "This whole time, I've smelt nothing but Old Spice and whiskey." This knowledge enables him to put himself back together and wake up.

External Links

• Dean and Drinking a picspam by smilla02
• lsketch42's Official Supernatural Drinking Game