so the Germans underestimated Olympics fans’ thirst, and were forced to order more Kostritzer Pilsner and black lager for their fan fest tent by Steamworks.

They expected 25,000 litres of beer would last the entire period of the Games and were forced to order more over the weekend to refill their dwindling stocks, according to a Saturday story in Vancouver’s biggest daily newspaper.

that’s a lot of beer — and a lot of money.

consider each beer sold cost $9, and measured, at most, a pint. a pint is half a litre, which means 50,000 glasses of beer were sold (according to The Publican’s generous underestimation.)

at $9 a glass, that means about $450,000 has been brought in.

$450,000 from a single Olympics hospitality tent — not factoring in freebies, or cover charge ($20 to get into the actual party of the German Fan Fest) — is big money.

here’s another one to sip on. Holland House expected to sell more than 80,000 litres of Heineken — at $4.50 for a 250 mL glass.

that adds up to $1.44 million.

still, that figure excludes proceeds from food, and the unused funds on and unrefunded deposit for the reloadable cash cards that guests were forced to use to buy food and drink.

and how did will official beer of the Vancouver 2010 Games fare?

Molson Canadian Hockey House expected to sell more than 350,000 cans of mass-market lager, according to a highly esteemed local blogger.

most people pay $99 for access to the house, which allows them to pay another $7 for a can of Canadian.

that adds up to $2.45 million in beer sales alone. while some of that beer will be consumed by VIPs who pay $450 for open bar privileges, that’s still a lot of money.