The Greeks were not into beer, not even slightly. Beer was for barbarians. The Greeks were however aware of a rather odd custom of early beer swillers. There’s a fragment of a poem from the archaic poet Archilochos that includes the line:
“…as a Thracian or a Phrygian sucks his barley beer through a tube…”
Yes, beer was originally drunk through a straw. To make it more fun it was drunk from pots or, if you went to a party, from a communal vat.
So the process was, you arrived at the party, your host handed you a long straw, and then you all sat or stood around talking while you drank from the same pool of beer.
This image from the British Museum has Mesopotamian beer drinkers hanging out together, in the upper middle:
There's technically no reason why you couldn't try this at your next party!
