The Trick to Stacking a Beer Pyramid

Beer pyramids, like their card pyramid cousins, can be very tricky to create. However, they are not impossible if you know how to do it correctly! There are a few tips, tricks, and cheats that will allow you to create the perfect epic tower of booze. Here are a few suggestions for both bottle and canned pyramids.

Bottled Pyramids: The most difficult of pyramids. (And possibly the most dangerous!)

Bottled pyramids can be quite difficult, but it is possible to master this feat! First, make sure you have your materials:

Bottles, empty or full (preferably empty)
A stable place to make the pyramid, like the floor or a table
A wall (If your pyramid is not going to be extremely 3D)
Bendable wire (optional, depending on the type of pyramid you choose to make)
Cardboard or Paper cut into squares (For easy stacking)

Directions for a 2D bottled beer pyramid:
The trick for a bottled pyramid that is not fully 3D is to have a sturdy wall in a place where people are not going to walk by often.

The first thing you are going to do is line up a row of bottles on the floor up against the wall. You want it as close to the wall as possible. Start small and grow as you go on. I would first try having the bottom row at 5 bottles, then 4, 3, 2, 1…you get the gist. Then, gradually grow your pyramid by adding bottles to each row. Before you know it, you have a wall-sized pyramid! Easy enough!
(just make sure you balance the bottom of the bottles directly in the center of the necks.)

Directions for a 3D bottled beer pyramid:

Make sure the base is a SQUARE! Start with a square base of at least 16 bottles (if you want a good sized pyramid). Of course, you can make it larger or smaller. Continue to make smaller squares on top of each layer by centering bottle bottoms on the necks of the rows underneath. Be particularly meticulous because this can be tricky since glass is heavy and can fall easily.

If stacking without assistance doesn’t work, use bendable wire to hold the bottles together in a solid shape. That way you can just stack shapes on top of each other. If you don’t have wire, use cardboard cut into the same shape in different sizes to make the pyramid shape. For example, the bottom square of cardboard will be bigger than the next one up, etc. This is an easy way to ensure you make an actual pyramid with minimal possibility of error…or broken glass.

For a canned beeramid (like what I did there?) all you need are empty cans! These are the easiest pyramids to make because their light structure allow them to easily be stacked. Also, since they are cylinders, they easily stack on top of each other. Again, make sure you work in SQUARES, and just stack, stack, stack! You can also do the against the wall kind with cans too, but that’s boring. Good luck!