Pour one out for our homie.
But ain't much that we can do
Except pour brew throughout the crew to make sure we all remember you
And believe me it hurts
To see the boy you broke bread with six feet in the dirt
Except pour brew throughout the crew to make sure we all remember you
And believe me it hurts
To see the boy you broke bread with six feet in the dirt
— Geto Boys, "Six Feet Deep"
Libation is the tradition of pouring a drink (usually alcoholic) on the ground as a sort of offering, perhaps as part of a Grave-Marking Scene. This trope is mostly about doing this in memory of dead friends. Traditionally, one pours on the ground before drinking oneself, as if drinking To Absent Friends while symbolically sharing the drink with those friends despite their absence. Will often involve Talking to the Dead as well. May be regarded as Due to the Dead. "Libation" means "drink", but this can be done with other types of offerings, such as food, tobacco, or sweets.
This is Older Than Dirt in some parts of the world. Compare Ancestor Veneration and Offerings to the Gods: some religious traditions involve sharing drinks with divine beings, including ancestors or long-dead heroes revered as Patron Saints. Such traditions should generally go there, since this trope is about mourning a personal friend or loved one.
Today, this is associated with the Hip-Hop subculture, where this is called "tipping" or "pouring one out". Commonly done with a 40 oz Malt Liquor. Often parodied.
A Sister Trope of To Absent Friends, which is usually reserved by protagonists/good guys in honor of their fallen allies for their noble causes.
The complete polar opposite would be Last Disrespects: the page image there shows somebody pouring another sort of liquid onto the grave.
Compare Empty Chair Memorial. As a Death Trope, all spoilers below are unmarked.
Examples
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Anime & Manga
- Roybea Roy from After War Gundam X is shown pouring wine on the tombstone of his first love, the woman who gave him his Gundam.
- Carried by the Wind: Tsukikage Ran: Ran insists that a new sake brewer's first batch goes to the master that died teaching him, just after burying the guy. She is a Hard-Drinking Party Girl, by the way, that should tell you how highly she regards this trope.
- Cowboy Bebop:
- "Black Dog Serenade" manages to make this trope creepy. When one villain offers an assassin a bottle of champagne to celebrate their takeover of the prison ship, the assassin pours the champagne into the mouth of a dead guard while offering a toast to the devil.
- In "Ballad of Fallen Angels", Spike's sister starts hitting the bottle after her sibling comes Back from the Dead to avenge the murder of their Parental Substitute Mao Yenrai. Spike tries to cut her off but she insists on taking one last drink in Mao's memory. Spike takes it off her, saying he'll drink that one himself.
- Eyeshield 21: It's done before the Ojou vs Deimon match.
- Frieren: Beyond Journey's End: After Heiter's death, Frieren pours two bottles of liquor upon his tombstone, knowing of his reputation for drunkenness.
- Partway through Gravestone of Daisuke Jigen, Lupin empties a flask onto the titular gravestone, after Jigen fakes his death.
- JoJo's Bizarre Adventure:
- JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Battle Tendency: Played With after Joseph defeats Wamuu, reducing him to a living head. While Wamuu isn't dead yet, he has only minutes left to live. Joseph then wounds his hand on a rock and lets blood pour from the wound into Wamuu's open neck, so he can die painlessly. Joseph tells Wamuu that he is doing this not out of sympathy, but rather, to pay respect to him as a Worthy Opponent, the same respect Wamuu showed Caesar after killing him.
- JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean: Exclusive to the anime adaptation, after Foo Fighters is killed by Enrico Pucci, Emporio Alniño visits Ermes Costello in Green Dolphin Street Prison's medical wing and informs her of F.F.'s death. Ermes proceeds to pour a glass of water out the window, and promises F.F. that she'll avenge them.
- Reinhard von Lohengramm in Legend of the Galactic Heroes poured a glass of white wine onto the glass windows in the Alliance National Museum of Art which he appropriated as his headquarters after he conquered the Alliance against the setting sun as a sign of respect to those who have died due to the war.
- Monster (1994): Lunge brings a bottle of beer to Grimmer's grave. Earlier, Reichwein had brought scotch to the grave of recovering alcoholic Richard Braun, saying that it was okay to have it now.
- In Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation Rudeus takes a bottle of strong liquor with him to Paul's grave and alternates between sipping it and pouring it on the grave while confessing his insecurities.
- Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water the crew of Nautilus do this at a secret graveyard.
- One Piece:
- Genzou, the policeman at Nami's home village, pours some sake on Nami's mother Bellemere's grave after the Straw Hats defeat Arlong.
- One of the cover chapters after the Time Skip shows that someone (Sabo) left a bottle of sake and three cups at the graves of Whitebeard and Ace.
- Kozuki Oden is introduced eating oden and drinking sake over the funeral pyre of one of his comrades, as a way of having one last meal with him. He finishes his meal by extinguishing the burning body with his drink.
- At the very end of the Wano arc before the crew leaves, Zoro sets some sake caps in front of Yasui's grave marker, drinks half and pours the rest on his grave out of respect for him.
- Late on in Rave Master, Shuda visits the ruins of the Imperial capital, recently destroyed by the forces of the renewed Demon Card and littered with dead soldiers, including two of the four strongest generals. Shuda praises them all for going down fighting despite the collapse of the government and pours saké on the ground.
- Seijuro Hiko does this in Rurouni Kenshin. More exactly, he pours sake on the graves that child!Kenshin dug for three slave girls he had befriended, who were cruelly slaughtered by bandits (who were immediately thereafter killed by Hiko himself).
Seijuro: No one should have to leave this world without knowing the taste of good Sake.
- In The Seven Deadly Sins, after Ban's adoptive father Zhivago peacefully passed away from old age, Ban and Jericho buried him and then Ban poured beer on the tombstone.
- Space Battleship Yamato: Sgt. Saito pours sake on the graves of the many men lost.
- Implied in StrikerS Sound Stage X, where in exchange for information on Tredia and Ixpellia, Jail Scaglietti asks for enough Belka Red Wine for one so that he and the imprisoned Numbers Cyborgs can honor the death anniversary of their fellow Number Due.
- Tekkaman Blade has a scene where Blade pours scotch on Seargent Bernard's grave, which is cut from the dub.
- Trigun: Vash pours a bottle of alcohol over one of the lightbulb-shaped power plants. Turns out these are powered by angel-like beings, of which Vash is one.
- Xam'd: Lost Memories: on the grave of a child enemy soldier, until Ishuu realizes the recipient is underage and consumes the remainder.
- You're Under Arrest!: Episode 45 of Season 1 has Natsumi and Miyuki delivering a package for Oshou's mother in the countryside, and they're also joined by Tokairin. Tokairin shows Natsumi a tombstone near a shoreline, which belongs to a friend who hiked with him in the mountains, over which he pours some sake.
Comic Books
- Blood Syndicate: Issue four has Tech-9 pour a liquor bottle on the ground in honor of the dying prisoners the team were unable to save.
- Bucky Barnes was part of the Young Allies during World War II, who established a tontine with a bottle of liquor that would go to the last survivor. Bucky was cryogenically suspended for most of the post-war years, meaning he would easily outlive them all, so he tracked down the last two survivors to share the bottle with them. When they pass away afterwards, Bucky pours out the rest of the bottle over a memorial to the Young Allies.
- In the fifth issue of G.I. Joe: America's Elite, Flint empties a liquor bottle onto the ground when visiting Lady Jaye's grave.
- The ninth issue of Hitman (1993) has Tommy pour liquor into the grave of his deceased friend Pat.
- Jonah pours one for his father after watching him die in Jonah Hex #69.
Fan Works
- Pointedly averted in How the Light Gets In. In one flashback, Dean brings a bottle of cheap whiskey to Laurel's grave. Nyssa refuses to let him drink there, takes the bottle away, and makes a deliberate point to pour it out away from her grave.
- Kryptonian Steel
: After Lara-El kills Zouken Matou, his son Byakuya celebrates and pours wine on his brother Kariya's grave, telling him, "This one's for you, Kariya. If only you were still alive to see the Worm Bastard die like he did today."
- Upon Minato's death in The Line Is Not Broken, his mother Tsunade poured her alcohol on the dirt in remembrance.
- Downplayed example in Shadow Realm: Holiday. Dupin pours brandy into a glass, naming each of his dead friends, takes a sip, and leaves the glass out.
- In We Are All Pokémon Trainers, Jason visits his father's grave in Fall City, Fiore on Father's Day during the Hoenn-2 arc and pours a sour bourbon mix on and around the tombstone after taking a swig himself.
Film — Animated
- In Coco after Chicharrón's Final Death Héctor pours out two shots of tequila, drinks one, and leaves the other by his friend's empty hammock.
- Starship Troopers: Invasion: The Space Marines do this without booze as they're in a warzone, holding up their hands as if they're holding imaginary glasses.
Commander: We saved some lives. (troopers cheer) And we killed some bugs. (cheer) But we lost some good troopers today. (solemn silence from troopers) Here's to the dead.Troopers: And to the next man to die!Commander: Now let's get back to Terra, and we can put some real glasses in these hands! (troopers cheer)
Film — Live-Action
- In Amazing Grace, one of the main characters, after winning a huge victory for anti-slavery, pours alcohol into (freed slave and emancipation activist) Equiano's grave, with the bittersweet line, "I know you don't normally drink, but this is a special occasion".
- Austin Powers: Dr. Evil: "One for me, and one for my homies."
- Barry McKenzie Holds His Own: Before they return to Australia, Barry proposes a toast to their fallen mate Col 'The Frog' Lucas. All of the Aussies shake their beer cans before opening them; shooting a spray of beer into the air.
- Darkly spoofed in A Better Tomorrow, where Mark Lee pours out a drink upon his leg, which got messed up during the shootout at the restaurant that Mark went on to avenge Ho's betrayal, during the reunion of Mark, Ho and Shing.
Mark: That's for my leg.
- In Boyz n the Hood, Doughboy pours out a little of his drink on the curb for his dead brother before it's revealed that Doughboy himself is murdered not long after.
- Cooley High: One of the main characters starts to pour his beer out. When one of his friends protests, he says it's for "the homies that ain't here."
- In Creed (2015), Rocky goes to visit Paulie's grave and leaves behind a bottle of Four Roses, his favorite whiskey.
- Parodied in Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood, where Loc Dog names his homies as he pours his bottle over a fence... the camera then pans down to a knothole in the fence where you see he's actually pouring it over their bodies on the other side.
- Empire of Passion: Seki, along with her lover, killed her husband and threw the body in a well. Later, Seki starts getting closer and closer to a nervous breakdown as the guilt weighs on her and she starts seeing her husband's ghost. At one point she takes some of the sake that he used to like, and pours it into the well where his body is decomposing.
- Gang In Blue: When Beckstrem's colleagues celebrate his memory, Eyler brings an extra beer to pour out in his honor. Moose drinks it instead.
- The Gravedancers: During the impromptu wake in the graveyard, Sid pours a large measure of booze on to Devin's grave.
- In Gridiron Gang, Willie and Kelvin are members of rival gangs. After football practice, Kelvin asks Willie if he'd like a bottle of water, but before Willie can grab it, he pours it onto the ground, stating "my dead homies drink before you do."
- Martin empties a fifth of whiskey on his father's grave when he visits it in Grosse Pointe Blank. It's a rather bitter version of this trope, though, as it's implied his father was an alcoholic. He pours out the whiskey, drops the bottle on the grave, and leaves.
- In K-19: The Widowmaker, the entire mission is classified after the submarine crew manage to avert a nuclear disaster and make it back home. It's only after the fall of the Soviet Union, decades later, that they're able to congregate publicly and toast their crewmates at their gravesites.
Polenin: To the men still on patrol... (pours vodka)
- In King Arthur (2004), Bors pours out a measure of wine on the grave of his dead friend Dagonet. His intent is clear as sits down beside the grave marker and encourages his friend to "Drink... [let's] get drunk" before taking a hefty swig himself as his fellow knights depart.
- In Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen, when Donnie Yen's character is reminiscing about fallen comrades with other people, they pour out their drinks onto the ground.
- In Ned, a parody of the Ned Kelly story, the villain (a British governor) takes a sip of tea and does the same as Dr Evil. It's a weird movie.
- In Once Upon a Time in Mexico, Agent Sands, a corrupt CIA agent, meets with and attempts to recruit Agent Ramirez, a retired FBI agent. They briefly talk about how Ramirez's partner Archuleta was tortured to death by Barillo and Dr. Guevara. Both of whom are sitting behind them. After Sands leaves, Ramirez pours some of his drink on the ground, makes a toast, and decides to work with Sands for revenge.
- The generals of Wu and Shu in Red Cliff pour wine onto the ground when their messenger to Cao Cao is murdered.
- Documentary Sans Soleil shows Japanese people pouring bottles of sake over the graves of their deceased loved ones, on the Japanese Day of the Dead.
- Song to Song: At the party he throws, Cook brings the urn containing the ashes of someone he knew and nicknames "The Doctor" (the party is even dedicated to that person). Then he pours a bit of alcohol on the ashes in his honor.
- Strawberry and Chocolate: When serving David whiskey, Diego pours a little out and says "First, the orishas." He is offering a libation to the orishas, spirits of the Afro-Caribbean Yoruba religion.
- In Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Eddie is about to down a small bottle of whiskey before taking the Toontown Tunnel for the first time since his brother Teddy was killed (in Toontown). However, in a combination of this and No More for Me (both signs he's taking this case seriously), he pours out the bottle undrunk before throwing it into the air, shooting it with his Toon Gun, and then continuing on towards Toontown.
Jokes
- A man walks into a bar and orders three shots of whiskey, which he drinks all at once. The next day, he comes back and orders three more shots, and he keeps making the same order every day. He becomes friends with the bartender, who eventually asks the man about the shots. The man tells him "me and my two brothers were close but had to move apart for work, so we buy each others' shots to help remember each other". After a few years, the man comes in and orders two shots of whisky. The bartender says "did something happen?!", the man answers "oh, my brothers are fine, I quit drinking".
- Swedish joke: Two alcoholic friends discuss their love of alcohol.
Drunkard:"Oh, promise that when I die, you'll pour whiskey all over my grave"Second drunkard:"Sure, I will. I will."*Beat*Second drunkard:'"I'm just gonna let it pass through my kidneys first."
Literature
- The Beginning After the End: After Arthur is presumed dead at the end of the war, his former adventuring mentor Jasmine takes out her flask and pours it on the ground in memoriam for her protégé. However, it is a case of Dramatic Irony as Arthur is Not Quite Dead, just stranded far away from home.
- This is the common practice in the world of Harry Turtledove's Between the Rivers. In that world, ancestor spirits can talk to their grandchildren on a daily basis, so that the ghosts can just ask their people to pour a little beer on the ground for them and express thanks when they get it.
- In Robert E. Howard's "Beyond the Black River", when Conan the Barbarian is talking of Balthus's You Shall Not Pass!, with the aid of a dog, he drinks to his memory and pours out the rest — smashing the cup as well.
- The Bible: "And Jacob set up a pillar at the site where He had spoken to him, a pillar of stone, and he offered a libation on it and poured oil upon it." Genesis 35:14
- In Dune, Duke Leto Atreides makes the toast "Review, friends - troops long past review" by pouring out a flagon of water onto the floor (water is worth its weight in gold on the desert planet of Arrakis).
- In The Lies of Locke Lamora, the Gentlemen Bastards have a similar custom of "a glass poured to air" for absent or dead friends.
- In Looking for Alaska, Pudge drops a cigarette in the creek after Alaska's death. The Colonel, Takumi, and Lara follow suit.
- In The Odyssey, Odysseus pours a libation of sheep's blood for Hades and Persephone when he goes to the edge of the underworld. The spirits of the dead appear to try to drink it, and per Circe's instructions, he stands guard over it until the spirit of Tiresias appears and drinks first. Tiresias advises Odysseus on how to return to Ithaca, and other spirits (including his own mother, who died from grief) speak to him before the crowd of dead becomes too large, and Odysseus with his men flees back to the ship.
- In the Paradox Trilogy, Devi performs one at the beginning of Honor's Knight to honor a fallen comrade.
- In the same spirit as Odysseus, Nico in Percy Jackson and the Olympians offers up a Happy Meal and soda to communicate with several dead people.
- In the Discworld novel Reaper Man, Mrs. Cake does this with a glass of liquor for her spirit guide 'One-Man-Bucket'. Thus he gets the ghost of the drink after she kills it by setting it on fire.
- In Redwall, Lord Brocktree drops a flagon of red wine into the pool wherein his father died.
- Scarlet Morning: Inverted; a sea shanty sung from a dead sailor's perspective urges them to keep their glasses full to meet the future rather than pour them out in memory of the past.
- There's an interesting variant in Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City. Anna Madrigal is in the habit of taping a joint to the door of her tenants as a welcoming present. In the last chapter, she visits the grave of her former lover and tapes a joint to his tombstone with the words: "Enjoy it. It's Columbian."
- Done in Unto the Breach. The Keldara have a ceremony involving circling the hill where they bury their warrior dead where the leader of the ceremony takes a bite of food or a sip of beer and tosses the rest down the hill in time with a chant. It's directly compared to the Celtic Samhain.
- This happens in Under Heaven, when Shen Tai visits the family home for the first time in almost two years. He had been spending most of his two-year mourning period after the death of his father in the far west of Kitai, and the family grounds are in the south-east. (And grave markers are mentioned to be placed only after one year has passed, so Tai wouldn't have seen it yet.)
"He set down his cup and knelt. He bowed his head to touch the green grass by the grave. He did this three times. He stood, reclaiming the cup, and he poured the libation on the ground, for his father."
Live Action TV
- A variation in the Alien: Earth episode "In Space, No-one..." Bronski carries a tube of soil from his native Utah around with him, and when he's comatose from the Face Hugger his lover Zaveri mourns him by pouring some of the soil onto his cryopod. Later when the Chest Burster kills Bronski, she empties the rest of the soil on the floor in libation.
- Subverted in German Soap Opera Anna und die Liebe. The villain Gerrit Broda goes to the cemetery and talks in front of his father's grave about how he was never loved by him and how he always favoured his brother. He proceeds to "plant" (stomp) a flower pot into the ground and "water" (throw a bottle of vodka on) it.
- Astrid: In the episode "Irizume", a Yakuza gangster stands a cigarette up on its filter end and lights it in front of the grave of his dead buddy who he murdered on their boss's orders. At the end of the episode, Astrid does the same for her dead mentor and guardian, who was murdered at the end of the previous season.
- In The Big Bang Theory, the guys pour "Romulan Ale" on Richard Feynman's grave.
- Bosch: The other two teen delinquents in Sharkey's street hustler crew pour some of their sodas out on the ground when they're informed that Sharkey is dead.
- In Chicago P.D., Voight has been known to pour out a drink on Olinsky's grave.
- The Collector (2004): Otis spends his last hour drinking with Morgan, his last and best friend, trying to Face Death with Dignity, and a distraught Morgan tosses his flask after his companion as the poor guy is Dragged Off to Hell.
- The Colbert Report: Stephen Colbert commemorated the end of the Space Shuttle by pouring out some Tang onto his desk.
- In The Following: After Joe Carroll's execution, a despondent Ryan Hardy orders two drinks at the bar, one for himself and one for Joe's ghost.
- Man v. Food has Adam pouring marinara sauce after his partner in a competition vomits outside, thus forfeiting the challenge.
- An episode of Martin (1992) had Martin and his friends stranded in his apartment and they have to ration their water. Cole tips out a bunch saying "For brothers who ain't here." Tommy tells him if he does it again, "We're about to become the brothers who ain't here!"
- One of Bret's friends pours some orange juice in Flight of the Conchords when Bret goes missing.
- Randy in My Name Is Earl pours some chocolate milk in the memory of an old shop teacher.
- Mystery Road: Origins: Jay's brother Sputty turns up late and drunk to the funeral of their father and pours whisky over the coffin.
- Parodied in Mystery Science Theater 3000. At the end of the Atlantic Rim episode, they decide to pour one out for everyone who died in the movie...leading to a gag where, as Tom and Crow keep pointing out other implicit casualties, they keep pouring more and more wine, going well past what the bottle could actually hold.
- In one episode of NUMB3RS after the cops Finally Found the Body of a long-missing cop and close the book on what happened to him, the man's former commander ends the episode pouring whiskey onto the gravestone while lamenting about how the killer was right under his nose for all those years and recalling happy memories about the dead cop.
- Orange Is the New Black: During Season One, Boo pours one out for Tricia, after the latter's suicide. After the two were previously romantic rivals.
- Once Upon a Time (2011) features a magical variant of this. Season 5 of the show introduces enchanted ale that allows the user to talk to someone's ghost when poured over their grave. Merida in particular uses some to so commune with the spirit of her father, King Fergus.
- Variation in The Pacific: Basilone and J.P. share a drink at a bar in Melbourne after the 1st Marine Division pulls out of Guadalcanal. They order a third drink for their friend, who was killed in the same action where Basilone earned his Medal of Honor, and leave it on the table for him. When a Jerkass Aussie soldier fed up with the wild antics of the relaxing Marines tries to drink it, Basilone takes exception.
- Pennyworth
- The title character is introduced to the audience at a funeral for a former colleague-in-arms with his two friends Bazza and Dave Boy. The latter complains about the cheap booze they're pouring on their friend's grave, and later—when he's about to go off and do something Celtic that may end in his death—tells Bazza to "make mine an Islay single malt. Not too peaty." Ironically Bazza dies in Season 2 and it's Dave Boy who does the honors. "Highland Single Malt. Smooth, just like you, you bastard."
- When Captain Blighty dies in Season 3, Alfie and Dave Boy bring his flag-draped coffin to their pub so they can lift a pint on his behalf, despite Mr. Chadley pointing out that it's a health and safety violation.
- Person of Interest: At the end of "Provenance", Team Machine are sitting round a table having a drink. John Reese pours an extra glass for Joss Carter who died.
- In the French series Les Sentinelles, a member of the French Super-Soldier team is killed by their German counterpart. During his funeral they ask the oldest member of the unit—a former choirboy—to say something appropriate. He says he's forgotten all that and so does this trope instead.
- In the Scrubs episode "My Friend With Money", JD and Turk are reminiscing about a college friend who died from alcohol poisoning and pour some of their coffee out in his memory.
- In Sharpe, Riley is buried with a bottle of brandy. Which Harper digs out again.
- In The Silent Sea there's a planetwide drought and water is strictly rationed. Dr. Song Ji-an is told that her sister has died and she has inherited her gold card, the highest level water ration. Song then takes her water bottle and empties it on the ground in libation.
- Accidentally done in the Stargate SG-1 episode "Fire and Water." Daniel has died (for the first of many times in the series) and at his wake, Jack accidentally spills some beer on the floor while having a flashback of his death. Unknown whether this was intentional on the writers' part or not.
- In the last episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Martok wants to share a toast with Captain Sisko and Admiral Ross when the Dominion War is won after a particularly bloody battle. Sisko and Ross pour their drinks onto the ground instead, as both libation and protest.
Martok: "Before you waste too many tears, remember, these are Cardassians lying dead at your feet. Bajorans would call this 'poetic justice'."Sisko: "That doesn't mean I have to drink a toast over their bodies."
- A Flashback episode of Suits cuts back occasionally to a minor subplot about present-day Harvey, who's taken a day off work for some unexplained reason, taking a train journey and buying a bottle of whiskey. In the course of the flashback plot, his father dies. At the end of the episode, we see him sharing the whiskey with his dad's tombstone.
- Supernatural
- In Bad Day at Black Rock, a Mook pours beer on the floor of his apartment to mourn a fallen friend.
- In the season six episode ...And Then There Were None, Bobby Singer pours out a bottle of Johnny Walker Blue onto his friend and old hunting partner's grave.
Manhua
- Ravages of Time - The Seventh Genius Zhuge Liang dumps a drink offered to him by Sima Yi, citing this trope as the reason.
Music
- "People Are Crazy" by Billy Currington:
''And I drop by today, to just say thanks and pray,I left a six-pack right there on his grave.''
- In the Dropkick Murphys song "Jimmy Collins Wake" a libation is poured for the titular former Red Sox manager.
- The traditional Irish folk song "Finnegan's Wake" has a variation: Tim Finnegan, known as The Alcoholic in life, is brought Back from the Dead when a drunken reveler at his funeral wake accidentally pours whiskey on his corpse. The reason for this variation is that the term "whiskey" comes from the Gaelic Uisce beatha, meaning "water of life." Finnegan got revived when he got doused with "water of life."
- Lupe Fiasco's The Cool, the titular character comes Back from the Dead, and although he: "Smelled the Hennesy from when his niggas got reminded and poured out liquor in his memory...He couldn't sip it fast enough, so the liquor was just fillin' the casket up."
- Mentioned in Nas' "Memory Lane (Sittin' in da Park)" from Illmatic, where Nas proclaims he'll pour out a Heineken for his dead friends.
- Stand to your Glasses, about the survivors of a battle drinking to their dead comrades.
Mythology and Religion
- Inanna's Descent to the Netherworld: When Inanna wants to enter the Netherworld where her sister reigns, she tells the gatekeeper she comes for her brother-in-law's funeral and the libations that will be poured. It is quite audacious, seeing that she caused the death of her brother-in-law.
Professional Wrestling
- The episode of Raw that followed Owen Hart's death, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin came down to the ring with two cans of beer. Saluting with one, he left the other in the centre of the ring "for Owen".
Tabletop Games
- The opening fiction from Geist: The Sin-Eaters is called "Rum is the Drink the Dead Like Best," for good reason. Likewise, the game mentions that Sin-Eaters often make use of ofrendas, gifts to the dead - usually booze, but can include cigars, candy, or hell money - to gain the trust of ghosts.
- In Warhammer Fantasy, Snorri Whitebeard, the first High King of the Dwarfs, was entombed, with a tankard of ale set upon his sarcophagus.
Theatre
- Clytemnestra sends libations and gifts to Agamemnon's grave in bad faith in Electra (Sophocles), but Electra persuades Chrysothemis not to take them and so dishonour their father.
- Electra and her servants deliver offerings to Agamemnon's grave in the second part of the Oresteia trilogy, appropriately titled The Libation Bearers.
- In Heathers: The Musical, Heather Duke and Heather McNamara, accompanied by Kurt and Ram, go out to the cemetery to pour a jug of Thunderbird over the grave of the recently deceased Heather Chandler, "y'know, from her homies," but Kurt and Ram end up drinking the booze instead.
Video Games
- One sidequest in Chrono Trigger requires you to pour sake on the traveller Toma's grave. This was changed to pop in the US release and reverted in the re-translated DS version. Whatever the alcoholic content of the drink, though, pouring it on the grave reveals the location of the Giant's Claw, the dungeon that the treasure-hunting Toma had been seeking.
- Being Dwarves, the player characters of Deep Rock Galactic can revive fallen players by cracking open their canteens and pouring one out over the bodies of friends. Since you play as blue-collar Asteroid Miners harvesting minerals for an unfeeling MegaCorp while being swarmed by a Horde of Alien Locusts, the dwarves are all Functional Alcoholics and the contents of the canteen are inevitably some kind of booze.
- In Disco Elysium, when Kim and the Detective examine the latter's records with the RCM, and see that he has three confirmed kills in the line of duty, and the Detective have a bottle of alcohol in his inventory, the player can choose to make him pour it out on the ground in sympathy with and the honor of the dead.
- Gotham Knights (2022): Batgirl visits the memorial put up for her father Commissioner Jim Gordon and finds Renee Montoya there. The latter pours booze from her hip flask into a cup marked labelled Gotham's Best Boss, then drinks from the flask. After talking with Batgirl, she walks off and leaves the cup sitting on the memorial.
- During the pre-Graveyard interlude of Kingdom Hearts III, Lea's reprieve is atop the clock tower in Twilight Town with sea salt ice cream - a bar for himself to eat, and one to let melt for his absent friend. When Saïx stops by, he observes that Lea got three bars, and neither of them is quite sure why - a sign that Lea is subconsciously remembering Xion as well as Roxas. Saïx takes Xion's bar for the conversation, and points out that Roxas isn't the first friend Lea has had disappear on him.
- Comes up when you drink an ice-cold fotie in Kingdom of Loathing, after first pouring out some for your homies in the Pasta 'Lean.
- Tilting a fotie in the Ancient Hobo Burial Grounds wakens the angry dead — angry about the wasted booze.
- Done in one of the Bad Endings of the Code Geass Dating Sim Lost Colors. If Rai joins the Black Knights and dies in battle, Todou offers his respects by drinking sake in front of the guy's grave.
- Life Is Strange: Before the Storm: In the finale, Frank Bowers sits outside his trailer drinking, and pours some on the ground for Damon Merrick, his former friend and colleague who he had just killed in a knife fight to rescue Chloe.
- Should Bo' Rai Cho perform a Brutality on an opponent in Mortal Kombat X, he will pour some of his drink on the ground for them.
- Overwatch: In Mei's intro video she leaves mugs of hot cocoa by the cryo-capsules of her colleagues who suffered Cryonics Failure.
- Pokémon Red and Blue: In the remakes, there is an area in the Sevii Islands where a Trainer has built a memorial to their deceased Onix, Tectonix. The player has the option to leave a Lemonade on the grave, which was Tectonix's favorite drink. Should they do so, the Trainer will give them TM42 (Facade) in thanks.
- This is how you revive fallen homies in Saints Row 1 and Saints Row 2 — pour a 40 oz. on them, and they spring back to life. Quite humorous on homies who are on fire.
- Samurai Warriors: In Uesugi Kenshin's second route, where he kills Takeda Shingen in the final chapter, the ending cutscene will show him at Shingen's grave, drinking a bowl of saki before pouring the rest on the ground. As this is the bad ending for him, it's implied that he's upset that his longtime rival is dead.
- Guile's ending in Super Street Fighter IV has him drinking beer and speaking to the grave of his best friend Charlie. Ironically subverted later: in Street Fighter V, Charlie turned out to be Not Quite Dead.
- In Super Robot Wars: Original Generation 2, Sean Webley does this at the funeral of Daitetsu Minase. This is extra effective as a scene since they have been putting off having a celebratory drink together for the entire game as each new crisis interrupts them.
- Tech Romancer does this in the Wiseduck story mode if you chose the ending where the crew decided that they were human and lay the beatdown on the enemy. Ten years later after the war, Alvin is the lone survivor and gives a libation to his now-deceased crew.
- In Wang Jinrei's Tekken 2 ending, Jinrei is seen emptying a bottle of sake on the grave of his long-deceased friend, Jinpachi Mishima, who would be revived as a monster against his will in Tekken 5, more than twenty years later.
Webcomics
- The Adventures of Dr. McNinja: Doctor McNinja drops a slice of pizza in honor of Chuck Goodrich, who sacrificed himself to close the time portal under Cumberland for good, foiling King Radical's plans. The rest of the crowd, moved by the gesture, starts to drop their slices as well. Doc freaks out because they're dropping golden cockatrice sausage pizza, which is really expensive.
"How much do you think a dead man can eat?!"
- Dig 'Em Frog (of Honey Smacks fame) pours out a libation in honor of Cap'n Crunch at his funeral in Breakfast of the Gods.
- Done at the end of Garanos on Ethreden's grave.
- Irregular Webcomic!'s Dr. North Dakota Jones suggests this, but is outraged when his son suggests they use his own whiskey.
- Done sometimes in Knights of the Dinner Table in honour of fallen characters.
- In the Legostar Galactica episode "Know When To Run", Bob Smith promises his old comrade-in-arms Magnus Powers (A Nick Fury Expy) that he'll buy him a beer once they're out of the combat zone they're in. Later in the episode, Magnus is fatally shot attempting a You Shall Not Pass!, and the episode ends on Bob going to 12 Forward and ordering that beer in one of the comic's few genuine Tear Jerkers.
Bartender: "Aren't you going to drink it?"Bob: "It's not for me."
- Not exactly food or drink, but Nerf NOW!! knows full well what consumable to leave at the grave of your Worthy Opponent and fellow Engineer.note
- Questionable Content:
- When Les Paul died in Real Life, the ongoing storyline was interrupted with a one-off strip where he dies in-comic and Marten buys several forties so he can record himself pouring them out and then play the recordings back simultaneously, in reference to multitrack recording being one of Les Paul's very many contributions to music.
- Referenced later: Following the real-life death of Gary Gygax, the blackboard at Coffee Of Doom read "Pour a forty for Gygax".
- When Les Paul died in Real Life, the ongoing storyline was interrupted with a one-off strip
- Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal: A woman opens the spigot on a box of wine for a deceased friend, causing her ghost to show up to complain.
You know what you were.
- Tower of God: Bam and his friends pour wine to honor their dead comrade Hoh.
Web Original
- "Goblet of Fire in 15 minutes" by Cleolinda Jones.
Dumbledore: So I ask you to join me now, in pouring one out for C-Dig.
- Done in the third France Five episode, by Black Beaujolais pouring wine on the tomb of his Japanese Old Master.
- Homestar Runner:
- Parodied at the end of the Strong Bad Email "video games", though because Strong Bad thought the writer was in prison (as he misinterpreted the "AZ" in the signature as "Alcatraz").
Strong Bad: Until next time, this one's for you, Taylor, and all my peoples got sent up the river. (pours out a Cold One)
- And again in the Strong Bad Email "retirement", when Homestar pours out a bottle of Mountain Dew for the Tandy 400 (after pouring it into the Tandy 400 along with some fizzy denture tablets, causing it to explode in a green, rectangular mushroom cloud).
- Parodied at the end of the Strong Bad Email "video games", though because Strong Bad thought the writer was in prison (as he misinterpreted the "AZ" in the signature as "Alcatraz").
- Parodied in The Onion with "Clinton Pours Malt Liquor On Ground For Dead Homies".
- Episode fourteen of RWBY Chibi's second season has a segment called "Inner Lives of Beowolves" featuring a pair of Grimm discussing a friend who got dusted by "that blonde with the awful puns" while on a coffee break. As soon as they pour the coffee in the cups they promptly pour it into the ground as a farewell.
- Fox in There Will Be Brawl for his two fallen friends.
- In the last chapter of Worm, Imp, Cozen, and Tattletale each pour one.
Western Animation
- Arcane: In the Season One finale, Silco is drinking from a flask while seated at a statue commemorating his dead blood brother Vander, and pours out some in his memory despite being directly responsible for killing him, as Silco is finally able to understand how Vander could choose keeping his children safe over revolution, given that Silco himself now faces the same decision.
- In a The Buzz on Maggie episode, the other bugs pour some juice on the ground before a field trip in honor of Maggie, who has accepted detention so the rest of the class can get their excursion.
- Gravity Falls: In "Double Dipper", Dipper pours out a can of Pitt cola when his photocopied duplicate Tyrone drinks a soda, accidentally killing himself.
- Inverted when the cast of Regular Show pours soda on their cart when they are about to send it to the junkyard, then the cart suddenly comes back to life because of the soda.
- A Robot Chicken sketch parodying The Biggest Loser has Winnie the Pooh doing this with a jar of honey in honor of Eeyore, who had lost his long battle with depression. The gag is that it takes a while for the thick honey to even pass the lip of the jar.
- Played for Black Comedy in Smiling Friends. When down-on-his-luck video game star Gwimbly discovers his sidekick Mr. Millipede has died of a fentanyl overdose, he pours out a beer on his grave while doing his "iconic victory dance", which quickly trails off into sobbing.
- Parodied in The Simpsons, when the family goes to Florida during spring break. Kid Rock at a concert has a large novelty bottle of beer - a 40-gallon bottle - which he pours to the memory of "friends not with us... back at home", and Homer tries to drink from it.
Other
- Ceremonies in the Voodoo tradition typically involve pouring out libations of rum for the spirits of the dead, especially if guidance from or communion with said spirits is the objective.
- The ancient Greeks poured libations to the gods and to their dead, and the practice is mentioned by their earliest writers.
- Which has a consequence to this day. Orthodox Judaism has elaborate rules for when wine is or is not kosher, largely due to this practice: it was common practice in the ancient Mediterranean to spill a drop for the gods whenever they poured wine. The Greeks (who were culturally dominant in the time and place The Talmud was written) were particularly fond of libation-pouring, but practically everyone did it, and most societies also used wine in other rituals. A Jew therefore had to assume that any wine he saw had been used for a pagan libation, and thus non-kosher, unless it had been handled exclusively by Jews. The exception was if the wine had been heated (yayin mevushal), which supposedly rendered it unfit for pagan sacrifices. It's not clear whether any Gentile society actually followed this rule (maybe some Canaanites did), but apparently the ancient Hebrews believed it did, and this is why kosher wine is often heated (which modern rabbis have interpreted to include pasteurization).note
- The Ancient Egyptians poured libations to the dead, or at least to dead kings, since Old Kingdom times.
- According to Douglas Peacock, author and environmentalist Edward Abbey was buried in the Arizona desert with (at his request) no coffin, an old sleeping bag for a shroud, and a funeral libation of whiskey poured over his grave.
- When Dorothy Parker's tombstone was unveiled at New York City's Woodlawn Cemetery in August 2021, some of her relatives poured gin (her alcohol of choice) onto the grave.
- After Harold Ramis's passing in 2014, Ghostbusters fans left Twinkies and Crunch bars, Egon Spengler's favorite foods, outside Hook & Ladder Company 8 of the New York Fire Department, the exterior location used for the Ghostbusters headquarters, in tribute to him.