Booth's Beer Hat In Bones Got Put To Good Use Both On Camera And Off
The Fox series "Bones" ran for an impressive 12 seasons, from 2005-2017. It starred David Boreanaz as FBI Special Agent Seeley Booth and Emily Deschanel as Temperance "Bones" Brennan, a forensic anthropologist. The two characters spent years working together on some difficult and tragic cases, but that doesn't mean the show didn't have its lighter moments. In the season 3 finale, "The Pain in the Heart," Bones believes that Booth had been shot and killed at the end of the previous episode. When she finds out that he didn't die, she bursts into his bathroom while he's in the tub to confront him.
Booth isn't just having a regular bath, however. He's smoking a cigar and drinking from a beer hat with a bandage on his chest. You know, just your average day. His explanation for the beer hat? "Hot tub plus cold beer equals warm beer. Hat equals solution." I mean, it's hard to argue with that logic.
Of course, Boreanaz wasn't exactly sure why he had it on. When he was asked whose idea that hat was in a 2009 interview with Entertainment Weekly, Boreanaz laughed, "It was written. I don't f****** know." Going out on a limb here to say that it was probably because it allowed the actor to do his whole, "What? I'm quirky and cute" schtick that we also saw during his time on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Angel."
As it turns out, this beer hat has had a journey since its time on Boreanaz's head.
Multipurpose beer hat
In 2017, right after the finale of the series, according to another EW story, that beer hat was one of over a thousand items from "Bones" being auctioned off by Screenbid, including Booth's desk and Bones's lab coat. While we don't know who purchased this bit of very important television memorabilia, yet another EW article, updated in 2022, lists a bunch of fun facts about the show, including the whereabouts of said beer hat.
In the EW fun facts list, the production team stated, "The beer hat Booth wears in the bathtub in 'The Pain in the Heart' sits on the desk of an executive producer's assistant. The cup holes are used to hold pens, highlighters, and scissors." The story doesn't say if this assistant for the show had to give up their pen holder when the auction happened or if they were the one who bid on it. I'd assume the former. Plus, a beer hat is a bit of clunky solution for all your pen-holding needs. That's what office coffee mugs are for. The article also notes that the whereabouts of Booth's rubber ducky, which also makes a special appearance in "The Pain in the Heart," are currently unknown. Another mystery for Booth and Bones to tackle, perhaps.
"Bones" is currently streaming on Hulu.