A 'butt' was a Medieval unit of measurement for wine. So, you can actually buy a 'buttload' of wine
A butt was measured as approximately 475 to 480 liters. Technically speaking, therefore, a "buttload" of wine would be 126 gallons.
According to tradition, George, Duke of Clarence and brother of King Edward IV of England, was killed by being drowned in a butt of wine. The type of wine used was malmsey, and the event took place on February 1478.
Butts were also referred to as "pipes," occasionally. The terminology changed when new measurements were introduced in England in 1824.
