Andre the Giant was a booze-swillin' LEGEND -- so says WWE Hall of Famer "Mean" Gene Okerlund, who tells TMZ Sports there were times he tried matching the Giant drink-for-drink!
Yeah ... you can guess how that turned out.
We spoke to Mean Gene before the "Andre the Giant" doc premieres Tuesday night on HBO ... and he told us some fun facts about his larger than life friend.
Turns out, Andre was a serious fine-dining nut -- especially for delicacies like animal hearts, kidneys and tongues.