Silicon Valley's hot new talking points: beer and cigarettes

Business Insider | 14-10-2026 01:07pm |

Jensen Huang, among other tech figures, features on the "Tech Founder Beer Matrix" as a "beer sipper" and "good hang."Bloomberg/Getty ImagesAfter Mark Zuckerberg drank a Guinness, tech bros can't stop talking about drinking beer.One X user created the "Cheeky Pint Benchmark," while another ranked execs on a "beer matrix."Cigarettes are in focus, too, after Palantir's CFO said some AI researchers are taking up smoking. After Mark Zuckerberg’s cautious-looking sip of stout on Stripe cofounder John Collison’s "Cheeky Pint" podcast became a social-media talking point, a new debate has emerged: which tech leaders can actually hold their drink?Soon after Zuckerberg's much-memed appearance, ETN, a tech podcast, built what it called the "Cheeky Pint Benchmark," publishing a leaderboard of guests' Guinness consumption, measured to the nearest sixth of a pint.Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, currently tops the chart after drinking three full pints during his appearance on Collison’s show.Introducing The Cheeky Pint Benchmark.We made our intern watch every episode of Cheeky Pint to bring you this breakdown of pints drank by guests to the nearest sixth.Congratulations to @elonmusk who is currently in the lead with three full pints of Guinness. pic.twitter.com/YTTP4P6BSA— etn. (@etnshow) October 13, 2026 The chart prompted characteristically competitive responses from the tech world.Antonio García Martínez, a director at Base, said the benchmark was "weak sauce in general."1. Richest man in the world drank the most2. This is pretty weak sauce in general, though not bad for people on a public podcast with a reputation on the line3. Kind of curious if the Collisons match their guests https://t.co/JhqTjDztEe— Antonio García Martínez (agm.eth) (@antoniogm) October 13, 2026 Andreessen Horowitz partner Martin Casado joked that he'd drink so much if he went on the podcast that the index would need a new scale.If they invite me, you'll need to make this log scale. https://t.co/8YaB0yWPun— martin_casado (@martin_casado) October 14, 2026 The benchmark follows a viral clip of Zuckerberg appearing to grimace after taking a sip of Guinness during a recent two-hour-plus episode with Meta’s chief AI officer, Alexandr Wang.One X user came to Zuckerberg’s defense, arguing that Guinness was "performative at best" and noting that the Meta CEO had nevertheless finished two beers during the interview.Zuckerberg himself replied simply: "that’s just my face."that's just my face— Mark Zuckerberg (@finkd) October 13, 2026 Wang also appeared to embrace the joke, responding to a fan-made "Tech Founder Beer Matrix" that placed founders on a spectrum from "beer sippers" to "beer tankers," and from "good hang" to "bad hang."The chart positioned Wang firmly on the beer-tanker side — despite not finishing a full pint on the podcast — alongside figures including Elon Musk, Larry Ellison, and former Apple CEO Tim Cook.you can’t possibly actually think i’m the same quality hang as tim apple https://t.co/GBwnpUe6Rt— Alexandr Wang (@alexandr_wang) October 14, 2026 Intercom cofounder Des Traynor took issue with being placed on the "beer sippers" side of the matrix, saying he was the first "multi-pint drinker" to appear on "Cheeky Pint," and that his episode included a detailed discussion of beer.This is the most insulted I've ever been on Twitter in ~20 years, and that's saying something. Not to pull receipts, but I was the first multi-pint drinker on Cheeky Pint, and we spoke in detail about various beers on the episode itself. https://t.co/x5MlxkeqlC— Des Traynor (@destraynor) October 13, 2026 The leaderboard’s methodology is already under scrutiny. Will O'Brien, founder of autonomous aquatic vehicle firm Ulysses, argued that the figures should be adjusted for episode length, using pints per hour rather than raw totals.He also said other alcoholic drinks should count if the point is to identify who is "actually DRINKING."Totally inaccurate chart and not a proper way of measuring this metric. The pints should be normalized by time. It should be pints per hour. Elon was on for like 5 hours. Not fair vs other guests. Also some guests drank non-Guinness alcohol. They should be accounted for.… https://t.co/qn4gHoOSUW— will o’brien (@Willob) October 14, 2026 Kalshi cofounder Tarek Mansour also disputed the "Cheeky Pint Benchmark," saying he had to leave his appearance before it ended. Still, he found a silver lining: he drank more than Andreessen Horowitz cofounder Marc Andreessen.This is unfair. I had to walk out mid pod. At least I beat @pmarca though https://t.co/H28i8xY4ge— Tarek Mansour (@mansourtarek_) October 13, 2026 Musk, meanwhile, basked in the glow of topping the chart, replying with beer mugs and a laughing emoji — while adding that he "hardly ever" drinks alcohol.🍻 🤣Funny thing is that I hardly ever drink alcohol! https://t.co/sQsfbGhocD— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 13, 2026 The jokes come as Silicon Valley is seein

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