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

• After 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 CTO 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.

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."

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.

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."

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.

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.

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."

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.

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.

The jokes come as Silicon Valley is seeing a sharper divide between those embracing vice and those seeking to optimize every aspect of their health.

As Business Insider’s Henry Chandonnet reported last month, a small group of founders, engineers, and investors has embraced cigarettes in a sector previously known for its healthy obsessions.

Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev also posted this week that he was "hearing more and more AI researchers are taking up smoking," adding: "superintelligence is near."

That idea resurfaced after Palantir CTO Shyam Sankar described AI researchers taking up smoking to signal their confidence that artificial intelligence will cure cancer.

After Sankar's comments, longevity entrepreneur Bryan Johnson — who is famed for his fanatical pursuit of good health — joked that he was ready to pivot to smoking, drinking, fast food, and all-nighters.

For now, though, the emerging tech-industry trend appears to be less about optimizing for longevity than proving one is relaxed enough not to care.