這會是 Mark Zuckerberg 首次、也是最後一次品嚐 Guinness 嗎？

Name: Guinness.

Age: Arthur Guinness began brewing porter in the 1770s. Guinness draft was first poured in 1959.

Appearance: Espresso martini in a pint glass.

But it’s beer. It’s stout, yeah. Irish stout.

Sort of an old man’s drink, isn’t it? Not these days. Fans of Guinness include Kim Kardashian, Olivia Rodrigo, even the Princess of Wales.

That’s just a bunch of celebrities pretending to like Guinness either because they’re visiting Ireland or it’s Saint Patrick’s Day. Or both. Some of them have actually tasted it: Mark Zuckerberg, for example.

I wouldn’t have guessed Zuckerberg drinks Guinness. He has drunk it – and apparently for the first time – on a recent instalment of the Irish billionaire John Collison’s Cheeky Pint podcast, which is set in a pub.

How did he like it? He didn’t say.

What makes you think it was his first time? The look on his face.

Did he look as if he was enjoying it? He looked as if he might be allergic to it.

What do you mean? At the start of the podcast, while discussing his new Muse AI app, the Meta founder picks up the full pint in front of him and takes a sip.

Like a regular person, you mean. Close enough, up to that point. But his subsequent reaction went viral.

What did he do? He looked surprised, for a start. Then as if he was having trouble swallowing. He pursed his lips, squirmed in his seat and seemed to be looking around for the nearest exit.

Oh my. After that he clutched at his shirt collar a bit. He even tried smiling briefly before realising he’d selected the wrong human facial expression from the dropdown menu. Eventually he managed to power down and reset himself.

Did he at least finish the pint? He kept at it, but by the 1 hour 20 minute mark he’d only managed about half.

Then what happened? There was an apparent break in filming, and when they resumed he had another full pint in front of him.

His worst nightmare! Still, I suppose Guinness can manage without Zuckerberg’s endorsement. You would have thought so – it sells 1.88bn pints a year globally, with sales continuing to rise, while the overall beer market declines. And Guinness 0.0 is the No 1 non-alcoholic beer in the UK.

So what made Zuckerberg think he ought to pretend to like it? Well, he did buy a castle in Ireland last month for €20m (£17m), so maybe he’s planning on popping down to his local more often?

Do say: “Guinness is an acquired taste, and I’m in the process of acquiring it in the same way I’ve acquired many startups and competitors. Was this answer helpful?”

Don’t say: “Then, when my new AI model kills everyone, I’ll drink what I like.”