… and walks straight up the bar. It’s busy, and he looks around at the customers. Satisfied, he bellows at the top of his lungs, “I’ve just arrived from America, and I’ve heard tell of how much the Irish drink stout. I’ve got $500 for anyone who can drink ten pints of Guinness in ten minutes or less.” He pulls out a wad of cash and smashes it down on the bar.

The barkeep chortles. The crowd looks about in silence for a second, then all go back to their conversations. One patron actually gets up and leaves.

The American is a little perplexed, but calls out an order for a pint, which he starts to drink.

A few minutes later the door opens and the guy who left earlier barges up to the American. “Aren’t you the fella who made a wager?”

The American’s eyes light up and he says, “Yep, that’s me. I’ll give you $500 if you can drink ten pints of Guinness is ten minutes or less.”

The Irish lad says, “Alright, I’ll take your wager.” And they call out for the bartender to line up ten pints. The crowd at the bar starts to get interested and they gather around the American fella and the Irish lad. The American pulls back the cuff of his shirt to see his watch and tells the Irish lad when to start. The crowd starts to cheers as the Irish lad pours the pints down his throat, as if he’d greased his throat with bacon fat before he started.

Sure enough, the crowd roars as he swallows the last gulp out of the tenth pint and the American exclaims, “Nine minutes and thirteen seconds!” He picks up the wad of cash and hands it to the Irish lad, and says, “I’ve just got to ask. Aren’t you the guy who left when I first called out my wager?” The Irish lad confirms he left, and the American asks where he went.

He says, “I had to go to the pub next door to make sure I could do it!”