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I Tried the Boxing Cat 12 Beer Challenge

ShanghaiWOWeng 2018-11-27



The Deal

 


If you visit the third floor of Sinan Lu’s Boxing cat you’ll notice an unremarkable smattering of people’s photos along the wall. At a glance you might think they’re random guests, employees of the month, anything other than what they are: total legends. This group has done something most mortals in Shanghai simply cannot, they’ve successfully completed Boxing Cat’s formidable drinking challenge: 12 beers in 2 hours.



 

The Challenge


If this were a twelve pack of Budlight it might be more manageable, but it’s not. These beers are big and strong, and they pack a punch. For every winner of the challenge there are countless drinkers who have fallen short, and the stakes are high. If you drink all twelve beers within two hours (and manage not to vomit for 30 minutes afterwards) the drinks are free. You’ll get your photo on the wall and a cool T shirt. However, failure means no photo, and a big bill to pay. At around RMB 50 per glass, the tab can be hefty, especially in the worst case scenario: you only finish 11.



 

I’m Scared

 


Finishing 11 was my biggest fear as I prepared for this challenge. This would come with all the downsides of a win and none of the benefits. I’d be quite drunk, probably unable to function the next day, and I’d have a RMB 550 bill to square away.

 

Prep


 

More immediate concerns before the big night: how to prepare my body for this cataclysmic booze event. I’m a frequent drinker, having a couple drinks several times a week, but although I’ve always thought of myself as having a high tolerance, I haven’t tested this out since my dog days of college. I also can’t remember the last time that I drank this much this fast, if ever.


 


Casual advice from friends consisted of wisdom such as “eat lots of lettuce that day to expand your stomach” or “ don’t eat anything” or “eat three big healthy meals”. Looking online wasn’t much better, I found a sad mix of advice from the blatantly obvious “drink lots of water” to the absurd “yeast injections four hours beforehand”. I finally decided on a ‘business as usual’ method, going through the same routine I would on any other day.

 

On Arrival



 

After making reservations I arrived with colleagues at 7pm on a Tuesday evening (you can only try this challenge on Mondays or Tuesdays). Iris, a female colleague of mine at Shanghai WOW! agreed to try the challenge along with me, and was relieved to see that women get to use smaller glasses 350ml as opposed to the men’s pint glass, which is 20 ounces, or 568ml.

 


You also get to choose your beers, we both opted with the lowest alcohol percentage brew: the ‘Right Hook Helles’. One thing I immediately realized I overlooked was the nerves, I was worried. I drink enough to know that this amount of booze is tricky, not just in terms of alcohol, but sheer volume of liquid. Some quick math told me that one pint glass of 568ml, multiplied by 12 is 6,812 ml of beer, or 6.812 liters. If you’ve ever seen a large 2 liter bottle of Coke, imagine drinking about three and a half of those in two hours. That’s what I was up against.

 


And So We Begin



 

I began confidentially but knowing that failure was a serious possibility. They bring you the first six at once, and two at a time afterwards. I drank my first two beers in 9 minutes and was feeling confident, although I started having the urge to burp but couldn’t quite let out a good one, a feeling that persisted throughout the night. Iris was rolling, outpacing me to the point that I started to feel like a pussy, another feeling that would last throughout the night.

 


The real crux of the evening came about an hour and 10 minutes in. I had drank 7 and 1/2 beers, which was perfectly on pace to complete the challenge, but something was wrong. I hit a wall. I wasn’t drunk, tipsy for sure, but I felt totally stuffed and incapable of swallowing more liquid. My stomach was filled so much that I thought the next gulp could easily come back up, failure was looking me dead in the eyes. As I began grappling with my pussy-ness, I noticed that my female colleague Iris was cruising, and would probably finish with ease.

 

 

As my chances to complete 12 got slimmer and slimmer, I began rooting for Iris, she had it in the bag. Even the female waitresses at Boxing Cat were rooting her on, winking at her and giving her admiring smiles and little ‘Jia You’s’ with each new beer. With 20 minutes remaining, Iris finished off her 12th beer. We cheered and celebrated her superhuman feat… but it was premature. The real devil of this challenge is the 30 minutes you must wait afterwards without vomiting. For Iris, she made it through about 7 or 8 minutes before stumbling to her feet and spraying vomit on the wall, much to the horror of us and the staff.

 


What ensued was a long and awful night for her. She flew too close to the sun.

 

The Next Day


Iris and I both felt like total shit and didn’t come in to work, luckily our boss is cool and knew this might happen. Our only consolation was our new t-shirts.

 

 

Reflections


I will be back and I’ll get my photo on that wall. Iris will probably not be joining me for another try, but in our minds, she’s already on the wall… or at least a little bit of her vomit might still be.

 

 

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