Beergasm



In fiction, a good stiff drink induces instant euphoria accompanied by a loud "HELL YEAH!" or some other shout of satisfaction. It's not necessarily that the alcohol takes effect instantly, but that it's that damn good.

The reaction/gesture/sound that many characters make after having had a beer is very over the top and noticeable. Often it is preceded by shotgunning the beer, but not always. Once they're finished they take a very loud breath and give this moan / "Ahh!" of appreciation / pleasure and slam the can down on the surface in front of them like all of the problems they've ever had in life have just been swept away. Often they'll follow this with some sort of statement about the beer being good.

A variant is when a character tosses back a shot of hard liquor and exclaims "Smooooooooth!", either with choking, coughing or wheezing if the booze is supposed to be very strong or very vile, or without if it's really supposed to be an indication of the high quality of the booze. This exclamation references a now long-forgotten cigarette commercial.

Because of how Asian people are biologically prone to falling quick to alcoholic intoxication, this is mainly an anime trope.

A Bottle Fairy is prone to this, but not always.

Compare Can-Crushing Cranium. Contrast Can't Hold His Liquor.

Anime and Manga

 * Neon Genesis Evangelion: Misato Katsuragi. And boy, does it sound like it. It's hard to describe Misato's "beer drinking noise" other than "Yee-haa", followed by "Kkkuuuuu", followed by "My morning begins with this!" For any of you who have trouble picturing the sound, here it is.
 * Azumanga Daioh: Yukari-sensei does this (when Nyamo even lets her drink). Nyamo herself even gets in on this one summer night...
 * xxxHolic: Yuuko does this frequently.
 * Melissa Mao of Full Metal Panic! does this at least once.
 * Black Lagoon: Revy and Rock in the first episode, where they have a drinking competition.
 * Fujisawa of El-Hazard: The Magnificent World qualifies, which is ironic, because he gains super strength when sober.
 * Wa Ga Na Wa Umishi: It seems to be near-obligatory for the team to do this after every job.
 * Vash of Trigun at least pretends this trope several times.
 * Rurouni Kenshin. In a Filler Yahiko and Sanosuke get Kaoru drunk so they can steal a ring Kenshin gave her, and she drinks like this.
 * Lucky Star
 * Nanako Kuroi from does this in the sixth episode.
 * Akira-sama in the Lucky Channel of the 16th episode too.
 * Suzumiya Haruhi: Haruhi does this with a can of juice in the Remote Island Syndrome episodes. In the light novels she actually drinks alcohol, though she quits after the second night on the island.
 * Parodied in this scene from Sayonara, Zetsubou-sensei with what is apparently "children's beer".
 * Kaiji does this in the manga for something like ten pages. Of course, it's entirely justified.
 * Shuichi does this in an episode of Gravitation when he's drinking with Aizawa.
 * In her introduction in episode 5 of Darker than Black, Bottle Fairy Contractor April downs an entire can of Guinness in less than minute and does this reaction when finished.
 * Holo from Spice and Wolf does this at least once, upon downing a tankard of wine.
 * Eriko from Dragon Crisis does this in one episode.
 * Ran from Kazemakase Tsukikage Ran has this with sake.
 * Nichijou contains a variation; the Professor does this with milk, instead of beer.
 * Bartender is this trope incarnate but it does it with a bit of class. Ryu's ability to make cocktails leads some people to call them the best they ever had, comparing it to "God's Glass" (nectar of the gods). It says literally in the first chapter that the job of a bartender is just as important as that of a pharmacist because a single cocktail can change a person's perception, much like medication.
 * Ai Kora: Tsubame tends to get excited at the sheer mention of alcohol, regardless of actual drink.

Film

 * All of the animals in Fantastic Mr. Fox view Farmer Bean's hard cider as the best drink money can't buy. Apparently Bean thinks so too; he doesn't actually eat, but subsists entirely on his own cider.

Literature

 * The Stand: The Kid would PISS Coors if he could! Yeeeeehawwwww!
 * The Dresden Files: Describes nicely the general reaction of most people to Mac's beer. Since he serves it warm, English-style, the sequence usually goes: dubious look, sip, surprised look, chug. And that's the usual beer. There are certain beers he saves for special occasions. When he gives Dresden and Murphy some of it after she chases off one of the Billy Goats Gruff, Dresden describes that particular brew as "God's beer."

Video Games

 * In Etrian Odyssey III: The Drowned City, one of the regulars at the Butterfly Bistro is Toma, a scavenger who knows all sorts of tricks to make monsters give up rare goods. To get him to share his secrets, you have to buy him drinks and snacks, and he reacts this way to everything he ingests... including free glasses of water.

Webcomics

 * Largo from Megatokyo is a master of this.
 * Shelly of Wapsi Square gives this sort of response after being given the best martini ever by the Aztec god of alcohol.

Western Animation

 * Peggy does one of these while tossing back shots of tequila with Hank on their wedding anniversary.