"We did this at University of Waterloo"

When I was there all we had was "boat races". Teams of four, sitting down at a long table, players on each team sitting across from each other. Put two brewskies in front of each player. At the bell the first guys on each team would chug it down and the guy beside you couldn't start until yours was emptied. . The fourth guy was "anchor man" and had to double chug both brews and the action headed back along the other way with the other players chugging down their second. First team to finish was the winners.

Engineer students at U of W used to win every time.

so i'm fairly new to multisport, but since i've got a decent amount of base training in the malty beverages, i thought i'd chime in:

boat races, pretty much as you describe, have been and are prevalent in the west coast ultimate frisbee scene. they are often used for post- or mid-tournament challenges between teams, or to settle disputes a la rock/paper/scissors. since ultimate is played with seven on a side, there is a slight preference for lineups of seven.

the question of quality brews is perhaps a separate thread -- think of the races as your speed work on the track where the scenery isn't important. but for your LSD [long, slow drinking] you really ought to find something worth spending your time with. my personal preference is for something on the well-hopped end of the spectrum; arrogant bastard [which you mentioned earlier] is actually a great example of this, as are many craftbrewed IPAs. when the weather is cold or wet, it helps to have something with good body and some residual sugars -- you are drinking this during your post-exercise glycogen window, no? for this i'd choose a strong ale or barleywine, like sierra's bigfoot or petaluma's the hairy eyeball.

30-second soapbox: for those whose favorite beers are made in big factories far away from where you live, consider giving your LBS [local beer supplier] a shot at your business. while not everyone may have this option [we're pretty spoiled here in the pacific n.w.] most of us have brewpubs and/or microbreweries in our vicinity which are trying to put the artistry and local color back into brewing. the best ones can give the belgians a run for their money, and that ain't easy.

caveat: of course unlike the other LSD that triathletes engage in, too much of this kind of training and you'll quickly find your performance suffer, or at least that those 6am runs seem a bit more of a challenge than they were before....