Dilemma : You are stuck in a desert with no certainly of being rescued. You have no liquid except 8 cans of very strong beer ( 10% alcohol volume ). Should you drink them or will it make you more dehydrated ?

They'll make you more dehydrated. However, you could pour the liquid into the solar still you're going to make.

You _shouldn't_ drink them, but if you're not going to get rescued, tying a buzz on to croak of exposure might be better than not having said buzz...

Drink them, pee in the cans, and recycle. Continue until rescued or die from bacterial poisoning.

You shouldn't drink them, but I probably would - just to get drunk.

Drink 'em - if you're not getting rescued, who the hell cares if they make you more dehydrated?

Dunno if I'm providing the "best option", but here's my $0.02:

You are much better off getting water from cactii (if they are available), and barring that, you are better off licking the condensed morning dew off the outside of the cans than drinking the beer inside them--they certainly will severely dehydrate you.

the alcohol is a diuretic, is it not?

Alcohol has always made me very dehydrated.

well, if there is absolutely nothing else to drink and no hope of finding anything else at all- then of course you would have to drink them. but alcohol, i'm fairly sure, causes the body not to secrete a hormone(ADH)in the usual amounts and by doing that we urinate more and become dehydrated. at least the is what i remember as part of the cause......but if there is nothing else, i'm sure if rationed it wouldn't have the same effects our guzzling usually does, i think it may actually help in the smaller rationed doses.
fooyun- urine is actually sterile but doesn't have the same content that we would need liquid wise..... it would be fairly concentrated as you became more dehydrated.

that's why I hope never to be caught in such a situation as this. :P lol

I reckon I'd drink the beer. With my luck I know someone will find me,
dead or alive.
..............................................................michael

I would drink them for no other reason than It would taste good and feel great! and death would be more fun. dehydration? who cares ...inebriation? YES!!!

10% is very strong beer? This must surely be an American survey ;)

Supplicant : Nope, I am British. There are some drinks that strong but it's not very popular, or nice .

don't drink them until you're almost dead. I think. Are they cold?

Haven't there been cases where people in Florida, after ingesting copious amounts of alcohol, have fallen down drunk on the ground outside and were boiled alive in their own bodies?

I don't know which would be the best thing to do, but I'm QUITE sure that I would drink them. Probably fairly quickly, too. With any luck, I'd forget all about my predicament!

fooyun: they didn't boil, but they did spontaneously combust!

bill: that would explain the lack of Australians in Florida ;)

supplicant...i lived in florida, georgia, and north carolina...and i've found the humidity and heat to be far worse in the latter two...

only drink if you want to die faster--...

Drink them, but slowly.

Don't drink them. I really hate the taste of beer; why die dehydrated *and* with that taste in my mouth? I'd probably pour them over myself, though.

Only drink them when you can't stand it anymore and don't guzzell them.

drink slowly...very slowly