SAN FRANCISCO—Last month, James "The Beast" Nielsen honored the 60th anniversary of the first sub-four-minute mile run by shattering another hallowed record long thought unbreakable: the five-minute "beer mile."

Since its origin on college campuses in the late 1980s, the beer mile has grown into an underground phenomenon. Thousands of people, including some professional athletes, have sought to be the fastest in the world at chugging a 12-ounce beer, running one lap, then repeating the uncomfortable, belch-heavy...