Where Does The 'What's The Matter Lagerboy' Meme Come From? The Viral 'Afraid You Might Taste Something' Memes Explained

If you've been on X / Twitter lately, you might have seen a meme featuring a cheeky goblin enjoying a pint of beer in a crowded bar or tavern-looking setting.

This is known as the "What's the Matter Lagerboy" meme, and right now, X users are editing and recaptioning the text on the meme in a variety of ways to poke fun at certain types of people.

But where does the meme format come from and how did it get so popular? Here's what you need to know.

What Is The 'What's The Matter Lagerboy' Meme?

The "What's the Matter Lagerboy" meme is based on an advertisement for Hobgoblin beer, a brand of beer from England. It's unclear when exactly they released the goblin in the bar ad, but it's been posted online for years, with the earliest known example going back to 2008.

The poster used in the original promotional material reads, "What's the matter lagerboy, afraid you might taste something?" and essentially mocks people who drink light beers or lagers.

The image didn't start to become the subject of memes until 2018 when a version was posted to Reddit that changed the caption to, "What's the matter irony boy, afraid you might feel something?" Now, six years later, it's finally catching on in a much bigger way as an exploitable meme format.

How Is 'Lagerboy' Used In Memes?

The meme really started to take off on X in October 2024. The majority of the memes follow the same format as the 2018 Reddit post in which the caption is edited to refer to something else.

For example, one viral example that references ambient music listeners that reads, "What's the matter ambient boy, afraid you might hear something?"

The format has even inspired a spin-off meme of sorts after a YouTube user wrote, "What's the matter wokey boy" on a video of the Zenless Zone Zero character Burnice.

Presumably, the comment references the meme and has now started to inspire similar edits in which the image of the YouTube video and aspects of the comment are altered.

For the full history of What's The Matter Lagerboy, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.