A symbolic offer to buy someone a beer, usually in an attempt to end a heated argument in a draw in a manner that will not be perceived as submissive, or as a surrender. While the sentiment is often totally genuine, the use of the a moderately expensive beer often enjoyed by white members of upper middle class America imbues the gesture with a certain level of ironic distance, highlighting the gap between the user and the original gesture's more working class origins. This self-aggandizing technique is itself used somewhat ironically, at once emulating and mocking the loud claps on the back straight men give each other when they hug.
Origin.