The book is set in the future, maybe not too far, but far enough that the "net" has become a pretty sophisticated virtual reality in which you are able to do such arcane things as actually drink beer, taste it, and achieve the usual result.
Don't actually know what "arcane" means, just threw it in because it sounded right.
Stories featuring that kind of virtual reality became a sub-genre of SF in the mid-80s... William Gibson is generallly acknowledged to have started it with his novel Neuromancer. I've never read any of his books, though, so I can't comment on them.