Dear Guinness Book of World Records: Where’s the Alcohol Entries?
The Guinness Book of World Records was originally established to settle drunken arguments in the pubs of Britain and Ireland. This book was the answer to alcohol induced debates that were once only solved through good old fashioned brawls. That is, until 1991, when they banned all alcohol related entries due to fear of litigation. However, the 1979 edition did print these records, which are reproduced below. For edits and additions, please leave a comment below and the list will be updated.
- The strongest known beer in 1979 was EKU Kulminator Urtyp Hell from Kilmbach, West Germany, at 13.2 percent alcohol (1979).
- Update: Bavarian brewer Harald Schneider, from southern Germany, brewed a beer that was 25.4% alcohol. Source.
- The weakest liquid ever marketed as a beer was a sweet ersatz beer from Germany be Sunner, Colne-Kalk in 1918. It had less than 0.2 percent alcohol (1979).
- Steven Petrosino of New Cumberland, Pennsylvania on June 22nd, 1977, drank 1 liter of beer in 1.3 seconds. Peter G. Dowdeswell of Earls Barton drank two liters in 6.0 seconds on February 7th, 1975 (1979).
- Czech patriots drank 2,662 half-litres of beer in less than 17 hours. Drinking at a rate of over 156 beers per hour, or 2.6 mugs per minute, the Czechs can now claim to be the fastest “relay” drinkers in the world (2004). Source.
- An unidentified middle-aged Latvian man was unconscious but stable after a blood test showed 7.22 parts per million (0.7%) of alcohol, police spokeswoman Ieva Zvidre said. “An average person would vomit at around 1.2, lose consciousness at 3.0 and stop breathing at a level of about 4.0 parts per million” Zvidre said (2003). Source.
- It is recorded that a hard drinker named Vanhorn (1850 – 1911) averaged more than four bottles of Ruby Port per day for 23 years prior to his death at 61. He is believed to have emptied 35,688 bottles (1979).
- The nation with the highest beer consumption per person is West Germany, with 39.8 U.S. gallons per person in 1976. In the northern territory of Australia, the annual intake has been estimated to be as high as 62.4 U.S. gallons per person (1979).
- A 4 year old boy, Joesph Sweet, in Wolverhampton, England, in died 1827 from alcohol poisoning, reported in the Stafford Assizes case R. v. Martin (1979).
- During Independence (1918 – 1940) the Estonian Liquor Monopoly marketed 196 proof potato alcohol. In the U.S., Everclear (190 proof) is marketed by the American Distilling Co. (1979).
- A half bottle of Peres Chartreux, Tanrragone, June of 1945 has been sold for 130 francs, equivalent to $59 per bottle (1979).
- Grande Fine Champagne Napolean, 1811 was auctioned at Christie’s of London in December 1976 for $374 for a single bottle (1979).
- The oldest datable wine has been an amphora salvaged and drank by Captain Jacques Cousteau from the wreck of a Greek trader sunk in the Mediterranean circa 230 B.C. Wine jars recovered from the Pompeii eruption of A.D. 79 were found labeled VESUVINUM – The oldest known trade mark (1979).
- The highest price ever paid for a bottle of wine of any size is $18,000 for a jeroboam of 1864 Chateau Lafite-Rothschild dry red Bordeaux, purchased at an auction in Atlanta, Georgia, on May 25th, 1978 (1979).
- Update: The most expensive wine ever sold is a bottle of 1787 Chateau Lafite which sold at Christie’s London in December, 1985 for £105,00 (about US $160,000). Source.
- The single largest sale of wine took place at Christie’s of King Street, St. James, London, on March 25-26, 1976, when 31,000 bottles of Bordeaux wines were auctioned for $1,500,000 (1979).
- The longest distance for a champagne cork to fly from an untreated bottle 4 feet from level ground is 102 feet 11 inches by Gary P. Mahan at La Habra Heights, California on August 2nd, 1975 (1979).
- The longest lasting imposition of Prohibition against consumption of alcoholic beverages has been 26 years in Iceland (1908 – 1934). Other prohibitions have been in Russia (1914 – 1924) and the United States (1920 – 1933)(1979).
- The Mathaser Bayerstrasse 5, Munich, West Germany averaged 100,800 pints sold per day. It was rebuilt in 1995 to seat 5,500 people (1979).
- The longest bar with Beer pumps was built in 1938 at the Working Men’s Club, Mildura, Victoria, Australia. Its counter is 298 feet in length, with 27 pumps (1979).
- The oldest brewery is the Weihenstephan, Brewery in Freising, near Munich, West Germany, founded in 1040 (1979).
- Anheuser-Busch, Inc. In 1975, the company sold 35,196,180 barrels, the largest annual volume ever produced by a Brewery (1979).
- The largest brewery on a single site is Adolph Coors Co. of Golden Colorado, which produced 12,800,000 barrels in 1978 (1979).
Calwineries, inc. does not want anyone to try and break these records. We are a site about California Wine Country and do not endorse excessive drinking, under any circumstance. For more wine information, click on the learn tab or that link.
Written by: Ryan Fujiu on Monday, March 12 2007
the12thman said:
Great article! Thanks for posting it. As for the strongest beer - In Heidelberg, Germany at the Vetter Brauhaus, I drank a beer that was 33% alcohol. They claim it to be the strongest in the world. It was DISGUSTING. Thanks again.
Posted 472 days ago.