The 'Most Pubs Visited' Guinness World Record Was Just Smashed Again This Year
The Guinness World Records made its first debut in the early 1950s with the "Guinness Book of World Records." Originally a promotional tactic for Guinness Brewery created by Sir Hugh Beaver, the intention of the records was to settle pub arguments of "who was the fastest" or "biggest such and such" and so on (via Guinness World Records). Today, the records take on a whole new meaning and go on for pages upon pages of accolades.
There have even been many Guinness World Records made and broken that involve said pubs and drinking. There's "Most different varieties of beer on tap," which went to Raleigh Beer Garden in 2015 with 369 draft beers. There are also more patron-centric records like "Largest beer festival with the most beer consumption," which went to Oktoberfest, but back in 2011 when 7,500,000 liters of beer were drunk (via Guinness World Records).
Guinness World Records hold a history of those who decide to take on a challenging, mind-blowing goal. Would you go on a pub crawl to break a record? Just look at this new record for "Most pubs visited in 24 hours." It was just recently broken again for the third time this year.
New Guinness record will hopefully stay for more than a few months
The Guinness World Record rules for "most pubs visited in 24 hours" are that one must purchase and consume at least 125 milliliters at every stop. The record was first set in October 2021, when Matt Ellis visited 51 pubs in England. However, this was quickly broken by Gareth Murphy from Wales in February 2022, with 56 pubs visited. Murphy's certification for the record wasn't even granted until June 2022, and then just three months later in September 2022, Nathan Crimp said he broke it again with 67 different pubs (per HuffPost).
Now, according to Guinness World Records, Heinrich de Villiers broke the record in Melbourne, Australia to support "the local pub/bar scene in Melbourne that was heavily affected during the COVID-19 pandemic and showcase the hidden and less known places that the City of Melbourne has to offer." De Villiers was accompanied by his brother and friend, who helped him visit 78 pubs in 24 hours to shatter the record. According to Food & Wine, they really broke the record in 12 hours, since they split their pub visits into two blocks: 5 p.m. to 12 a.m. on February 10, and 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. on February 11. In order to hit every pub, the group spent less than 10 minutes at each stop. And yes, they mostly drank beer (though they managed to work in a diet coke or two as well).