"...June 22, 1977 in Carlisle, Pennsylvania"

 

Steven Petrosino drank 1 liter of beer (33 ounces) in 1.3 seconds on June 22, 1977 at the Gingerbreadman in Carlise, PA, a 56% improvement over the previous world record record set several years earlier by Peter Dowdeswell of England (2.3 seconds for 1 liter).


This web page will chronicle the world record established in 1977 and first recorded in the 1978 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records. This record remained undefeated for 14 years, and became a permanent record when Guinness removed all records for beer drinking or alcohol consumption from their record book in 1991. As of JUNE, 2008 this record remains undefeated. All other claims to a world beer drinking record by anyone else are spurious.

The night of June 22, 1977. Establishing the World Record.

The Guinness World Record was established at the Gingerbreadman bar in Carlisle Pennsylvania (near Dickinson University and the Carlisle War College) where Petrosino was working as a bartender while attending post-graduate school at Penn State University. Petrosino was 25 years old at the time. Time Keepers used three digital watches which had just become commercially available in the United States in early 1977 and cost over $125 each. The time keepers were: Michael A. Barber, Joseph Casserta, and Leo Sweeney. Leo was a representative for Guinness, Ltd. Times of the three timekeepers were averaged to arrive at the official time reported to Guinness.

GUINNESS WORLD RECORD BOOK ENTRY

 



The record was established for 1/4 liter (0.137 seconds), 1/2 liter (0.4 seconds), and 1 liter of beer (1.3 seconds), but only the 1 liter record was published by Guinness.

The record remained undefeated, and was retired as an undefeated record when Guinness removed all alcohol consumption records from their record book in 1991.