One Welsh man has officially outdone bar crawl enthusiasts around the globe.
On Feb. 5, Gareth Murphy, 29, beat the Guinness World Record for the amount of bars visited in 24 hours by one person. His venture included 56 pubs throughout Cardiff, the capital city of Wales in the United Kingdom.
The IT professional started with a lemonade at 10 a.m., weaving his way through the city center’s nearly 300 pubs and bars within the half-mile urban area. He concluded at 9:26 p.m., telling Guinness World Records that the challenge was the “hardest thing he’s ever done in [his] life.”
While Murphy says he favors Guinness, his strategy didn’t allow for more than two pints total of beer. To avoid uncomfortable bloat during the challenge, Murphy told Guinness World Records that he often opted for orange and apple juice in lieu of booze. He also downed Coca-Cola, lemonade, blackcurrant cordial, cranberry juice, and orange Tango.
He kept hydrated throughout the day with nearly 20 pints of drinks during the nearly 12-hour stunt. And yes, the pub crawl included quite a few restroom breaks, Murphy admits.
Murphy’s February 2022 quest beat out the previous record holder Matt Ellis, who visited 51 pubs in a day. According to Guinness World Records, this wasn’t Murphy’s first attempt at beating a world record, but it was one that he felt most confident in achieving.
Guinness World Records have a storied history with alcohol consumption — even dating back to the first few entries recorded in the book. Health concerns, particularly in consuming copious amounts of alcohol, have since discouraged the publisher from allowing records related to overconsumption.