Fastest cocktail shaker in the world

Record-setting bartender Chris Raph, right, nears the end.

The next time someone breaks the Guinness Book of World Records mark for making the most cocktails in an hour, don't be surprised if they are immediately rushed to the hospital for carpal tunnel surgery.

Last year, Las Vegas-based Bobby Gleason, better known as Bobby G, broke the four-year-old world record held by the UK's Paul Martin by 74, whipping up 253 different drinks in 60 minutes.

Then, Matthias Knorr cracked that record in Munich, Germany, by 136, mixing 389 cocktails in an hour.

Now, even that number has been surpassed -- by 273!

The new record-holder is Chris Raph, a bartender at The Shout House -- a "dueling piano bar" in downtown Minneapolis. The 31-year-old cranked out an astonishing 662 drinks Thursday night in the presence of several hundred cheering onlookers plus Carlos Martinez, an adjudicator for Guinness who had flown in from New York for the event and examined each drink.

Most of the drinks were simple two- or three-ingredients concoctions.

I spoke with Gleason this morning to get his take on the escalating number of cocktails being authenticated by Guinness.

"Well, records are made to be broken. But, when I did it (at the 2008 Nightclub & Bar Convention & Trade Show in Las Vegas) I was told each cocktail had to have at least three ingredients," the Jim Beam Brands master mixologist told me.

Gleason said he used 12 base spirits and three different DeKuyper cordials and liqueurs in his record-setting performance.

"As soon as I had combined all the base spirits with a DeKuyper product, I switched to another one and started all over again. You just have to keep it organized and stay focused."

[Go here for a YouTube video of Raph's record-breaking performance.]

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