Did you know that the first print ad for Johnnie Walker, which appeared in 1883, featured a Scotsman bawling over a broken bottle at his feet? Me neither, until I read Modern Drunkard's Ten Greatest Alcohol Icons of All Time. The jaunty chap with the top hat, tails and walking stick didn't appear until 1909. Originally known as the "Regency Buck," the iconic figure underwent a name change to become "The Striding Man." I also learned that Johnnie Walker is Superman's libation of choice.

It comes as no surprise that the whimsical Guinness Toucan appears on MD's list. The bird was introduced in the 1930s and had a 50-year run until its retirement in 1982. While many a tippler is familiar with this brightly colored fellow sporting a pint of the black stuff balanced on his beak, few know the little poem that accompanied the original advertisement: "If he can say as you can/'Guinness is good for you'/How grand to be a Toucan!/Just think what Toucan do."

Most of the other icons on the list, including Mr. Boston, the Bacardi Bat and The Wild Turkey were familiar to me with the exception of The Hamm's Bear. Heck, I've never even heard of Hamm's Beer much less the wacky cartoon bear that represented the brand in a series of commercials that involved all sorts of high jinks ranging from pie fights and such to more serious capers such as robbery and arson. Rather than list all of the icons here I thought I'd let folks read through the MD piece.

Fans of Guinness everywhere are facing a bitter possibility: the historic St. James' Gate brewery, which has churned out the black stuff since 1759 may be up for sale. Diageo, the parent company of Guinness announced that its reviewing its brewing operations in Ireland.

The historic site on the River Liffey in Dublin is something of a mecca for Guinness enthusiasts and was once the world's largest brewery. Diageo is considering selling the St. James' Gate brewery and shifting production to a site outside the city. Thanks to a booming real estate market, the historic brewery could fetch up to £2 billion.

While I'm not entirely pleased with Diageo's decision, I am intrigued by the possibility of holding an Irish wake if the sale goes forward.

I am by by no means a "morning person." Like many a sleepyhead, I often require a steaming cup of coffee to get my engine firing on all cylinders. Sometimes I overdo it, either due to quantity or strength. On those occasions, I wind up with a case of the java jitters by late morning. Which brings me to the subject of this post: Panama's leading coffee producer just brewed up what it hopes is the world's biggest cup of coffee. I assume the guys standing around the rim of the massive mug are wearing masks so that they don't die of overexposure to caffeine.

Once the folks at Cafe Duran stop shaking and sweating, they'll submit their results to Guinness for authentication. The company brewed up 750 gallons of coffee, placing it above the previous record of 650 gallons. As of this writing there's been no word of what kind of cup holder has been designed for the megamug.

If a group of Amish in Ohio have their way, Las Vegas may no longer hold the record for the world's largest buffet.

This past Saturday nearly 600 dishes were served up at the Amish Flea Market in Holmes County. More than 2,000 tickets to the gigantic feed were sold. Talk about your chow lines!

The bill of fare included Hungarian sauerkraut soup, corn casserole and garlic mashed potatoes. By noon 300 dishes had hit the tables; the number to beat was 510. It will be some time before the folks in Holmes County hear back from the powers that be at Guinness. So far there's been no word on how many pounds of scrapple and shoofly pie were dished out.

Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone! It isn't hard to get into the spirit of this holiday when the festivities are, for a lot of people, centered on the consumption of Irish Whiskey, Irish Cream, Guinness, and the odd green beer. In fact, there is a joke that states a typical seven-course St. Paddy's dinner contains a six-pack and a potato.

All kidding aside, and whether you are Irish or not, it is a great chance to get together with friends or family and raise a glass to toast those around you. If you find yourself at a loss for words though, Colum Egan, the Master Distiller at Bushmills Irish Whiskey, wants to help you with this feat and has set up a toll-free line that features ten of his favorite Irish toasts. To hear the pre-recorded messages (complete with Irish accent) simply dial 1-800-Bushmills. (Note: you may notice that has too many numbers for a regular call. "1-800-Bushmil" worked for me.)

Egan shares his wisdom with such gems as: "May the sound of happy music, and the lilt of Irish laughter, fill your heart with gladness, that stays forever after. May your blessings outnumber the Shamrocks that grow, and may trouble avoid you wherever you go." Cheers!

We here at Slashfood love holidays that, well, involve a little bit of beverage taste-testing. After all, it just wouldn't be acceptable to put a recipe out there that hasn't passed quality control, right?

In the past we have covered how to make various St. Patrick's Day libations such as green beer, stout-based cocktails including black & tans & black velvets, and even some Irish-themed shooters.

Now, it is your turn. We'd like to hear what you drink for St. Patrick's Day. Do you take this opportunity to be creative and come up with your own cocktails, or do you simply pour your usual Saturday night beverage? As for me, I'll be sticking to a mug of Guinness, freshly poured at my local Irish pub. I may skip the green food coloring though.

Guinness has long been synonymous with drinking in Ireland, where sales of the dark and creamy beer have always been strong and the drink is a favorite during celebrations, like the upcoming St. Patrick's Day. This year, however, drinkers might not be looking for a few pints to celebrate. They are more likely to be looking for wine.

Sales of wine, spirits, cider and imported beers are all on the rise in Ireland, while sales of Guinness are declining. The popularity of wine in particular is growing by leaps and bounds, according to statistics from vendors and reports from bars and pubs. Wine now accounts for over 20% of all of the alcohol consumed in Ireland.

Despite its decline in Ireland, where sales have dropped over 7% in the last year, sales are thriving in North American and Africa, where "Guinness has a reputation, perhaps undeserved, for everything from helping prevent malaria to enhancing male sexual prowess." If only the company could get that rumor to spread to their other markets...

I have no idea what Marmite tastes like, but from what I hear, you either love it or you hate it. Whatever the opinion may be, what Marmite is is a supposedly nutritious British foodstuff that is made from the yeast residue from the beer-making process. It is often used as a spread on toast.

Well, just in time to prepare for St. Patrick's Day...a little Irish love for Marmite from Guinness Beer (another love it or hate it thing -- personally, i can't stand Guinness)! Marmite will use the yeast residue from making Guinness to make a limited run of about 300,000 jars of Marmite. Apparently, the stuff was available in the UK as of February 19, 2007.

[via: Cool Hunting]

A Pennyslvania eatery is on track to topple a Guinness record for the world's largest hamburger. Denny's Beer Barrel Pub cooked up a 123-pound behemoth this past weekend besting a record set by a New Jersey restaurant by 18 pounds.

The Beer Barrel Main Event Charity Burger sells for a hefty $379 and serves about 100 people. Denny's used 80 pounds beef, 160 slices of cheese and a house-baked 30-pound bun, among other things to create the meaty monstrosity. It was cooked overnight in an oven for more than six hours.

No word yet on whether the creators of the gargantuan burger referred to today's Cookbook of the Day, for recipe ideas. My guess would be no.

With all the coverage we here at Slashfood have been giving gingerbread men and gingerbread houses I thought it might be fun to search the web for Guinness World Records involving the favorite holiday flavor.

Without doubt, the most impressive gingerbread record this year is Roger Pelcher's gingerbread house. The house - which was built at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minn. - stands just shy of 64 feet. Pelcher beat his previous record of 57 feet.

It took him and his team nine days to build the 1,496-square-foot ginger-scented, candy-laden mansion. Given its size and the fact that it includes a gingerbread factory complete with animated elves, I think it's fair to call it a mansion. The gargantuan confection contains 14,250 pounds of gingerbread, 4,750 pounds of icing and more than a ton of candy decorations. Hansel and Gretel eat your heart out.

I'm not sure why people like to make gingerbread creations of outlandish proportions in Minnessota, but they do. From Rochester comes the world's largest gingerbread man. The big guy weighs in at 466 pounds and was baked by the Gingerbread House Bakery. The bakery plans to bring it to the Mall of America to join Pelcher's gingerbread palace.

If you were thinking about going for the world record in chocolate sculpture, you might have some extra work to do. Chef Alain Roby has just set a new World Record with his 6.6 meter tall (that's about 22 feet) chocolate sculpture that replicates the Rockefeller Center, the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building.

The entire sculpture is made of more than 1000 kg of chocolate and took over 30 hours to build. Guinness representatives were present at the scene and have officially confirmed it as the world's tallest sculpture made from chocolate.

[via: Spluch]

I guess I had s'mores on the brain after writing about them yesterday, since I was inspired to look up the record for the world's largest s'more. The Guinness Book of World Records lists a s'more made in 2003 as the largest. It was constructed in California from 20,000 marshmallows, 7,000 Hershey's chocolate bars, and 24,000 graham crackers. All totaled, it weighed about 1,600-lbs.

The Guinness category was retired, however, which means that an even larger s'more made this year went unrecorded!

The current largest s'more measured 1,936-sq feet and was constructed to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Virginia State Parks. It was made with 8,000 Hershey's chocolate bars, 40,000 marshmallows and 55,000 graham crackers - nearly double the size of the previous record holder, though it didn't use quite as much chocolate.

See a close-up of the s'more's construction after the jump.

Ever had a hankering to order up a 78.5-pound hamburger with 12 hours notice? Now you can thanks to Bob's BBQ & Grill. This Texas 'cue joint recently cooked up what it calls the Texas Belt buster in a bid to unseat Fuddruckers Guinness World record for the largest burger.

Bob's grilled the gargantuan ground beef sandwich in honor of the King of Thailand's 60th year accession to the throne. And just why is a Texas BBQ celebrating a Thai holiday? Because the restaurant is located in Pattaya, Thailand. It was founded by Bob Schindler, a former comepetive barbecuer from Houston.

Once it gets certified, the Texas Belt Buster will hold the record. Fuddrucker's burger weighed in at a paltry 29.9 pounds. The Texas Belt Buster used 55 pounds of ground beef and took more than six hours to grill up. It comes topped with two large heads of lettuce, 35 slices of cheese and four jalapeños, among other things.

For a mere 15,500 baht ($400) you can try to take down this monstrosity. I wonder if Takeru Kobayashi has heard of this megaburger yet.

Look out Victoria, Australia. The state of Colima, Mexico, has you in its sights. No, they're not looking to attack. Colima wants to beat Victoria's Guinness Record for the world's largest limeade.

Victoria's limeade clocked in at 2,500 liters. Colima is shooting for more than 3,500 liters of Mexican style limeade. It is worth noting that I am becoming thirsty as I write this. In order to prepare the gargantuan thirst quencher, 330 liters of Colima limes will be freshly cut and squeezed before an audience. The juice will then be combined with 56 liters of natural sweeetener and more than 3,000 liters of water.

The drink will be prepared in a plastic container measuring 1.46 meters in diameter and 2.46 meters tall. No word yet as to whether David Blaine plans to submerge himself in the vat of refreshing citrus beverage.

On the heels of the fame it achieved over baby Brangelina last month, Namibia plans to host the world's largest barbecue. The cookout is scheduled to take place at a soccer stadium in September.

Namibia aims to beat Australia's 1993 Guinness record of a 44,158-person grillfest by adding one more to the guest list. It won't be just any old meathead breaking the record either. Namibian President Hifikepunye Pohamba is expected to be guest number 44,159.

The bill of fare will consist of nine tons of boerewors, a fragrant, spicy pork sausage. If they were to be stretched out, the wursts would measure a whopping 7.5 kilometers. As you read this my meat-and-fire loving alter ego, Joey Deckle, is feverishly concocting a plan to get hired by Guinness to help certify the record.