"guinness" news and stories

Photo: Bill Mealbach

Go big or go home ... hungry.

That's the philosophy of Mallie's Sports Grill of Southgate, Mich., and its owner, Steve Mallie. The restaurant recently became the Guinness World Record holder for the largest commerically sold burger.

The aptly named "Absolutely Ridiculous Burger" is approximately 185.6 pounds, 3 feet tall and 26 inches round, Mallie told Slashfood.

It starts with 200 pounds of uncooked, ground beef (an 80/20 blend) and ends with a patty that takes a whopping 16 hours to cook and another eight hours of resting time. The bun takes an additional eight hours. Mallie's uses a large commercial oven for baking but does have a custom-made form to mold the patty.

A few days ago, I ran a post in which I explored some of the nastiest-sounding, yet oddly enticing foods that I could find on the internet. At the end of the piece, I challenged my readers to come up with the most repulsive foods that they had ever had or seen on a menu. As expected, Slashfood readers came through, offering a wide selection of delectable, detestable taste treats. Over the next few days or weeks (depending on how many responses I get), I will offer up a few posts exploring some of the strange suggestions that YOU sent in.

In my original piece, I briefly mentioned my narrow experience with Guinness floats; this, in turn, inspired a fair bit of commentary on the various ice cream/beer combinations that are available out there. One reader suggested combining orange juice and Guinness in a 1:3 ratio. Similarly, another reader offered up the idea of a Rogue Chocolate Stout float or a Hazelnut Brown float.

We need more beer-related world records. I mean, come on, people: They are the Guinness World Records, right?

That's why I think we can all get behind this woman, a German barmaid who set a record for carrying the most tankards of beer at one time -- 19 of the giant beer-filled glasses lugged over 40 yards.

Anita Schwartz broke the record on Sunday, November 9th, just days before Guinness World Records Day which was celebrated on Thursday, November 13th. So yes -- oops! -- we missed it, but you can still see what records were toppled and mark your calendar for next year. Plus, there's even a "BREAK / SET A RECORD" button if you feel so inclined to try your hand at world recordship! [Writer's note: Despite its somewhat misleading moniker, clicking the button does not constitute breaking or setting a record.]

Just don't go chasing after Ms. Schwartz's claim to fame. After watching the video of her record-setting feat, I think she means business.

And you thought Guinness just brought us great beer!

An old friend came into town this Sunday. We kicked off the celebration with a bottle of DeuS and, long story short, I haven't gotten around to blogging until today. Perfect time to catch up on this week's beer happenings with a beer blog round-up.

1. There's been a lot of chatter about the Men's Fitness list of "America's five best bars for beer lovers." In today's beer climate, limiting the list down to just 5 seems impossible, and, with as little offense to Men's Fitness as possible, I'm not sure if they are the magazine to do it.
   
2. The idea of healthy beer has been a headturner as a number of blogs and news sites have been running the story of scientists at Rice University who integrated the anti-aging chemicals from red wine into a new BioBeer. Here's what Discovery had to say about it.
3. Hipsters really seemed to Digg this article on Sloshspot discussing The Evolution of Pabst Blue Ribbon's Beer Advertising. Or you can just drop into Bob & Barbara's on South St. in Philadelphia and see it all firsthand.

When I think of my mom, two things usually don't come to mind: beer and Frank Zappa. Which made it odd earlier this week when I opened an email to find she had sent me the following quote: "You can't be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline. It helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer."

Now, I'm not a big Zappa fan and have never heard this quote. I'm guessing that puts me in Group A of two possible groups, with Group B consisting of huge Zappa fans who have heard this quote a million times. But the quote did get me thinking that there are a number of countries that I associate with one specific beer. Yes, I realize they have more than one beer, but every time I think of said country, one specific beer immediately pops into mind trumping all others.

Please don't get me wrong. I'm not saying these are the best beers each country has to offer, or even a list of my favorite international beers, but for this week's Slashfood Ate beer edition, I present the 8 countries that through experience and marketing I most associate with one specific beer.

See the list after the jump...