I bet Merle Haggard never thought his record would be broken with Jell-O shots.
Back in 1983, Hag set a record back in 1983 when he ordered 5,095 “C.C. Waterbacks,” a shot of Canadian Club whiskey with a water chaser, for patrons at Billy Bob’s Texas.
Merle bought the shots in honor of his 28th hit song, “C.C. Waterback,” from his 1982 duets album with George Jones, A Taste Of Yesterday’s Wine.
The bar used around 40 gallons of whiskey for the round of drinks, and the bar tab for Merle’s massive order came out to $12,737.50 – or $2.50 each. (If he had bought the same round of drinks today it would have cost him over $40k).
But when the bar owner, Billy Bob Barnett, presented Merle with the check, he offered to buy the Hag a drink on the house – and Merle took him up on it.
The purchase earned Merle the Guiness World Record for largest round of drinks ever bought by one person, a record that stood until 2016, when a U.K. brewery bought 412 beers at a pub to celebrate Queen Elizabeth’s 90th birthday.
And I know what you’re thinking: Wait, only 412 beers? Merle Haggard bought over 5,000 shots.
Well apparently because the beer order amounted to over 42 gallons, while Merle’s was just under 40, the brewery technically broke Merle’s record.
Yeah, it’s some BS.
But Merle’s place in the history books still stood as the largest round of shots ever bought by one person – until yesterday.
Every year during the College World Series, Rocco’s Pizza in Omaha, Nebraska hosts a Jell-O shot challenge for the competing teams. Fans prove their allegiance by ordering Jell-O shots in their team’s colors, all the proceeds go to charity, and a tally is kept on a whiteboard to track which team orders the most shots during the tournament.
Last year, Ole Miss fans set the record by ordering over 18,000 Jell-O shots during the CWS. But LSU fans weren’t messing around this year, and blew that number out of the water by ordering over 21,000 Jell-O shots.
Records are meant to be broken! All time team total ✅ All time overall total ✅ Guinness Book of World Record for shots purchased by one person ✅. @ToddGraves head fry cook from @raisingcanes out here supporting @LSUbaseball. Congrats on the new record. #RoccosOmaha #Cws2023 pic.twitter.com/jKi2aWEj4S
— CWS Jello Shot Challenge (@CWSShotBoard) June 19, 2023
Of course LSU fans are known for their ability to drink. But the record actually came thanks to one large purchase from one LSU fan in particular.
Todd Graves, founder of fast food fried chicken chain Raising Cane’s, sent LSU to the top of the leaderboard – and into the record books – with a purchase of 6,000 Jell-O shots yesterday.
And in the process, he also broke Merle Haggard’s record for the largest round of shots ever bought by one person.
Records were meant to be broken! 6,000 Jello Shots for @LSUBaseball fans @Roccos_Omaha to set the new record! Fun fact: This also breaks the round of shots world record Merle Haggard set in 1983 when he bought 5,095 shots for the entire bar @billybobstexas ! #Geauxmaha pic.twitter.com/ZxI6UNWkAM
— Todd Graves (@ToddGraves) June 19, 2023
Each Jell-O shot at the restaurant costs $5 a piece, meaning that Graves shelled out $30,000 dollars for his spot in the record books – but the proceeds go to Heartland Food Bank, as well as food pantries for all eight respective teams.
I'll update it again at 9am but I wanted to share the family photo of the record breaking crew. Today was a special day and we are glad to share it with y'all. #RoccosOmaha #Cws2023 pic.twitter.com/zgqhAfQhqf
— CWS Jello Shot Challenge (@CWSShotBoard) June 20, 2023
So while it was for a good cause, fans were still a little disappointed to see Hag’s record fall after all these years.
But hey, there are still some legends out there who can reclaim the record. Maybe George Strait can hand out some of his Codigo tequila and earn his way into the record books yet again.
