By Kimberly Partrick in New York
Jack Daniel would have turned 161 years old this month, and so the Tennessee-based whiskey brand decided to bring the celebration to the Big Apple for a larger than life (literally) event during which they successfully set six amazing world records!
First on the agenda was counting the individual bottles in what would soon be recognized as the world's largest bottle mosaic. An astounding 2,120 empty 1-litre bottles of Jack Daniel's were used to form a portrait of the man himself measuring 5.5 m (18 ft 1 in) long and 4.36 m (14 ft 4 in) wide. From the roof of the adjacent building, it really was quite a sight to see!
Next was an attempt for the largest bottle of whiskey, which contained 184 litres (40.47 gal, 48.61 US gal) of Jack Daniel's whiskey. This was a greater volume than the previous record holder, but we needed to confirm that it was also physically larger as well. The bottle clocked in with a height of 1.52 m (5 ft) and a diameter of 48.5 cm (19 in), besting the previous record and becoming the new record holder.
Then the real celebration began when co-adjudicator Amanda Mochan and myself adjudicated as birthday party attendees attempted to set the record for the fastest time to build a 20 shot glass pyramid. Many tried, but no one could beat Newark, Delaware's Samantha Sherlock, who now holds the record with an impressive 10.56 seconds!
Soon enough it was time for all of the fans to get together to sing "Happy Birthday" to Jack. Once 250 participants had gathered, each of them lit a candle, sang the song, and simultaneously blew out their candles, setting a new record for the most people to blow out a candle simultaneously. Kudos to the enthusiastic participants who found many creative ways to keep their candles lit until the appointed time, even with a bit of a summer breeze in the air.
Once "Happy Birthday" had been sung, 19 volunteers got to be a part of playing the song in a completely different way - in a bottle orchestra! Each participant had 25 bottles (Jack Daniel's bottles, naturally) which had been partially filled with water and tuned to produce the 25 notes in "Happy Birthday." After a couple of practice runs, everyone really had the hang of their new instruments. The final performance was remarkably synchronized and thoroughly successful, breaking the existing record with 475 bottles played during the performance.
Throughout the event, fans of Jack Daniel's lined up around the plaza to sign a giant birthday card to Jack in an attempt to set the record for the most contributions to a single greeting card. This was a record that Jack Daniel's fans worldwide could take part in. Many people who weren't able to make it all the way to New York "signed" the card virtually via Facebook and their contributions were transcribed directly into the card. The final result was a truly amazing array of 1,075 individual contributions which filled the inside of the card from end to end and top to bottom. Presenting the card to the fans at the culmination of the event was a wonderful way to top off such a record-breaking birthday party.
Congratulations to Jack Daniel's and to all of their enthusiastic fans who helped make this birthday party one for the record books!
