by Emily Zielke

The First Annual Whiskey World Cup…held at El Barrio, San Pedro la Laguna. Lago Atitlan’s largest selection of whiskey (and liquors in general) was drastically abridged last Saturday evening as the Cup’s three contestants took one shot of 18 out of the 20 whiskies available (the competition excluded Southern Comfort and So Co Reserve) in less than four hours.

The three contestants, Jeff Jones (co-owner of The Buddha Bar), Asa Gillespie and Jake Levinson (also known as the Blues Boys) came prepared with handmade T-shirts and an all-country playlist. Bar manager and everybody’s friend, Ben, brought out spit/vomit buckets and started the game on scheduled time, 7PM. Jake and Jeff had been feeling ill and nervous all day, but Asa entered the bar with seven minutes to spare ready to go. For the next 4 hours the boys proceeded to drink one shot with one ice cube every 15 minutes, along with three or four Victorias each.

“One eighteenth down!” The first shot seemed to go down painlessly and with enthusiasm. Four into the game, after the Bushmills Malt, Glenlivet, Glenmoreorangie, Glenfiddich (the contenders chose to go from highest price to lowest), the first sign of weakness came as pictures taken by a professional photographer revealed Jeff’s left eye getting lazy. Chivas Regal was nobody’s favorite, but spirits raised as the 12 year McCallan was poured.

Halfway through the tournament, Asa realized how much he hated his life. “Crawford’s is my ultimate destination?!” Things got confused around the midway point, as the playlist was deemed both the best and worst within a ten minute time span and Jeff, Asa and Jake agreed to forget the time limit for each and just started shooting everything south of Johnny Walker Red. At 9:35PM, the newest member of the whiskey shelf, Jim Beam Black, wasn’t even tasted.

The Annual Whiskey World Cup finished around 10:30PM and the last man standing was Jake. Jake was the expected winner, despite being only 21 years old. The enormously successful Whiskey World Cup was uneventful despite the consumed 20 ounces (and then some) of hard-core liquor… not surprising to those who live the Pedrano lifestyle.