Another Lithuanian name in the Guinness Book of World Records. This time, the new record was set in the field of flairing – juggling with bottles and other tools used in bars. It was accomplished by Rapolas Vareika, the ambassador of the company “MV GROUP Distribution LT”, who, taking part in the bottle elbowing competition, bumped a glass bottle upwards 81 times without stopping.

R. Vareika achieved an impressive elbowing record at the MV GROUP company event. The Guinness Book of World Records officially recorded the achievement in early April.  Until now, the record for this bartender’s favourite was held by the British Tom Dyer, who almost 12 years ago continuously elbowed a bottle 29 times.

“I’ve been preparing for this record all my life – for as long as I can remember since I was a kid, I’ve wanted to do something to be the best in the world one day. I started elbowing bottles when I was 13 and won my first championship just after turning eighteen. A couple of years ago I made up my mind that it was time to achieve an official record – that’s when I registered my application for the Guinness World Record, and I started preparing for it purposefully”, – says R. Vareika.

According to the ambassador of mixology, in order to learn such attention-grabbing tricks and improve technique, one needs to train regularly, at least several times a week.

„I’ve been working on various tricks in training but elbowing the bottle had become an absolute focus in the six months leading up to the final performance. Specific circumstances are required for target preparation – I go to the gym to train, and I need a rubber floor for safety reasons. As in other fields, it also requires complete dedication and patience to achieve results – the same trick must be repeated hundreds or even thousands of times to achieve perfection,” says R. Vareika.

The mixology ambassador representing MV GROUP Distribution LT routinely demonstrates different bartending tricks at various events, as well as at international and national championships, where he regularly wins awards.

For example, a few years ago at the national Bar Bootcamp awards R. Vareika won awards in three categories – the best work technique and the best brand ambassador as well as the best mobile bar.

That’s why even when the decisive hour of the Guinness World Record attempt came, Vareika says he was almost completely unperturbed: “It was really not a big deal – I came to set the record with full confidence because I had already set it informally several times.”

R. Vareika’s Guinness record was witnessed by more than 400 employees of MV GROUP in Lithuania, who watched the live broadcast of the performance of the Ambassador of Mixology remotely. The audience gave the record-breaking colleague a warm round of applause and was quick to offer their congratulations.