Merle Haggard Once Dropped Over $12,000 On Whiskey Shots

Maybe mama tried to get Merle Haggard to cut back on the whiskey, but she clearly didn't have much luck. She might, however, have been proud of the legendary country singer's generosity. Haggard is known for a lot of accomplishments, like having released 70 different records throughout his career. But there's another kind of record that's also often shared as a beloved memory about the songwriter.

In 1983, Haggard was at the honky-tonk bar Billy Bob's Texas in Fort Worth, Texas. To celebrate his 28th hit song, "C.C. Waterback," from a duets album he'd recorded with George Jones, the musician decided to buy a round of C.C. waterback shots for every single person in the huge bar. The drink is simply a shot of Canadian Club whisky followed by water. Canadian Club is considered by many to be a middle-of-the-road, just fine, affordable whisky. It's probably most famous because Canadian Club hid cases of its whisky as a marketing campaign back in 1967 and some are still missing — and because of Haggard and Jones' "C.C. Waterback" duet.

Haggard's celebratory order came to 5,095 shots, which called for 40 gallons of whisky and rang up a bill for $12,737.50. That sounds wild, but maybe it was a steal considering each shot was just $2.50? On second thought, in today's money, that total would be more like $40,000, so that's still pretty staggering. This order set a Guinness World Record for the largest round of drinks ever bought.

What did Haggard get for $12,737.50? Apparently, the bar's owner Billy Bob Barnett bought the singer a drink when he dropped the check. Bars sometimes show their appreciation for customers, especially regulars, with buybacks; this means they offer a free drink after a guest has already paid for two or three. For Haggard, his buyback took over 5,000 paid-for drinks. He also presumably made every person in that Texas bar very happy, and created a legend fans would retell for decades. 

His Guinness World Record stood until 2016 when a brewery in England honored Queen Elizabeth II's 90th birthday by buying all its customers a round. This was only 412 beers, a drop in Haggard's 5,095-shot bucket. But because beer serving sizes are so much larger than shots, the brewery measured 42 gallons of beer compared to those 40 gallons of Canadian Club whisky, and so they became the new "largest round of drinks" record-holders.

If you want to toast Haggard and his record-making hospitality, pour a shot of Canadian Club or any of the most popular Canadian whiskies you might have and enjoy it with a waterback while listening to "C.C. Waterback." Or, plan a trip: Billy Bob's Texas is still rocking in Fort Worth. It's one of the best bars in the Dallas area, with live music, line-dancing, and bull-riding. Enjoy a C.C. waterback shot there and request a Haggard song.