Guy Admits His Beer-Drinking Quest Is 'a Bit Concerning'

Some friend requests are stranger than others. Marcus Wright's came with a mission to help drink a whole lot of brewskies. The Wall Street Journal reports on "1 Million Beers," a WhatsApp group where roughly 1,000 drinkers around the world who are mostly strangers to each other are jointly chasing a single, very specific target: Document the quaffing of one million beers with individual photos and a running tally until the goal is met. The 31-year-old Wright, based in Germany's Duesseldorf, currently tops the leaderboard at about 4.1 beers a day and more than 1,500 distinct brews, though even he admits his stats are "probably a bit concerning."

The group, launched in a London pub last August, hit WhatsApp's 1,024-person cap in just over three weeks and has now logged 100,000 beers—on pace to reach the million mark in 2034. Admins track "Key Beer Indicators" in a master spreadsheet, expel slackers and rule-breakers (farewell, "Baby Guinness," a concoction made of coffee liqueur and Irish cream, but no beer), and scrutinize photos for double-counted cans. Side contests like a "Beer World Cup" keep participants hooked. For more on this data-nerd-meets-drinking-game story, read the full piece here. Meanwhile, there's at least one other group that appears to be doing the same thing, per the London Times and City AM.