Once again ex-PM Bob Hawke has impressed upon the nation with another proud showing of his famed beer chugging skills. At the ripe age of 87 the man still knows how to knock back a cold one, and faster than most.
Of course, the video has since been seen by thousands, and will only continue to be. But the question is, is Hawke getting better or worse at sculling over the twilight years of his life?
Since holding a world record for chugging a yard glass, Bob Hawke’s most famous skill has dulled a little, but by how much exactly?
At the time of his world record Hawke downed an entire imperial yard of ale in 11 seconds. A yard of ale being the equivalent of 1183 mL of beer, this shows his prime rate of sculling to be a whopping 107.5mL/second.
Below we see the most recent clip of Bob candidly enjoying the cricket:
We measure this at 3.63 seconds from the moment the brew touches his lips to the moment he begins triumphantly lifting his glass. Now the amount of beer in this particular vessel is a little up in the air, but it looks to be a schooner glass roughly 60% full, making for roughly 255mLs.
By those numbers Hawkes modern rate of sculling is 70mL/second – no world record attempt but still a speed worthy of a Prime Minister.
For comparison, here’s old mate knocking back another one in 2012 at age 82:
A standard disposable plastic cup weighs in at 450mLs and Hawke threw it down the hatch in 11.2 seconds, it’s one of his slower efforts at a rate of 40mL/second.
So there’s your answer; while he’s not shaking at fist at his world record attempt these days, he’s almost doubled his sculling speed in the last five years. Happy fucking retirement, you true blue bloody legend.
