Angelo Cammarata, the longest-serving bartender on record, is retiring after 77 years of cocktail shaking. According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the bartender has sold his family business, in part due to health complications suffered by one of his sons, who had managed Cammarata's Cafe.

The Pittsburgh bartender has been serving up cocktails since Prohibition ended at midnight on April 7, 1933. (Well, there was the brief interlude in the 1940's when he served in World War II, but you'd be surprised what a good bartender can do with a canteen and a pack of Pall Malls.)

Cammarata began bartending at his father's grocery store turned post-Prohibition makeshift watering hole (toilet paper + Pilsner = grocery shopping fun). Two years later, his father flipped the soda fountain in the grocery store into a full-service bar and traded the shelving for bar stools. Cammarata worked there until World War II. After the war, he took over the bar.

In 2007, the Guinness Book of World Records recognized Cammarata as the longest-serving bartender. Anheuser-Busch has also honored him with their “70 years of Service” beer sales club. Cammarata is the only member.

Cammarata says he is not a beer drinker (his father reportedly told him beer is for selling, not drinking), nor are you likely to see him mixing up fancy-pants concoctions at cocktail competitions during his retirement. His daily bread? Beam and coke.

Advertising disclosure: We may receive compensation for some of the links in our stories. Thank you for supporting LA Weekly and our advertisers.