Cosmic Convergence

I have to love it when these things all come together -

A York resident — who apparently wants his cremated ashes to be brewed into a special ale for his wake — was recently named "Beerdrinker of the Year" by a Colorado-based brewery.

Wynkoop Brewing Company named Matt Venzke the winner of its "12th annual search for America's ultimate beer fiend" last weekend in Denver. Along with the coveted title, Venzke wins "free beer for life" at Wynkoop Brewing Company, a $250 beer tab at his favorite bar, the Taphouse in Hampton, and the opportunity to create a special beer with Wynkoop's head brewer for next year's Beerdrinker of the Year" event, according to a Wynkoop statement.

My favorite place to go for a beer!

Christmas in Virginia

Late December here in Virginia has been unusually mild. While the family back in Denver get slammed with another major snow storm tonight, we had temperatures in the upper 50's. I spent a fair amount of time yesterday working in the yard.

Here's a shot Winnie took of me Christmas Eve over on the Riverwalk in Yorktown. That's right, no jacket, just a cotton sweater.

The Yorktown Pub's in Trouble

I've written several entries in which I mentioned the Yorktown Pub, most recently on 19 October. Now it seems that they are in some trouble.

A popular watering hole is under state scrutiny following several reports of over-serving alcohol to patrons, one of whom has been tied to the death of a Hampton man in a September boat crash.

Agents with the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control are investigating whether the Yorktown Pub has violated state liquor laws in several cases of dangerously excessive drinking over the past three months.

The investigation stems from the boat crash that killed 27-year-old Casey Marks of Hampton, said ABC spokeswoman Beth Straeten. Marks and two Poquoson men had been drinking at the pub before they boarded a Boston whaler on Sept. 12 and crashed full-speed into a pier along the Yorktown waterfront...

An ABC investigator is also looking into two cases from October in which pub patrons were so drunk that they had to be hospitalized. On Oct. 20, a York County sheriff's deputy came across a group of sailors crowded around an unconscious man near the Yorktown Pub. Witnesses said the man had been drinking at the pub and was heavily inebriated, according to a search warrant for the man's medical records and toxicology tests.

I'm a bit surprised at this. Most of their patrons tend to be middle-class middle-age old farts, like me. Hardly the type you'd think would get that plastered in public. Note the reference to the 20th? I'm guessing the "group of sialors" are the same we were in the pub with that night.