So How Serious Was All That Beerdrinker Stuff?

[Rich Pawlak]

It's one thing to be named "Beerdrinker of the Year", and it's another to manage to win the title as partners, and a couple, no less!

If you could help us all understand what actually went into the competition, as well as what motivated EACH of you to compete?

In this Q&A, the part of Cornelia Corey will be played by "beergirl", who has been a welcome addition to our beer discussions in recent months.

Ray McCoy will be played by "alekeep", an utterley appropriate moniker. Both Ray and Cornelia, aside from being beer aficionados, are also very active in the thespian arts in their neck of the woods of North Carolina, so let the questions---and answers---begin!

[Alekeep]

I would like to get the digression out of the way so maybe the rest of my comments will be more relevant.

First, thanks for dragging us into this forum. We are always willing to talk about beer, much to the chagrin of some audiences that don’t share our enthusiasm.

Cornelia currently finds herself “job free” so it is already apparent that she will address many of the questions before I see them. We often share similar views on many things beer and alcohol related so I will refrain from posting redundant responses. I will definitely voice my opinion when it differs.

Now, back on topic… Motivation for the competition…

Cornelia has been the historian in our relationship. She is the one who has kept a diary of our travels since the beginning. Very early in our relationship I had enough freaky flyer miles for two international flights so she planned a trip to Europe for us. Yea, we were beer drinkers then but St. Pauli and Becks were exotic to us at that point. We were warned about warm, flat beer in England but still didn’t figure we would have to go thirsty.

Well, that was the catalyst for what has become less of an obsession than a lifestyle… restaurants chosen for their beer list; hotels for their proximity to good pubs; vacation destinations for the number of brewpubs within reach by public transportation. Fortunately, we have been able to share all but a few of the experiences along the way.

If you look at our resumes (the links are in the post with our bios) they are largely summaries of our travels. We didn’t have to dig up things for our resumes. We just simmered the travel logs down to fit the three page limit to enter the competition. Actually, Cornelia did most of it. Since we almost always travel together, I got by with plagiarizing a lot of it.

The motivation for entering the competition was really just having an opportunity to read through some of those travel diaries and reminisce. We have had some great times, seen great places, and met great people, and oh yea, had plenty of great beer along the way. Probably my favorite quote is from Dr. Hunter S. Thompson. “Good people drink good beer.” I couldn’t agree more. We have met quite a few of them!

Okay, I digressed a little more. Sorry. If you stayed with me to see this apology then maybe it wasn’t too bad.

Cheers!

[Alekeep]

In addition to Ray's comments on motivation to win the title, I really wanted to be the first woman to win. I can't explain why - just one of those things we want in life. And, at this time I am still the only woman to make the final three.

As previous winners, we now serve as judges. I would really like to see more women submit resumes. There have been very few and I know there are women beer enthusiasts out there who easily qualify as a "Beerdrinker of the Year".

(Oops! I forgot to log Ray out and log in as beergirl.)

Edited May 18, 2004 by Alekeep (log)