OMEN
04-22-2008, 10:08 AM
YORKTOWN, Va. (AP) ― Matt Venzke got his advanced degree in beer drinking in Germany, where, as an Army brat, he sampled that country's Old World brews.
Now, all that education has paid off: Venzke has been named national Beerdrinker of the Year, sponsored by Wynkoop Brewery in Denver.
Venzke, 40, says he returned to the United States for college, and quickly turned up his nose at what his classmates would drink.
''I started buying a lot of imports, and right about that time was the start of the renaissance in American breweries,'' he recalls. ''The stars were kind of aligned for me.''
It didn't end there, either.
Venzke caught brewerania.
''I got this wild-hair idea to make a tabletop out of bottle caps, so I started to get all the bottle caps I could find. Well, you take a cap off of a beer, you've got to drink it, so I started drinking a lot of stuff I wouldn't normally have tried,'' he said.
On his travels, Venzke seeks to add to his collection.
''As of right now, I've been to 39 states and 16 countries and visited over 450 breweries,'' he told The Virginian-Pilot.
Past winners of the beer drinking title have been beer writers, college professors, beer judges and master brewers. The competition is a mix of technical questions about the business, the science of beer, and funny questions that give the judges insight into competitors' philosophy of brew.
''When I found out I made the finals,'' Venzke said, ''I told my wife, 'I'm not going out there to win; I'm just going to have fun.' Once I got going, though, I was like, 'I can win this!'''
The prizes for winning include free beer for life from the Wynkoop brewery, $250 to spend at your local bar, and T-shirts.
''Quite frankly, making it to the top three is really the big prize,'' Venzke said. ''Going out to Denver for the finals is great, and they make it a really fun weekend.''
Oddly, Venzke succeeds Diane Catanzaro of Norfolk, a professor at Christopher Newport University.
''I don't know what explains it,'' Venzke said. ''I wish I could say it was our great beer culture, but I don't think it is.''
AP
Now, all that education has paid off: Venzke has been named national Beerdrinker of the Year, sponsored by Wynkoop Brewery in Denver.
Venzke, 40, says he returned to the United States for college, and quickly turned up his nose at what his classmates would drink.
''I started buying a lot of imports, and right about that time was the start of the renaissance in American breweries,'' he recalls. ''The stars were kind of aligned for me.''
It didn't end there, either.
Venzke caught brewerania.
''I got this wild-hair idea to make a tabletop out of bottle caps, so I started to get all the bottle caps I could find. Well, you take a cap off of a beer, you've got to drink it, so I started drinking a lot of stuff I wouldn't normally have tried,'' he said.
On his travels, Venzke seeks to add to his collection.
''As of right now, I've been to 39 states and 16 countries and visited over 450 breweries,'' he told The Virginian-Pilot.
Past winners of the beer drinking title have been beer writers, college professors, beer judges and master brewers. The competition is a mix of technical questions about the business, the science of beer, and funny questions that give the judges insight into competitors' philosophy of brew.
''When I found out I made the finals,'' Venzke said, ''I told my wife, 'I'm not going out there to win; I'm just going to have fun.' Once I got going, though, I was like, 'I can win this!'''
The prizes for winning include free beer for life from the Wynkoop brewery, $250 to spend at your local bar, and T-shirts.
''Quite frankly, making it to the top three is really the big prize,'' Venzke said. ''Going out to Denver for the finals is great, and they make it a really fun weekend.''
Oddly, Venzke succeeds Diane Catanzaro of Norfolk, a professor at Christopher Newport University.
''I don't know what explains it,'' Venzke said. ''I wish I could say it was our great beer culture, but I don't think it is.''
AP