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Veteran beer drinker captures award

Jack McDougall, one of America's original Bar Tourists, won the first Beerdrinker of the Year Award in competition sponsored by and held at Wynkoop Brewing Co. in Denver.

McDougall was one of three finalists questioned by judges before the award was made. The competition was first announced last year at the Great American Beer Festival, and entrants sent in their beer resumes. The finalists were flown to Denver by Wynkoop Brewing for the final judging.

McDougall, a 48-year-old pipefitter at an Exxon plant in New Jersey, was pitted against Bill Christensen, a 49-year-old numismatist from Madison, NJ, and Bobby Bush Jr., 43, who is a representative for a furniture manufacturer in his hometown of Hickory, NC.

McDougall tasted 654 different brands of beer in 1996 and plans to sample more than 1,000 this year. He writes a regular column for Beer Cans and Brewery Collectibles magazine and is co-author of the book, "New Jersey Brewery Coasters." He has more than 4,000 brewery coasters in his collection.

He helped found Bar Tourists of America in 1981 (officially, he is member No. 5) and edited the organization's newsletter until it fizzled out about 1990. The first official Bar Tour was held on Nov. 18, 1978. According to the first newsletter McDougall published:

"Those first Bar Tourists were Steve Pawlowski, Bob Shoemaker, Ken Kaiser, George Arnold, Dave Berbert and Jack McDougall. During that memorable day they visited seven bars and sampled such exotic brews as Ballantine Ale, Hacker-Pschorr Dark and Krueger Porter, all on tap. The highlight was Nellie's in Newark, where the group was almost evicted by a suspicious Nellie, until quick- thinking Steve produced a Tour itinerary. Nellie was so proud of being included on the Tour, she bought a round for the group. The lowlights were a bad batch of Genesee Cream Ale at Lyon's Den in Irvington, and the breakdown of Steve's car in Harrison."

As dedicated as McDougall is to beer tourism, his efforts to sample different beers are aided by the fact that his "local," Antone's in his hometown of Cranford, offers 44 different beers on tap.

As the 1997 Beerdrinker of the Year, McDougall will receive a case of RailYard Ale every month. RailYard is Wynkoop's flagship beer.

This story was posted March 9.

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