We Raise a Glass to the Drinking Heroes of 2017

With 2017 coming to a close, it’s time we raise a toast to the drinking champions of the world. These boozy barons and tipsy titleists raised the bar this year with their drinking feats. Whether they MacGyvered a hidden bottle of vodka into a music festival, ran the beer pong table at the wee age of 100, or named their own child after their favorite drink, these drinking heroes deserve your respect. If you see any of these folks in a bar, send them a drink on us.

Of all the creative means of sneaking booze into a music festival, Alex Diamond’s is the most ingenious. The crafty vodka lover took a bottle filled with booze to the site of Electric Zoo music festival in New York three weeks before the concert took place, and dug his vodka a nice hiding spot. When it came time to kick back and enjoy the music, Diamond simply recovered his bottle, right under security’s nose.

It’s never too late to discover the joys of Fireball. These cinnamon whisky sipping grandmas are proof that old dogs can learn new shots. Hesitant as some of these elderly imbibers might have been at first, they all took a good natured swig to see what the fuss was about—and their reactions were pretty endearing. Whether or not their night was ignited, we’ll never know.

The TSA can really put a damper on boozy souvenirs, making it nearly impossible to transport liquid spoils—which is exactly why this guy played a joke on the entire airline system by checking a single can of beer. Not only did his Emu Export lager successfully traverse the Qantas baggage system, but it even came out well ahead of any other luggage for the arriving flight, indicating the baggage handlers got a good laugh from the stunt.

When you gather a quorum of swashbucklers to make an attempt at the largest pirate gathering in the world, things are bound to go awry. When 14,000 sea dogs gathered in Penzance, England to break the record, quite a few missed the official check-in because they were too busy slinging back Grog and rum at a local pub. You can’t really blame a pirate for drinking, though—it’s kind of their MO.

Not every hero wears a cape—some of them wear Domino’s uniforms. Just ask Sam Zegrour, who was so hungover he couldn’t leave his bed to answer the door to receive his life-replenishing pizza delivery. In his addled state, Zegrour pleaded in his online order for the pizza to be brought straight to his bedroom, and the pizza guy delivered, literally.

We all know that one friend who has found their go-to drink and refuses to imbibe any other liquid. Their passion has spawned intense bottle collections and cocktail paraphernalia. But they’ve got nothing on these parents who named their child after their favorite cocktail onion-studded drink, the Gibson. We just hope the kid grows up to appreciate the sentiment—and the libation.

Arizona State University doesn’t seem to supply its students with rulers, which they could use to measure, say, a microwave they’re selling online. The school does, however, provide them the smarts to improvise by using a bottle of vodka as a measuring tool. This student’s quick-thinking vodka hack blew up on Twitter, so he at least gets an A in viral booze.

New York bartender Austin Tyler Rogers may not have won the most recent Jeopardy Tournament of Champions (he did make it to the finals, though), but he certainly trounced the competition in terms of personality. Not only did he go on a 12-game winning streak, racking up $411,000 and becoming the fourth-highest earner in the show’s history, but he’s also one of the few contestants we’d actually like to meet at a bar. (Internet legend Buzzy Cohen can come too.)

We’re pretty sure this triple-digit champ has been killing it at beer pong since she was old enough to drink, but her beer sniping skills were on full display at her 100th birthday this year. Arthritis and glaucoma clearly haven’t affected her pong skills, meaning she can continue to sink cups as an example to younger drinking generations.