Winning Vodka Drinker Goes to His Reward

Calling Dr. Darwin, Dr. Charles Darwin

A Russian man celebrated his victory in a vodka-drinking contest by dying. During the 30-40 minute contest in the city of Volgodonsk, the big winner drank three half-liter bottles. That's 1.5 liters of vodka in 30-40 minutes. 1.5 litres, if you're following along in British. He went home in a taxi and died about 20 minutes later.

Five contestants ended up in the ICU. The others returned for more booze the next day. Prosecutors are investigating the shop owner on a manslaughter beef.

In March of 1997, I arrived in Saratov, Russia from Moscow. Within a few hours, I was knocking back vodka shots, smoking, and eating in a hospital ICU. The patient was a friend of my associates who was there for some heart tests. He welcomed us and vigourously participated in the drinking and smoking. The nurses were unhappy, so we locked the door. At one point, the nurse was banging on the door and all the guys were laughing and saying things like "She'll never get in now, kha kha kha [Russian for ha ha ha]!" And I was thinking, we're gonna kill this guy and wind up in Siberia. Kha kha kha!

Three bottles. That'd be like drinking two 2 TWO--yes, 2--fifths of vodka. In 30 minutes. In Saratov one evening, I once drank more than one and less than two of those bottles (I don't remember the exact amount), and then slept for 2 hours. But then the radio said it was the next evening, so I guess it was 14 hours. Confused, I went to the local store and asked the sales girl for the time. She said quarter of eight, and I said, "in the morning or the evening?"

She always had a smile for me when I came in after that.

Via Reuters via Drudge.

Originally at Molotov Cocktail Frank.

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  • 1 - Mark Saleski

    Nov 19, 2003 at 2:43 pm

    yow! that whole thing reads like something right from The Onion...'cept it ain't.

  • 2 - Eric Olsen

    Nov 19, 2003 at 2:54 pm

    I try to make it point to never enter competitions where winning is likely to kill you.

    When I lived in L.A. in the '80s we used to go to the Fox Inn in Santa Monica and watch in awe as the Fox slugged back glasses of beer without swallowing. Years later I ran into him at a party and he admitted that his beer was HIGHLY watered down for performance. I was relieved and saddened at the same time.

    To show how much things have changed, at the same time in the early-'80s I belonged to the TRW ski club and we had official beer drinking competitions with other clubs. Everyone involved always ended up puking - ah, the good old days.

  • 3 - Mac Diva

    Nov 19, 2003 at 3:34 pm

    Just reading the word 'vodka' makes my head hurt. Brings back those memories of hugging a commode while my insides poured out mornings after in college. (No, the Diva was not always the person of moderation she is today.)

  • 4 - frv

    Dec 08, 2004 at 3:14 am

    Hello i wanna drin kmore vodka then you and win^^

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