From scratch-cooking to online fitness, folks have spent this year cultivating lots of ways to ease stress and regain a sense of normalcy during the coronavirus pandemic and home quarantines.
And with that, one lucky contest winner has a new place to pass the time.
Jim Kasten, 79, recently became the proud owner of his very own backyard dive bar, thanks to a Miller High Life sweepstakes. He was chosen at random out of more than 100,000 entries, 20% of which originated in the state of Wisconsin, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.
“Inside there’s a tap and there’s a popcorn-making cart, which is really kind of neat,” he told the Journal Sentinel. It also came with a dartboard and a $200 voucher for Miller products — for a total prize worth an estimated $10,000.
Technically, the bar is on his daughter’s property near Shawano Lake, as the landscape of his own backyard wasn’t fit for construction of the petite pub, which is really a glorified wooden shed.
Kasten credited his daughter and granddaughter for encouraging him to enter the contest.
“I’ve been drinking Miller High Life for a lot of years,” he told the paper. “I remember when they were major sponsors of the Braves.”
Alas, the tiny taphouse hasn’t quite come into its dive bar identity yet.
“There are no dollar bills hanging on the ceiling yet,” said Kasten, who admitted that the saloon will likely remain closed through the frigid Wisconsin winter.
Nevertheless, he added, “All the friends are wondering when the parties are going to begin.”
