Page 11 - Tavern Players - Summer Issue 2022

I had a logo and sticke made for the forklift as well as a special t-shirt for Joe and the two brewers, Matt Champy and
Sasa Marinkovic.
“I’m so stoked. I can’t wait to come back to the
brewery wearing the shirt!” That’s what Joe told me in one of our many emails.
Right off the bat, just from a few words in an email, Joe exudes a vibe.
He was on the road until mid December 2021. He drives a truck for work that takes him all over the country for more than 4 months at a time. Worlds finally collided. He came home, snapped a photo and emailed it over.
FINALLY!!!! I shared the post on Facebook. So many people we’re into it, including Ron from Tavern Players.
Do I want to talk to Joe and maybe do a story about him and Lifty McKeggerson? YESSSSSS!!!!! Said Joe, “I’ve only been to the brewery once. I was on a Moose hunt (so to speak) to take some cool pictures of Moose. I worked my way through several of the brewery’s fine offerings
www.tavernplayersmagazine.com
and was very happy.”
They ask you for a list of 3 people you’d like to
have a beer with. Joe is on my list. He’s originally from Upstate NY and has lived in Tennessee for the last 18 years. He’s got a daughter living with him in TN who has a wicked cool vintage VW bus (like my brother’s) and a son in NJ marrying in April. He and his daughter have 4 dogs, 5 cats, and 3 bunnies, “Almost a partridge and a pear tree, but pretty close,” Joe added.
He was a session bassist most of his adult life. Played on an album with Ziggy Marley. Are you familiar with the song, Got to be true to myself? The Baseline is 100% Joe.
He flipped a 180 and catapulted into careers as a cop, a fireman and a paramedic and now works for Koch delivering boats. We’re friends on facebook and I see his posts about visiting places and friends all over the country.
As they say, ‘there’s a lot to unpack there’ but right now I’ll end your guessing on how he got the nickname Grateful Pooh. You’re not going to believe it.
The nickname came from Jerry Garcia in San Francisco. The story goes something like this:
“We had 12 hungry people and $18 to feed them. I took the money to the drive thru of the In and out Burger. There were 2 cars ahead of me and one was taking forever. I’m waiting, working
Matt Champy and Sasa Marinkovic with Lifty McKeggerson.
SUMMER 2022 / 11