GILBERT, Ariz. — A man who went viral after his death for one of the most epic obituaries many had ever read now has a beer named after him.
Randall Jacobs died at age 65 in May. But his obituary was read around the world.
"Randall Jacobs of Phoenix died at age 65, having lived a life that would have sent a lesser man to his grave decades earlier. His friends called him RJ, but to his family, he was Uncle Bunky, a.k.a. The Bunkster. He told his last joke, which cannot be printed here, on May 4th, 2020."
"Everything that he did was just crazy," Bunky's nephew, Justin Santa Maria said. "You couldn't write a script on what he would do."
Bunky was a man who would start his day with a homemade, and sometimes questionably-tasting, cocktail, Santa Maria said. His obituary, written by another nephew, said he was a blend of desert rat, boho and ski bum.
"When he went viral, everyone was posting about how they wished they could have hung out with him at least once," Santa Maria said.
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Brody Coffman with OHSO Brewery in Gilbert thought so too.
That obit had been passed around among the staff, Coffman said. One day he decided to try and reach Bunky's family to create a beer in his honor.
Unce Bunky's Grawdoo was born.
"Grawdoo is one of the weird names or sayings that Bunky came up with," Santa Maria said. "It was a descript of just...stuff."
Like Bunky's own version of "fuhgetaboudit", Grawdoo could be a thing or a collection of things. In his obituary, Bunky was said to "succumb to The Great Grawdoo."
But Bunky wasn't much of a beer drinker, Santa Maria said. He was more of a drink-whatever-you-have-in-front-of-you drinker.
So Uncle Bunky's Grawdoo...is malt liquor.
"Cheap and strong and it gets the job done, just like we would imagine Bunky would want," Coffman said.
That's not to say it tastes like the cheap malt liquor from a corner store, Coffman said. They brewed it to improve the taste.
But they also brewed it to pass on Bunky's legacy.
Coffman and some members of Bunky's family are visiting dive bars across the Valley, Grawdoo in tow, handing out free beer and business cards with Bunky's story printed on them. They read: "From Bunky, Pay It Forward."
"Little dive bars like that was where he used to hang out," Santa Maria said.
"It's almost like the perfect ending to the Uncle Bunky story."
