Joe Sixpack says, "Labas, Lithuania."

Having the Lithuanian surname of Cizauskas, I was intrigued by this bit of international beer news. Don Russell —aka Joe Sixpack of the Philadelphia Daily News— is heading to Lithuania as the bearer of good beer and world peace.

Don will be conducting guided tastings, and talking about American 'craft' beer, at the U.S. Embassy in Vilnius, Lithuania's capital city.

I'll be following Don's six-pack diplomacy on his Tumbler, but I couldn't help wonder: was the name "Russell" once 'Ellis Islanded' from, say, "Ruskauskas"?

UPDATE: Russell's recap of his trip: World Peace: One Beer at a Time.

That's Joe Russell on the right, me on the left.

Į sveikatą, Joe!

****************

• Read Joe Sixpack at Philadelphia Daily News.
• Follow Don Russell's Tumbler: beer_radar.
• Follow on Twitter: @beer_radar
• Tikras Alus (Fine Beer): A Lithuanian beer blogger I follow, who will be at Joe's presentation. (Ah, Google translation!) On Twitter: @TikrasAlus. On Facebook.