Glenwood village administrator Bill Bramanti had a coffin specially designed to look like a can of his favorite beer, Pabst Blue Ribbon, in Chicago Heights, Ill. Saturday, May 3, 2008. (Mary Compton, Associated Press / May 3, 2008)

SOUTH CHICAGO HEIGHTS, Ill. - Bill Bramanti will love Pabst Blue Ribbon eternally, and he's got the custom-made beer-can casket to prove it. "I actually fit, because I got in here," said Bramanti of South Chicago Heights.

The 67-year-old Glenwood village administrator doesn't plan on needing it anytime soon, though.

He threw a party Saturday for friends and filled his silver coffin -- designed in Pabst's colors of red, white and blue -- with ice and his favorite brew.

"Why put such a great novelty piece up on a shelf in storage when you could use it only the way Bill Bramanti would use it?" said Bramanti's daughter, Cathy Bramanti, 42.