What self respecting Nord would turn it down?

"Heh, you're on," Viktor agreed, taking his seat next to Sam. "You don't stand a chance."

Sam laughed at that. "Hah, we'll see about that! This here is some strong stuff. Let's get started!" With that, he pulled a bottle from his robes, and got some tankards from nearby, filling them both.

Lydia sat nearby. She didn't mind drinking herself, even engaging in a drinking contest, but she had her duty, and wanted to remain sober, if only to try to keep her Thane from doing something particularly stupid if he downed enough drinks.

"Down the hatch!" Sam declared as he and Viktor knocked back the drinks. Viktor realized pretty quickly that Sam had not been kidding about the strength of the brew. He could already feel a buzz after one tankard. Usually, it took at least a few minutes for even the strongest liquors of the same amount to have any effect, but this was near instant.

Regardless, he downed a second tankard with Sam. To his amusement, Sam had already hit his limit at this point... though to be fair, given how the room was starting to look distorted, so was he. "Tell you what, one more, and you win the staff and trinket," Sam goaded Viktor. It worked like a charm, and Viktor consumed a final mug. "Well, what do you know, you actually did it!" Sam chuckled as Viktor started stumbling about drunkenly, barely cognizant of his surroundings. "The staff and other prize are yours."

"Thash grape!" Viktor slurred, intending to say, "That's great!" He then started to lose consciousness, vaguely hearing Sam mention wanting to go somewhere where wine flowed like a river... and then expressing concern...

...

And yes, that was basically the last thing Viktor remembered, before next thing he knew, he heard himself being roused from slumber by what sounded like a very angry woman. "Wake up! Get up, you drunken blaspehmer!" she was shouting.

"Ugh, my head..." Viktor groaned, and sat up, having a splitting headache. Blinking as he looked around, and noticed he was not in the Bannered Mare anymore... or even anywhere in Whiterun for that matter. "...where the fuck am I?" he wondered.