Canadian comedian Tom Green says he sees a link between independent beer breweries and his own independent comedy work.
“It’s sort of similar to what I did with [The Tom Green Show] where we created our own product—or television show—and then took it mainstream and took it worldwide,” Green said. “I think that’s kind of inspiring.”
Now, Green has partnered with Ottawa-based Beau’s All Natural Brewing Company to launch the Tom Green Beer.
The beer, a milk stout in honour of one of Green’s recurring jokes, made its debut at five of Green’s stand-up shows at Yuk Yuk’s on Elgin Street over Father’s Day weekend. The shows were part of Ontario Craft Beer Week, an Ontario-wide festival that celebrates the province’s growing craft beer industry.
Green said he’s a fan of Beau’s, and wanted to bring his own beers to his shows.
“There’s a lot of beer getting drunk at my shows. It’s sort of a party atmosphere you know, people come out to have a good time and have some laughs and drink some beer,” he said. “I was in Ottawa, I was drinking a Beau’s, I’m a fan of Beau’s beer, and I have some mutual friends who are friends with theirs and I thought I might give them a call and see if they’d be interested in doing a beer with me.”
Green said he approached Beau’s last summer, and the result was a creamy beer with notes of chocolate and coffee.
Steve Beauchesne, Beau’s co-founder, said being able to brew beer with one of his heroes is “really amazing.”
“We’re having so much fun with this project, we may decide to make it available as more than a one-off release,” he said in a press release.
The Tom Green Beer will be available at the Beau’s brewery in Vankleek Hill as of June 16.
Green said the fans who come out to his shows are enthusiastic about his body of work, old and new, and he wanted to give them something to keep once the show is over.
“It’s a bit of a party and after my show I like to go have a drink with everybody, and people just sort of like to have something to take with them,” Green said. “So I thought that would be pretty cool to leave with a beer bottle after having some beers with me.”
—@eissacaylward
