Brews News: Craft brewers crack open summer accessories for super fans

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Repping your favourite brands with style on a summer weekend is easy peasy.

From pool floaties shaped like a beer can to logo-bearing tote bags, showing up poolside or dockside with beer accessories goes down as smoothly as a three-day summer weekend.

Here are some of the coolest we’ve spotted this summer.

From the top. A fern-inspired, wide-brimmed bucket hat complete with drawstring to rep London’s Anderson Craft Ales, Spotted at outdoor fests, it’ll inevitably be seen at Anderson’s eighth birthday party in August. There’s a more Brad Pitt Bullet Train version of a bucket hat with an embroidered Beau’s and no mention of beer.

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Carry me. An Igloo Retro Playmate Mini decked out with a Steam Whistle logo carries six small cans in cool comfort.

Toss, flick or skip. Throwing a flying disc, ideally without bopping a child, on the beach is a prime activity. Maybe it’s not a Frisbee brand, but a yellow flyer branded for Beau’s performs well between sips of Lug Tread poured from a five-litre mini-keg.

Fore. If the links are your long weekend destination, Triple Bogey has you covered. Super fans can get a branded $150 golf bag or tap in with a bold shirt or even a hole flag that flies the iconic green. But the best might be a club headcover that looks like a can of Triple Bogey Half and Half.

Grotto style. Competing for time in the grotto at Bruce Peninsula National Park in Tobermory? Show up locally stylish with a Tobermory Brewing Company tank top in either subtle or bold logo branding. Pairs well with a honey-coloured Bruce Trail Blonde and its hints of citrus.

Twilight cover up. Too cool when the sun goes down? Want to make folks wonder what you’ve been up to? A Skinny Dippin’ Stout long sleeve tee from Sawdust City in Gravenhurst might be the answer.

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NEW AND NOTED

Innocente Brewing Company of Waterloo has started a GiveSendGo fundraiser to help keep the brewery going. Announced with a post on X, the brewery cites a tough past four years but “positive changes happening in the industry” on the horizon in a post asking for donations. Owner Steve Innocente appeared at anti-lockdown rallies in southwestern Ontario during the pandemic and was cited for disobeying pandemic restrictions.

More than root beer, A&W and Labatt are piloting a program to sell Budweiser Zero non-alcoholic beer at the restaurants’ Ontario locations.

London’s 4est Brewery has a second brand to complement its helles-style lager. It’s a light pilsner, which had its launch party at the Morrissey House in downtown London this week. The lager, sold in local LCBO and Beer Store locations, is also sporting a more eye-catching can design.

Forked River is on island time. The London craft brewer brewed a light lager with lime, Island Fest Lager, in time for the Caribbean festival of the same name happening until July 28 at Covent Garden Market. Forked River has also tapped into the non-alcoholic beer trend with Good Tines Lager. Good Tines is at the taproom, 45 Pacific Court, and the Forked River online store. The quick-stepping beer boy branding for Good Times reminds me of the fictitious Boy Howdy beer the defunct Creem magazine used to put in the hands of rock stars.

Arm wrestle for a beer? Eight-time world champion arm wrestler Sarah Backman leads the big biceps troupe to Railway City Brewing in St. Thomas on July 30. New to sample at Railway CIty: a sour with strawberries, lemonade and sea salt as part of the Express limited edition beer series.

Wayne Newton is a freelance journalist based in London.

BrewsNewsTravels@gmail.com

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