Hockey and Beer - Two of Life's Greatest Pleasures

**ravens_creed** · 10-18-2013, 05:06 PM

I was at the LCBO (booze store in Ontario) the other day replenishing my beer stock. I enjoy local and craft brews, so I usually make the effort to browse the aisles with many of the lesser known and uncommon options to see what's there. To my surprise, my eyes were drawn to two crossed hockey sticks and a puck, somewhat of an iconic hockey symbol used over the years. I stared for a second or two before my thoughts kicked in and I found myself asking, why am I seeing hockey imagery while beer shopping? Not the craziest of things, since I did buy my fair share of Molson Canadian and Coors Light 6-packs last year when Panini did the Stanley Cup winners die-cut insert set released with those. I recognized right away that this wasn't a promotion, though, so I snapped myself out of it and reached for the tall boy can that had caught my attention. I was pleasantly surprised to see that an excellent Ontario-based craft brewer, Lake of Bays Brewery, had released a new beer called "Top Shelf", a lager, with partial proceeds from all sales of those beers going towards the NHLAA - the NHL Alumni Association. A very cool idea, and I was happy to buy a few and give my support. Lake of Bays Brewery isn't huge, but it is located in Baysville, ON, in the heart of what we call "cottage country" around here, where many NHLers and former players have summer homes and retirement homes as well. I don't know much more about it than what is on the label and that I have driven through Baysville the last few summers on my own cottage adventures, and so I can vouch for the small size of the brewery and the connection between the area at large and hockey. Matt Duchene, for example, is from Huntsville, 45 minutes from Baysville. Anyhow, I just thought it was cool and thought I'd share. I just found this article on it as well doing a quick Google search. Apparently it is a very new release, so maybe I'm one of the firsts to give this fine lager a go! http://www.canadianbeernews.com/2013...flagship-beer/

Apparently, this isn't just a temporary thing, so the worlds of beer drinking and NHL alumni support are colliding in full-force! ... please drink responsibly.

**johnse27** · 10-18-2013, 08:26 PM

Cool! Hopefully a lot of the current NHL players are buying it as they owe to the previous players like Gordie and Bobby! Thanks for the show!

**87sluggo** · 10-18-2013, 08:33 PM

Gordie and Bobby are just fine............it's the guys like a goalie named Cam Newton who had a cup of coffee with the Penguins in the 70's before moving over to the WHA and is a courier driver today in Vancouver who they should be drinking to. Him and the rest of guys like him, bless em all :)

**johnse27** · 10-18-2013, 09:13 PM

No Ed I know that Orr and Howe are doing OK but people like Lindsey who sacrificed. Unfortunately a lot of the stars today don't understand the reason. At least he has this: