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 Buzz
Beer - Microbrewery beer first seen on episode No. 22 "Buzz Beer"
(5/8/96) on the sitcom THE DREW CAREY SHOW/ABC/1995-2004. When Drew Carey's
department store looked like it might be bought out by a Dutch company, he began
brewing beer as a sideline to made extra money. He called his brew "Buzz Beer" -
a coffee-flavored beverage - and placed it for sale around the Cleveland area
especially at the Warsaw Tavern where Drew hung out. Other partners in the Buzz
Beer venture included Drew's close friends Lewis Kiniski (Ryan Stiles), Oswald
Harvey (Dietrich Bader) and Kate O'Brien (Christa Miller).
To seal their business partnership, Drew and the gang wrote their mission
statement on a piece of wood. It read: “4 Friend, 4 Ever, 4 Beer.” The official
motto for their caffeinated brew is “Stay up and get drunk!“
Bottled in Cleveland, Ohio (in Drew's garage - land parcel 5039), each bottle of
Buzz Beer contains 12 fluid oz (355ml) of beverage. The recipe for Buzz Beer is
listed on its label: "Brewed from nature's choicest Grain, Malt, Hops Yeats,
coffee bean and water."
The word "Buzz" not only means that Buzz Beer gives you a "Buzz" when you drink
it, but also that it's the beer everyone's talking about...as in "What's the
buzz?"
Buzz Beer Label
When asked "How are sales?," Lewis replied "The combination of alcohol and
caffeine should be addictive as heroin but so far the sales haven't born that
out."
To promote Buzz Beer, Drew & associates were always coming up with crazy ideas
to push their brew including the Buzz Dance where the dancer vibrated about as
if they were zapped with a bolt of electricity; awarding a free date to the
person who had the lucky bottle cap (with Kate as the reluctant prize); covering
a felon with Buzz Beer stickers to get free advertising when the police came to
take him away; and hiring local neighborhood children to bottle and deliver Buzz
Beer (Lewis and Oswald's idea). Oswald and Lewis also put Drew's picture and
phone number on Buzz Beer bottles in the hopes of landing him a wife.
Lewis also was responsible for accidentally tainting a special batch of green
St. Patrick's Day beer with a "sex drug" that he brought home from DrugCo. It
made everyone at the Warsaw Tavern amorous including Drew, who later went to a
court appearance and made a pass at all the women in the courtroom (the judge
included). Drew was at court to testify as a witness in Mimi's sexual harassment
case. The case was dismissed. (Order in the court! I'll have what he's
drinking). Speaking of cases, Lewis and Oswald also started a website called
http://buybuzzbeer.com but were arrested in a sting operation when they
inadvertently sold beer to minors.
To market Buzz Beer at a local expo Lewis and Oswald set up a giant mug of beer.
Unfortunately, it springs a leak and Lewis dives in to plug the hole in the mug.
Seizing the moment, the gang promotes Lewis as "Beer Boy" and encourage
customers to pay for photos with him.
Another expo marketing fiasco occurred when Lewis signed out a beer-drinking
bear from his pharmaceutical research company (Drugco) as a mascot for the
event. Unfortunately, The beer steals their delivery truck and rides it all over
town. Luckily, the guys finally corral the bear after it thinks that Mimi is the
bear's old circus trainer (a clown). Following Mimi back to the expo, the bear
proved to be a big success until Lewis took a flash photo that drove the bear
crazy (a la "King Kong").
To increase their profits, Drew hired a pro wrestler named The Disciplinarian as
the company spokesperson. Unfortunately, Kate dates the man, and continually
gets him drunk. They end up naked in a fountain in Las Vegas. The Disciplinarian
later denounces Buzz Beer while on camera for ruining his competitive edge. But
all was not lost. Buzz Beer's popularity grew and profits increased because
everyone wanted to try the beer that could "kick The Disciplinarian's ass!"
In 1997, with profits down, Drew and the gang decided to go out of business. To
celebrate, they throw a big party ("Drewstock") with free beer which attracted
just about everyone in Cleveland. The party popularized Buzz Beer so much that
it saved the company and Drew and his partners decided to stay in business.
A few years later Kate O'Brien sold her shares in Buzz Beer to Drew's
sister-in-law Mimi Bobeck Carey (Kathy Kinney) to settle a gambling debt. Of
course, Drew hated the deal, but had to live with it. Other partners in the
business included Drew's next-door neighbors Greg and Janet Clemens, who helped
Drew keep his business going by investing in the company so Drew could replace
their primary beer tank that exploded.
Buzz Beer's major competition was a beer named Cap-Beer-Cino (a knock off of
Drew's beer) that was made by preppie entrepreneur Chris Vanderkamp (Ed Begley,
Jr.). He hired Rachel Hunter as a spokes-model. To sabotage their campaign, Drew
replaces Rachel Hunter's face on their beer ads with picture of Mimi. When
Cap-Beer-Cino finds its way into the Warsaw tavern, Drew rallies the locals to
support his homegrown beer over an outside company with no real ties to the
community.
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