"The combination of alcohol and caffeine should be addictive as heroin but so far the sales haven't born that out."
Buzz Beer is the fictional
beer produced by
Drew Carey and friends on
The Drew Carey Show. In the episode "Buzz Beer"
Drew learned that he might lose his job when the department store he worked for,
Winfred-Louder, would be sold to a Dutch consortium. Searching for a new source of income,
Drew and his friends
Lewis Kiniski,
Oswald Harvey, and
Kate O'Brien went to an
entrepreneur fair and learned about the exiciting world of brewing
beer at home.
Drew took out a second mortgage on his house in order to raise the capital needed to buy the beer brewing equipment and the gang began testing flavors of beer. After rejecting several ideas (such as "Tidy Beer", the beer that cleans your toilet when you vomit)
Drew noticed that
Lewis was taking a sip of
coffee for every sip of
beer. Buzz Beer, a combination of
coffee and
beer, was born that night. The slogan? "Stay up and get drunk all over again!"
The equipment was set up in Drew's garage and brewing began. The gang wrote their mission statement on a piece of wood ("4 Friends, 4 Ever, 4 Beer") and placed it near the tanks as a morale booster. The first place to stock the beer was the local bar, the Warsaw Tavern. In an effort to increase awareness of Buzz Beer the gang tried a number of marketing gimmicks such as hiring a pro wrestler to be the pitchman and giving away a date with Kate.
Efforts to expand distribution include selling beer from a refurbished ice cream truck (which only attracted children) and from a website (which also only attracted children). Eventually Lewis had an idea for a Buzz Beer mascot, Buzzy the Bear. Buzzy was an actual trained bear that was capable of driving a truck. In this case he stole the ice cream truck, causing the gang to chase it down. One night during a poker game Kate lost her share in Buzz Beer to Mimi Bobeck. As much as Drew hated to admit it, the company prospered more during Mimi's time with the company than it ever had before.
As The Drew Carey Show delved deep into strange, surreal comedy plots (such as Drew's life-after-death coma experience and shows performed live) Buzz Beer faded into the background and the company is hardly mentioned in later episodes of the series. In fact, by the time the final season of the show rolled around the company was completely forgotten, it's fate unresolved and simply dropped.