Canada Day at Brew-Ha-Ha!

When my son, David, was going to Beamsville District High School not all that long ago, I had to shuttle him back to his Mom's house in neighbouring Grimsby for 8 a.m. to catch his school bus. More than occasionally, we missed that bus due to our morning grogginess and ultimate slowness in getting out of our Burlington Man Cave, a.k.a. Casa Redmond. If that was the case, I would simply stay on the Niagara-bound QEW and two exits after his Mom's was the exit to his school, another 10 minutes down the road.

But David watched the clock on the radio intently during those too-late-for-the-bus morning runs. And he had a very specific reason for doing so. At 9 a.m. sharp, the school would play the national anthem and do its morning announcements. If we were still in the car at 9 a.m., usually hitting the exit ramp by that point, David would turn off the radio completely and start singing 'O Canada' as loudly as he could. For the record, my boy is deaf in one ear and I believe the correct categorization for his singing voice would fall somewhere between "caterwauling" and "drunken Scotsman playing a broken bagpipe while stepping on a cat's tail."

That said, it is the sweetest sound in the world to this Dad because David is his absolute happiest when he's singing... which is often. That's why various seasons of Glee are allowed at Casa Redmond. Personally, I think the show's a hunk of crap. (Common theme: "Your Daddy's in the hospital... Imma sing you a song 'bout that..." Uhhh, REALLY? Do emergency wards in Ohio allow flash mobs as a matter of course? Are a lot of high school football players harmonizing and breaking out in dance in the change rooms, or worse the showers, these days?) But the show is exposing David to tons of music he might not otherwise hear from modern rap/hip-hop to classic rock and I see nothing but positive in that. Well, the occasional newer rap song sometimes needs explanations. "Daddy, what's a gold-digger?" or "What's booty?" or "What's 'bust a cap in your cracker ass' mean?"

But back to the point. This is Canada Day - our 146th birthday as a nation - and it reminds me of how David, whether he was in his homeroom at school or running late in Daddy's car, would stop everything cold just to make sure he sang 'O Canada' at exactly 9 a.m. every morning from Monday to Friday. He takes the weekends off because well... that's very much the Canadian thing to do!!! Well, maybe not if you're in retail or the service industries, such as I am. Whenever someone posts a "Thank God It's Friday" status on Facebook - and there are literally dozens every single Friday - all I can mutter to myself is: "... said no one in retail ever..."

However, in honour of Canada Day, I want to draw your attention to one of the most brilliant beer campaigns I have seen in years.

Molson's Brewery has been dropping fridges at various points throughout Europe for the past couple of months. The fridges are filled top to bottom with Molson Canadian in the 473-ml aluminium bottles. But the trick is this: the only thing that opens the fridge is a Canadian passport. To see this clever commercial... Click right here!

I'll give ya a minute... or more precisely, 1:31 mins, the running length of the commercial. This is not a fake, like many commercials of a similar nature. This is for real. Molson's is actually wheeling these fridges in throughout countless spots in Europe. The crowd reaction is legit, as well, filmed by the commercial-makers. Brilliant, isn't it? Tugs a little at the Canuck heart-strings. And it makes you want to have a beer with a bunch of Europeans. That's some incredibly clever marketing.

So hat's off to Molson's for this campaign which apparently they will be continuing, perhaps right up until next year's Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. So very very cool!!!

And to the rest of us, Happy Canada Day! WE... ARE... CANADIAN!!!!