Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/455266
22 / the tasting panel / january/february 2015 BRAND NEWS A hero to nerds and those who cheer beer, actor Wil Wheaton is the newest anti- spokesman for Newcastle Brown Ale and its latest brew, Newcastle Scotch Ale. Wheaton, 42, who spent his teen years as Wesley Crusher on Star Trek: The Next Generation, and is best known to the Millennial generation for his recurring role on The Big Bang Theory, took up home brewing about two years ago when his college-age son was looking for a project they could do together. Brewing beer, he said, is like "meditating for me because . . . I'm doing something that's active, but also very relaxing for me. I discovered a hobby that I love." Wheaton says he is doubling his home brew production to ten gallons every other week. He also loves Newcastle's irreverent "No Bollocks" digital ad campaign that has featured actors Anna Kendrick, Steven Merchant, Zachary Quinto and Elizabeth Hurley in parody web commercials for the beer. The web spots have "an authenticity that really was attractive to me, and I already loved Newcastle Brown Ale," he said. His commercials tout Newcastle Scotch Ale, which Wheaton describes as being "a little more accessible than the American browns that we like. The Scotch ale is somewhere between a 90-shilling and a wee heavy," he said, referring to the way the British used to tax beers, in which stronger or better quality beers cost more. Partnering with Scotland's Caledonian brewery, Newcastle Scotch Ale is made with whole-flower hops and comes in at 6.4% ABV in comparison to its Brown Ale's 4.7% ABV. It is the first of what Newcastle says will be a series of collaborations with other historic European breweries. Read more about Newcastle's marketing strategies on page 61. NEWCASTLE TAPS SCI-FI HERO AND AVID HOME BREWER WIL WHEATON TO TOUT SCOTCH ALE by Leslie Gevirtz Actor Wil Wheaton is the newest anti-spokesman for Newcastle Brown Ale. Beer