Letterkenny star and Vancouver brewery collaborate on beer

If you can’t get your hands on Puppers, how about a Lynn’s Lite Lager?

The beer is a new collaboration brew between East Vancouver’s Container Brewing and Tyler Johnston, an actor best known for starring in the iconic show Letterkennyon which he played Stewart.

It’s a beer created to raise money and awareness for a cause close to Johnston: the need for blood and platelet donations.

Dan Webster, co-owner of Container, met Johnston years ago when the actor visited the brewery. Recently, when the brewery came up with another collaboration beer, Webster reached out to Johnston to see if he had any ideas.

“With all the collaborative beers we’ve done (excluding those with other breweries), we always try to do something to help the community,” says Webster.

It turns out that Johnston’s mother, Lynn, was diagnosed with leukemia in June 2023.

“We thought this was obvious,” said Webster, who lost his mother to a different type of cancer.

In particular, they discussed the need for blood donations.

“These blood donations are so valuable to the life of someone going through leukemia,” said Webster.

The impact that fresh blood transfusions can have on people dealing with leukemia can be dramatic.

“I learned so much from talking to Tyler,” says Webster. “I didn’t know it had such an impact on something like this. He says it’s night and day from the start of a transfusion to the end.”

Beer event to raise money

Together, Container and the Johnstons have developed a beer for Lynn called Lynn’s Lite Lager, which is currently being brewed. It is an easy-drinking lager with four ingredients.

The can’s design has several nods to Lynn, with a steering wheel (she’s a drag racer), purple (her favorite color) and a hummingbird.

Lynn’s Lite Lager will launch at an event on June 16 at Container’s 1216 Franklin St. brewpub.

“Ultimately we want to make it a little bigger than ‘here’s some beer,’” says Webster.

There will be plenty to do, with DJs from Eastblvd Records playing music, food trucks (including Mom’s Grilled Cheese in honor of Lynn, whose favorite food is grilled cheese sandwiches) and a team from Canadian Blood Services. They will be there to inform people about donating blood, but will not collect blood during the event.

The Johnston family will also be at the brewery to celebrate the release.

Additionally, 10 percent of all beer sold at Container on June 16 will go to a charity of Lynn’s choice, along with $1 from every can of beer sold in her name.