Kamloops’s famous Paralympian shot putter unleashes another Shot of Gold
Inspiring athlete, Greg Stewart has found a way to give back to his community and help financially support other Olympians and Paralympians in their athletic careers.
He sparked the creation of a golden ale called Shot of Gold. The ale is the product of a collaboration with five craft breweries in Kamloops, and the main ingredient of a fundraising project.
The idea started when Stewart returned from his legendary shot put performance at the Tokyo Paralympics.
“When I returned home a friend wanted to do something special for me that no one else had done,” he said. “He reached out to a bunch of breweries telling them about me. Steamworks Brewery reached back and directed him to their label makers, who sent him a 24-pack of Pilsner with labels of me on them that said ‘Shot of Gold’. I was super pumped.”
READ MORE: Kamloops's Greg Stewart unleashes gold winning shot put at Tokyo Paralympics
Stewart decided he wanted to take the idea further and find a way to support people with it. He is one of several Canadian athletes who received funding from CAN Fund to help finance his trip to the podium, and wanted to give back to the program.
“I ended up reaching out to the owners at Iron Road Brewery and Red Collar Brewery,” he said. “The following week, Noble Pig Brewhouse, Bright Eye Brewing and Alchemy Brewing merged to collaborate on an idea. They said they had not done a collaboration like this before and were really pumped to support me.”
A month ago, Iron Road Brewery started brewing a golden ale, an ale that is called Shot of Gold. All five breweries onboard are putting the beer on tap on Feb. 4 when the Olympic Winter Games begin. Portions of all liquor and bottle sales will go directly to CanFund.
“This is really exciting,” Stewart said. “They are also bottling it. You can expect to see bottles... in liquor stores around Kamloops soon.”
A beer launch celebration is taking place Feb. 3 at the Noble Pig. It is open to the public and all COVID restrictions apply. The event includes food and beer pairings and starts at 5 p.m. There will be silent auctions and raffles with gift certificates from local community businesses.
“Kamloops has been a hug supporter of mine throughout my career,” he said. “My gold medal was a team effort and if you think you didn’t play a role you did. My community motivates me to continue to move forward and I’m super honoured to help give back.”
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