Beer in his name would've been 'greatest honour' for Jim MacNeill, son says
Rabble Rouser Red features image of the late publisher of P.E.I.'s Eastern Graphic
An Island brewery will be honouring a real-life "rabble rouser" with its latest craft beer.
Copper Bottom Brewing is launching a new craft beer in honour of the late Jim MacNeill, the former publisher of P.E.I.'s Eastern Graphic. The Montague brewery will release a new craft beer called "Rabble Rouser Red" on Thursday.
"We're absolutely tickled," said MacNeill's son Paul MacNeill. "I'm not underestimating this at all. This would be considered the greatest honour that dad ever received if he were alive today."
The launch date on Thursday would have been the elder MacNeill's 82nd birthday and it's also the one-year anniversary of Copper Bottom Brewing signing the deal to purchase the old Eastern Graphic building.
The cans will feature an artistic drawing of Jim MacNeill, according to Ashley Condon, the co-owner of Copper Bottom Brewing. The new beer is described as "an American Red Ale with a crisp and bold malt profile."
Paul MacNeill, the current publisher of the Eastern Graphic and other publications, said his dad made friends wherever he went and even had stickers printed of a cartoon drawing of himself in a kilt with "This bar approved by Jim MacNeill," that can be found around the world.
"He was a man who was so true to his core that journalism mattered, that you always told the truth, that you held public officials to account, but he also had this incredible social side," MacNeill said. "He loved drinking a glass and talking to people from all social and economic levels and he was just someone who always had a giggle wherever he went."
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With files from Maintreet P.E.I.