Strange Brew

The role of Brewmeister Smith was written with Max von Sydow in mind. But Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas thought actually enlisting him would be impossible. They requested von Sydow to the MGM studio, and studio head Freddie Fields telephoned the actor in Stockholm, Sweden and instructed the co-directors to "tell him the story." It turns out that Fields, then president of MGM, had just recently produced Victory (1981), which had co-starred von Sydow. So he sent the esteemed actor the script. Instead of hashing it out with Fields, von Sydow ran it by his son, who was a huge SCTV (1976) fan, and encouraged his father to take the role.

When Dave Thomas, and Rick Moranis were in the hockey rink preparing for the game, Dave exclaims to Rick, "I am your father, Luke". "Give in to the dark side of the Force, you knob!" Rick Moranis responds with, "He saw Jedi 17 times, eh." Ironically, Rick was speaking to Angus MacInnes. Angus played the role of Rebel pilot "Gold Leader" in the 1977 film 'Star Wars'.

Before filming, all of the major breweries wanted the McKenzie brothers to appear in beer advertisements. The filmmakers had the promise of Molson's Brewery, but once the brewery found out that there was a joke in the film about putting a mouse in a beer bottle so that a complaint can be made in order to get free beer, they distanced themselves from the film. The filmmakers were also banned from filming in a Brewers Retail store, and from using the name "Brewers Retail". They ended up building a replica of the store at a cost of more than $45,000, and calling it "The Beer Store". Ironically, Brewers Retail later changed the name of its stores to "The Beer Store", and they continue to operate under that name.

The basic plot as well as many of the name of the brewing company are references to William Shakespeare's "Hamlet". The castle in "Hamlet" was Elsinore. The heir to Elsinore's father was murdered by her uncle, who then comes to her as a ghost. In Hamlet, the uncle's name was Claudius, and in the movie he is named Claude.

Among many others, the "If I didn't have puke breath, I'd kiss you." line was improvised.