Ottawa Charge star makes Canadian beer history

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Ottawa Charge star Emily Clark is doing some tremendous things both on and off the ice.

With a launch held at the CRAFT Beer Market near TD Place on Wednesday, the skilled 29-year-old Saskatoon native officially becomes the first professional female athlete in Canada to release her “own inspired craft beer”.

“Ottawa Wheat 26”, which in its name pays tribute to Clark’s jersey number, is a raspberry wheat ale (4.4 alcohol by volume) that will be made by the Broadhead Brewery in Orléans.

Important to note is that Clark will not be making any money from this venture, spearheaded by her Los Angeles-based agent, Brant Feldman.

Her portion of the proceeds will go to The Ottawa Hospital Breast Cancer Centre.

“It’s a fun project,” said Clark, who leads the Charge with 15 points and has been the team’s best all-round player through 22 games. “We’re always kind of putting our heads together in ways that we can be involved in the community, give back to the community. So this is a pretty awesome collaboration with a local brewery. Broadhead has supported other initiatives in the past for the community with their beloved brewery, and it’s kind of organic to be able to work with them and be able to have the funds go back to the community as well.”

“Giving back” is nothing new for Clark, who does a “meet and greet” after every game with two local charities she picks to have tickets purchased by Feldman.

Last year, it was HEROS Hockey, a volunteer-driven organization that teaches life skills and empowers marginalized youth thorough the sport. This year, Clark added Kanata Centre 33, which is a 2SLGBTQIA+ Youth group.

One of Canada’s top players, Clark is a longtime member of the national team program as well as a former Wisconsin Badger.

Her focus at college was on her athletic career and academics, not the parties.

“I’m not typically a beer drinker, but I am a raspberry ale drinker,” she said with a laugh. “Actually, I got to taste test quite a few (with Broadhead) and I do like the more fruity beers and ciders. But to be honest, the girls make fun of me because I usually get a diet coke when we go out for a drink.

“I’m really excited about this. It’s something that I actually, genuinely enjoy the taste of. So I know other people will too.”

Another Feldman client in the PWHL, American Kelly Pannek of the reigning Walter Cup champion Minnesota Frost, launched her own beer called “Been There Won That” earlier this season.

“I can’t say enough amazing things about Broadhead,” said Clark. “As soon as we initiated conversations with them, that this is something we wanted to do, they were all in. And just the amount that they let me be involved with it, and let me make it our own together. They wanted to empower me. They wanted to collaborate with me and support a women’s hockey player.

“Their slogan is, ‘Work hard, drink easy,’ and I’m all about hard work and having fun doing it, so it was a pretty natural relationship with them.”