USA: Big Rock Brewery Ltd. Plans to Repurchase Common Shares

Big Rock Brewery Ltd. ("Big Rock") (Nasdaq: BEERF; TSE: BR) announces that it has notified the Toronto Stock Exchange and other applicable regulatory authorities a Notice of Intention to Make an Issuer Bid which shall commence on August 25, 2000 and terminates on the earlier of, the date all shares subject to the Normal Course Issuer Bid are purchased or, August 24, 2001.In the opinion of the Board of Directors of the Corporation, the market price of the Common Shares of the Corporation has recently not accurately reflected the value of those shares. Furthermore, the Corporation has the available funds from cash flow. As a result, the Corporation's Common Shares may become available for purchase at prices, which make them an appropriate use of funds of the Corporation.Big Rock intends to attempt to acquire up to an aggregate of 265,000 Common Shares, which represents 10% of the Common Shares in the public float. There are 4,613,950 Common Shares of Big Rock issued and outstanding as of August 18, 2000. The shares will be cancelled upon purchase pursuant to this bid.The Company has purchased 181,500 and 246,100 pursuant to the Normal Course Issuer Bids which expired June 9, 1999 and August 25, 2000, respectively. The average price for the Issuer Bids were $4.21 for the June 9, 1999 expiration and $6.25 for the August 25, 2000 Issuer Bid.Purchases subject to this normal course issuer bid will be carried out pursuant to open market transactions through the facilities of either The Toronto Stock Exchange or the NASDAQ Stock Market.