In spite of the comedic aspect of the story, Strange Brew surprisingly has a lot of tragedy and centers around a murder needing to be avenged.
- At the beginning, while partially played for laughs, Bob and Doug are confronted by a man and his crying children who is distraught over disappointing his children about the poorly made movie the duo made. Bob feels guilty enough to give them the beer money as a refund to ease their pain.
- Pam finds out that her father had been murdered by Smith for interfering with his plan via his ghost showing it on the video game screen rather than the edited electrocution story they made others believe. She is obviously distraught over this fact.
- Doug, Bob, and Rosie seemingly drown in the river with the police looking on with sorrowful music playing in the background. This ends up being subverted when it turns out they somehow managed to survive underwater via storing oxygen in beer cans.
- While partially played for laughs, the situation to split up causes the first separation of the two brothers in the film, with Doug attempting to pretend it's no big deal while Bob is distraught.
- Pam sees the ghost of her father, who tells her to stop his plans, bringing both sadness and closure to the story.
