HAYWARD - If you're of a certain age, you may remember the Hamm's Beer bear, an iconic cartoon that advertised the St. Paul brewery.

A real–life beer bear caused a stir at a Hayward grocery store Thursday.

The 125–pound black bear wandered into the Marketplace Foods atrium, and headed into the liquor department.

Store Manager Jon LeBlanc said there were no customers in the department at the time; the sole clerk closed off the area, and employees called wildlife officials.

Meanwhile, the bear wandered up and down the aisles, went into the beer cooler and climbed up 12 feet onto a shelf, all under the watch of surveillance cameras.

The bear sat on the shelf for an hour, until Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources officials tranquilized and removed it from the store.

LeBlanc said the bear didn't break a single bottle of beer – Hamm's or otherwise – during its jaunt in the store.

Photos courtesy of Marketplace Foods

(Copyright 2009 Red River Broadcast Co. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. AP contributed to this report.)