It's Strictly Ballroom meets craft beer.

Dancing star and actor Paul Mercurio will be in Canberra doing a cooking demonstration at Braddon brewpub BentSpoke on Tuesday, August 2.

He'll be cooking up a number of recipes from his book Cooking with Beer, as part of the BentSpoke industry night dubbed "Hops-spitality Tuesday". Mercurio might have gained fame through dancing and Strictly Ballroom but he's authored two cookbooks - Cooking with Beer and Kitchen Mojo - and starred in his own TV show, Mercurio's Menu.

The pub's head chef Matt Morrissey says Mercurio is a keen craft brewer and is a friend of BentSpoke owner Richard Watkins and will do a cooking demonstration followed by samples of six dishes. The brewery will also be shouting everyone beers from 7pm. 

And for Morrissey himself, it'll be a pretty sweet moment, capping off a fairly substantial career change.

A few years ago he was in the public service, working as a media manager. But he had a passion for cooking and food, and eventually decided to throw himself into the unknown - he left his job, and started apprenticing and studying cooking. 

He says his children gave him Mercurio's cookbook a few years ago and started his interest in working with beer.

Now, he's cooking at BentSpoke, surrounded by beer and food, a new phase of life he describes as "turning what were my dreams into reality". As a former media manager, Morrissey writes a pretty good press release, which must surely be an upsell for his new employers at the craft brewery.

Paul Mercurio is in Canberra on Tuesday, August 2 at BentSpoke in Braddon. Tickets are $69. Book on 6257 5220.