BrewDog

BrewDog PLC

Type	Unlisted plc
Industry	Alcoholic beverages
Founded	2007
Headquarters	Ellon, Scotland, UK
Products	Beer
Production output	100,000 hectolitre capacity[1]
Owner	James Watt and Martin Dickie

BrewDog is a Scottish brewery in Ellon, Aberdeenshire.

History

BrewDog produces about 120,000 bottles per month.^[2] It was founded in Fraserburgh in 2007 by James Watt and Martin Dickie, moving to nearby Ellon in 2012, although the Fraserburgh site is still used as a brewing laboratory for experimental beers.^[3][4][5]

In 2013, Brew Dogs premiered on US television channel Esquire Network with James and Martin travelling across America visiting different American beer towns, celebrating distinctive craft beers and creating their own locally-inspired brews.^[6] Second season of the show premiered on 26 June and features European destinations as well as American.

Beers

BrewDog produces bottled and canned beers in a variety of styles such as ale, stout, India pale ale (IPA) and lager, some of which are also available in keg containers.

The bottled beers are distributed to British supermarkets and exported worldwide; kegs are available in the United Kingdom and Ireland, and in a selection of other countries around the world. In 2012, cask ale production was phased out.

BrewDog beers include:

• Punk IPA (5.6% ABV, previously 6.0% ABV) - a hoppy and powerful ale in the American style. Their flagship brand
• 5 AM (formally 5am Saint)(5.0% ABV) - a red ale
• Brixton Porter (5% ABV) - a porter
• Hardcore IPA (9.2% ABV) - an extremely hoppy and strong double IPA
• Dead Pony (formally Dead Pony Club)(3.8% ABV) - a hoppy Californian-style pale ale.
• Libertine Black Ale (7.2% ABV) - a black IPA.
• This. Is. Lager. (4.7% ABV) - a pilsner lager.

Other BrewDog beers have included:

• 77 Lager (4.7% ABV) - a pilsner-style lager
• Alice Porter (6.2% ABV) - a porter flavoured with vanilla
• Anarchist/Alchemist (14% ABV) - a triple IPA
• Avery Brown Dredge (7.5% ABV) - an imperial pilsner brewed in collaboration with beer writers Zak Avery, Pete Brown and Mark Dredge
• Bitch Please (11.5% ABV) - a barley wine made with peated Laphroaig malt, aged in Jura single-malt whisky barrels, and produced in collaboration with Three Floyds Brewing
• Bashah (9% ABV) - (Black As Sin Hoppy As Hell) a hybrid of imperial stout, Belgian abbey ale and IPA, made in collaboration with Stone Brewing Co.
• Black Eye Joe (5.8% ABV) - Black IPA with Coffee and American hops made in collaboration with Stone Brewing Co.
• Chaos Theory (7.0% ABV) - an IPA flavoured exclusively with Nelson Sauvin hops
• Clown King (12.0% ABV) - an American style Barley Wine
• Cocoa Psycho (10% ABV) - an imperial Russian stout with crushed coffee beans, cocoa nibs and dark malts
• Dog B (15.1 ABV) - an imperial stout with specially selected Rio Caribe cocoa nibs, Sertão Carmo de Minas coffee and naga chillies
• Dogma (7.4% ABV) - a heather honey-infused ale
• The End of History (55% ABV) - the beer formerly known as "the world's strongest beer". Only 12 bottles released and packaged inside stuffed squirrels and stoats
• Fake Lager (4.7% ABV) - a Bohemian pilsner
• Ghost Deer (28% ABV) - the world's strongest naturally-fermented beer. Served from a mounted deer head at the BrewDog bar in Edinburgh
• Hello My Name is Ingrid (8.2% ABV) - "a sophisticated Bergmanesque beer" double IPA imported from Sweden
• Hello My Name is Mette Marit (8.2% ABV) - "a Norwegian-inspired double IPA" containing lingonberries, named after the Crown Princess of Norway
• I Hardcore You (9.5% ABV) - an imperial IPA, made by blending BrewDog's Hardcore IPA and Mikkeller's I Beat You
• Hardcore NZ (9.2% ABV) - a version of Hardcore IPA made using New Zealand hops
• Jackhammer (7.2% ABV) - a heavily hopped and highly bitter West Coast IPA
• Mixtape 8 (14.5% ABV) - half a hopped up Belgian Tripel and half a triple IPA.
• #Mashtag (7.5% ABV) - an American brown ale loaded with New Zealand hops and aged with oak chips and hazelnuts based on a collaboration of ideas generated on Twitter
• Nanny State (0.5% ABV) - a very weak but extremely heavily hopped bitter, brewed as a reaction to criticism of the high strength of their beers
• Never Mind The Anabolics (6.5% ABV) - an IPA infused with creatine, guarana, ginseng, ginkgo, maca powder, matcha tea and kola nut
• Paradox (10% ABV) - a whisky cask-aged stout available in differing editions depending on the source of the aging cask
• Paradox Arran (15% ABV) - an imperial stout with vanilla, cinnamon, aromatic fruit, ginger and Isle of Arran malt
• Paradox Jura (15% ABV) - original Paradox that has been aged in whisky casks that previously held Isle of Jura whisky
• The Physics (5.0% ABV) - an amber beer
• Rip Tide (8% ABV) - an imperial stout, also occasionally available in a 4% ABV form
• Sink The Bismarck! (41% ABV) - at the time, the strongest beer ever produced. A quadruple IPA
• Tactical Nuclear Penguin (32% ABV) - at the time, the strongest beer ever produced in a competition with German brewer Schorschbräu
• Tokyo (12% ABV) - an imperial stout brewed with jasmine and cranberries. Replaced by Tokyo*
• Tokyo* (18.2% ABV) - a very strong imperial stout based on the original Tokyo recipe
• Tokyo Rising Sun (13.2% ABV) - a version of Tokyo (first recipe), aged in Highland or Lowland whisky barrels for 4 years, supposedly "forgotten about"
• Trashy Blonde (4.1% ABV) - a hoppy golden ale; it was one of the most widely available cask beers in the BrewDog stable
• Zeitgeist (4.9% ABV) - a black lager

The Abstrakt series of experimental beers. Known only by their AB: number designation and released in limited quantities:

• AB:01 (10.2% ABV) - a vanilla bean-infused Belgian quad (3,200 bottles)
• AB:02 (18% ABV) - a triple dry hopped imperial red ale (3,200 bottles)
• AB:03 (10.5 ABV) - an imperial ale aged over two years in whisky cases with raspberries and strawberries (3,192 bottles)
• AB:04 (15% ABV) - an imperial stout brewed with coffee, plus loads of cacao and chili (3,200 bottles)
• AB:05 (12.5% ABV) - a Belgian imperial stout aged on toasted coconut and cacao (3,600 bottles)
• AB:06 (11.2% ABV) - a triple dry hopped imperial black IPA (5,500 bottles)
• AB:07 (12.5% ABV) - a whisky cask-aged imperial scotch ale (4,200 bottles)
• AB:08 (11.8 ABV) - a deconstructed blonde imperial stout (6,500 bottles)
• AB:09 (17.1 ABV) - a Cranachan imperial stout (5,200 bottles)
• AB:10 (11.5% ABV) - an imperial brown ale aged in Spanish red wine barrels (9,872 bottles)
• AB:11 (12.8 ABV) - a black barley wine with ginger, black raspberries and chipotle peppers (9,819 bottles)
• AB:12 (11.2% ABV) - a black Belgian IPA, Scottish berries aged in oak casks (9,500 bottles)
• AB:13 (11.3% ABV) - a cherry imperial stout aged in sherry barrels (9,900 bottles)
• AB:14 (10.2% ABV) - an oak-aged imperial weizenbock (9,995 bottles)
• AB:15 (12.8% ABV) - stout aged in bourbon bottles with salt caramel popcorn (9,995 bottles)
• AB:16 (10.6% ABV) - a Belgian style ale infused with coffee beans
• AB:17 (10.9% ABV) - an imperial rye porter brewed with espresso in the mash, cafetiere in the boil, and whole roast beans in the whirlpool and the fermenter

In 2009, Tokyo* caused controversy when UK watchdog the Portman Group criticised the availability of a beer of that strength in 330ml bottles with traditional crown corks. Since then BrewDog has produced progressively stronger beers of very high strength, and has laid claim to the title 'strongest beer ever brewed' on more than one occasion.

Also in 2009, BrewDog launched a beer called Tactical Nuclear Penguin, with 32% alcohol, which was claimed to be the strongest beer ever made.^[7]

In 2010, BrewDog announced Sink The Bismarck, an apparent 41% ABV^[8][9] to reclaim the World's Strongest Beer title from Schorschbräu, who had produced a 40% ABV version of their Schorschbock.^[10]

Also in 2010, BrewDog produced a 55% ABV freeze-distilled beer called The End of History, with the bottles packaged in small stuffed animals, priced at £500 and £700 each.^[11][12][13] Only 12 bottles were produced; 11 for retail sale, with the other one going to Internet video blog BeerTapTV.^[14][15] BrewDog claim that this set new records not only for alcoholic strength in a beer, but also for price. Advocates for Animals called the gimmick 'perverse'.^[11] The title "strongest beer of the world" then fell back to Mr Tscheuschner from the Schorschbräu brewery in Germany, whose Schorschbock 57 boasts an ABV of 57.5%.^[16] The title for world's strongest beer has since changed again though. It is now allegedly Brewmeister's Snake Venom at a reputed 67.5%, although independent testing has yet to be published to confirm the ABV.^[17]

Bars

In 2010, BrewDog opened their first bar, in nearby Aberdeen.^[18] A second bar opened in 2011 in Edinburgh^[19] followed by a third in Glasgow^[20] and another in Camden Town, London.^[21] Further bars opened in Nottingham, Newcastle, Manchester, Bristol and Birmingham in 2012^{[22][23][24][25][26]} and in Leeds, Stockholm and Shepherd's Bush, London in 2013.^{[27][28][29][30]} In 2014, BrewDog opened bars in São Paulo, Brazil,^[31] Dundee, Scotland,^[32] Florence, Italy and Helsinki, Finland.^[33]

Awards

BrewDog won the 2008 Prince's Scottish Youth Business Trust Young Entrepreneur of the Year award.^[34]

Paradox Grain won a Gold Medal at the 2008 World Beer Cup in the Wood and Barrel-aged Strong Beer Category.^[35]

BrewDog won the Tenon Entrepreneur of the Year Award for demonstrating exceptional vision and leadership at the 2008 National Business Awards for Scotland.^[36]

The Physics won World's Best Strong Pale Ale (Sub Category Winner) and Rip Tide won World's Best Imperial Stout (Style Trophy Winner) at the 2007 World Beer Awards, an annual competition organised by Beers of the World magazine.^[37]

Hardcore IPA won Gold at the 2010 World Beer Cup in the Imperial IPA category.^[38]

In 2012, BrewDog revealed that Diageo had threatened to withdraw funding from BII Scotland's annual awards if BrewDog was named winner of the Best Bar Operator award.^[39] Diageo later apologised to BrewDog for what they called a "serious misjudgement by Diageo staff".^[40][41]

Marketing

BrewDog's provocative marketing has been a key aspect of the business, and has gained them substantial international coverage.^[42]

In 2008, BrewDog were challenged by UK drinks industry watchdog the Portman Group. Portman had claimed BrewDog to be in breach of their Code of Practice.^[43] BrewDog denied these allegations and countered that Portman was impeding the development of smaller brewing companies.^[44] After an 8-month long dispute and a preliminary adjudication which had ruled against the company, in December 2008 BrewDog were cleared of all breaches of the Code of Practice and were permitted to continue marketing their brands without making any changes to the packaging.^[45] In protest to their targeting, BrewDog introduced "Speedball", saying "...we thought we would give them something worth banning us for..." . Speedball was promptly banned by Portman^[46] before being renamed as Dogma.^[47]

BrewDog were also described as "...one of the prime movers..."^[48] behind the campaign which changed the law in 2011 to allow new beer measures in Britain.^[49]

References

External links

• BrewDog Official website
• Review of Brewdog Bar in Edinburgh