Informal beer – BrewDog

Craft brewery BrewDog

The BrewDog company was opened in Fraserburgh, Scotland in 2006.  Fraserburgh is considered to be a working industrial town and the first beer under the BrewDog brand was released the following year.

The founders of this company, informal friends Martin Dickie and James Watt, named their company after their pet dog called Jake. These guys successfully combine such qualities as creativity, bold thinking, commercial streak and, of course, love for beer and their neighbours. BrewDog gained momentum quite slowly, but today the brewery produces 220 thousand litres of exclusive beer each month.

It all started with Martin and James deciding to brew their own beer and as an experiment they chose favourite types of beer popular in Britain – lager and ale. The guys borrowed huge amounts of money from a bank as a loan which they spent on the highest quality brewing equipment available.

The first trial batches of beer were very small, the beer was bottled manually and sometimes only sold in their native Fraserburgh. They expanded with different varieties of beer and little by little it began to gain popularity and a circle of fans.

The moment when the company started to rise can be considered to be 2008 when the partners finally acquired beer dispensing machines and brewing tanks. A batch of Tokyo imperial stout was immediately released and was distinguished by its strength – 18.2% which for Great Britain was a break from the templates and traditions of brewing.

After that Tokyo was shipped to Japan, the USA and Sweden. Then, by lucky chance, the partners managed to appear on television in a TV show together with famous wine expert Oz Clarke. Thanks to luck and hard work, in the second year of their lives their enterprise was already considered to be one of the largest and most famous independent beer companies in Scotland.

Then, to maintain the success of BrewDog, they released a new original Indian pale ale called IPA Punk. This variety turned out to be a refreshing drink with a strength of 5.6% which was quickly loved by consumers and gained popularity. It became obvious that BrewDog beer was designed for young people, not for the average person and conformist, but for bold, informal beer lovers. Even the names of the beer brands Paradox, I Hardcore You, Zeitgeist and Trashy Blonde testify to this. 

However, if it were not for the original marketing, which is the distinctive feature of the company, then no one would have known about this wonderful beer. The partners turned out to be very active and even when their production no longer required their round-the-clock control they did not stop working.

They constantly came up with all sorts of options that would help them pay off their debts and in 2009 the company’s shares were sold via the internet. More than 1,300 people wanted to participate in this venture.

Each subsequent project by Martin and James was distinguished by its originality. Thus, together with German brewery Schorschbrau, they opened the production of a new series of beer with the original name “Tactical Nuclear Penguin” with a strength of 32%. This was another impetus for the growth of BrewDog’s popularity and due to this beer production increased by 200%.

The partners decided to support their success by opening their own drinking establishment in Aberdeen, Scotland. In 2010 BrewDog got what it deserved. It was awarded a significant prize – a gold medal at the World Beer Cup for a BrewDog Hardcore IPA beer and James, despite his youth, was awarded the status of “Entrepreneur of the Year” in Scotland.

The guys continued to develop creative thinking, their own and that of their fans. The result of their next creative explorations was a new beer variety called “The End of History”, named after Francis Fukuyama’s famous work, “The End of History.” This beer was stronger than the previous ones – 55% strength and was bottled in real stuffed animals.

The beer was released in a small batch of 12 bottles, seven of which were stuffed ermine, four of which were stuffed squirrels and one of which was a hare. The cost of this beer was about 500 – 700 pounds. By the way, animal lovers should not accuse the creatives of heartlessness and cruelty. Not a single animal was killed to design the beer.  The carcasses of animals injured in road accidents were said to be used although, of course, this is a topic for debate. But it was precisely thanks to the publicity and noise around this product that BrewDog gained more and more fans who were ready to pay any amount of money to buy a new beer from their favourite company and appreciate its new creativity.

BrewDog’s popularity, income and number of shareholders is growing and the partners have opened their own branded pubs in megacities Edinburgh, London and Glasgow. Today, BrewDog beer is in great demand and is successfully sold in Japan, the Netherlands, Australia, the USA, Finland, Canada, Estonia, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Taiwan. Sales are growing by 200% a year.

BrewDog has not stopped there and continues to amaze their fans with an unconventional approach to brewing. Last year they released a “Fake Lager” beer, the label of which contained interesting information about the beer being brewed with rice, corn and glucose syrup because it is cheaper than malt, that there is no hop in the beer because it gives the beer aroma and is expensive, that the beer is fermented to 10% strength and diluted with water to 4.7% and that fish guts are added to the beer. 

Well, you can expect anything from these informal partners. But not this! In fact, this beer went on sale on 1 April 2013 in order to celebrate April Fool’s Day. The beer is brewed in the style of Czech Pilsner, has a strength of 4.7% and is bottled.  Fake Lager is, first and foremost, a pilsner. The beer has a pleasant golden colour and a rich aroma of malt, hops and citrus.

Not long ago BrewDog presented the beer “Hello My Name Is Vladimir” with a strength of 8.2% from the My Name Is… series of beers. The style of this beer can be described as Double India Pale Ale and it is brewed with the addition of lemongrass berries. The label says everything about the beer. It is dedicated to Vladimir Putin. The producers are known to be punks and adhere to broad and free views not only on brewing, but also on life in general. These views include the lack of rights for sexual minorities in Russia and that this is condemned by the European community.

BrewDog really appreciates their fans and constantly organises various promotions for them. When they have organised a tour of their brewery or beer tasting, the queue to visit them has stretched for several streets.

BrewDog are very committed to their image as punks and brewing revolutionaries and undoubtedly attract young people to join their army of fans and provide BrewDog with a green light.