BrewDog

Products

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 produces about 2.2 million bottles and 400,000 cans per month in October 2015.

History

BrewDog was founded in Fraserburgh in 2007 by James Watt and Martin Dickie.

In 2010, BrewDog opened their first bar, in nearby Aberdeen. A second bar opened in 2011 in Edinburgh followed by a third in Glasgow and another in Camden Town, London. Further bars opened in Nottingham, Sheffield, Newcastle, Manchester, Bristol and Birmingham in 2012 and in Leeds, Stockholm and Shepherd's Bush, London in 2013. In 2014, BrewDog opened bars in São Paulo, Brazil, Dundee, Florence, Italy, Gothenburg, Sweden and Helsinki, Finland. There is also a bar located on Bethnal Green Road near Brick Lane in London.

In 2011, BrewDog was described as "...one of the prime movers..." behind the campaign which changed the law in 2011 to allow new beer measures in Britain.

2011 also saw the company offered crowdfunding shares totalling £2 million, the equivalent of 8% of the capital of the company. The shares were sold at ₤3.75 and accompanied several benefits such as discounts in their bars and online purchase of their beers, or the opportunity to attend their Annual Shareholders meeting.

The main brewing moved from Fraserburgh to nearby Ellon in 2012.

In February 2016, BrewDog open-sourced its beer recipes to the public, making them a form of Free Beer.

Controversy

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

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. BrewDog denied these allegations and countered that Portman was impeding the development of smaller brewing companies. 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. 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 before being renamed as Dogma.

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.

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%. The title for world's strongest beer has since changed again though, allegedly to Brewmeister's Snake Venom at a reputed 67.5%, although independent testing has yet to be published to confirm the ABV.

Awards

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

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

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

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.

Hardcore IPA won Gold at the 2010 World Beer Cup in the Imperial IPA category.

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. Diageo later apologised to BrewDog for what they called a "serious misjudgement by Diageo staff".