Brewdog Scotland?

[OC Richard]

I live on the West Coast USA and here many of us are West Coast IPA drinkers.

I'm as hooked as anyone. Blame my wife, she was an IPA drinker 20 years ago when it's wasn't the rage it is now. It took her many years to adjust my tastes to the WCIPA thing.

We go to breweries and drink it at the source. They're everywhere here, we have two within walking distance.

So just now I stumbled on the Brewdog site. https://www.brewdog.com/uk/bars/uk

Just what is Brewdog? Does each location brew its own, or are they brewed centrally and shipped to the various UK locations? What's been the reaction by the British drinking public? What are your impressions?

I would also be interested in the impressions of visiting American craft brew drinkers who have tasted the Brewdog products.

Thanks! Richard

[Tomo]

They are growing and growing - a mate of mine was an early investor (and I see that they have another investment round open right now) - and they seam to have gone stratospheric in the last 2 or 3 years.

There is even a Brewdog in Tallinn these days (and one at Edinburgh airport - my usual route back to the UK).

Generally the beer is well regarded and they have an ever-expanding product range.

As far as I know they have 4 breweries (2 in Scotland, 1 in Australia and 1 in the USA) so they ship from there rather than brew on-site at the bars. I think there is a Brewdog hotel at their Brewery in Columbus, Ohio.

[StevieR]

A micro brewery that’s no longer micro. Very well marketed, bottles and cans available in many outlets across the UK. Not bad, but there’s better out there and their pricing is rather ambitious in my opinion.

Back in the 1970’s, brewing in the UK had been taken over by multinationals and the results were poor quality, homogenised beers. Enter the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA - https://shop1.camra.org.uk ), a group of like minded individuals intent on promoting the best of traditional British brewing. A roaring success. There are a plethora of breweries across the UK, large and small, producing a huge variety of regional beers and ales. Within five miles of my house in rural Dorset, there are four brewers - Hall and Woodhouse (est. 1777), Ringwood Brewery and two excellent micro breweries in Wimborne Minster and Sixpenny Handley.

IPA is popular in the UK, of course and there are heavily hopped brews strongly influenced by US West Coast brewing. With a vast choice of stouts, porters, pale ale, light ales and best bitters available the competition is strong though!

Many pubs in the UK are owned by a brewery and serve their own range, with occasional “guest” beers. There are also “free houses” - independently owned, who sell what ever takes their fancy, such as my local - https://thedroversinn.info/ A pint of Sixpenny Handley Best Bitter served here is exceptional, and I can get a decent 80/- beer, albeit brewed in Cornwall!

You might get the impression I enjoy the odd pint! Don’t even get me started on cider!!

[YOJiMBO20]

When we were in Scotland for the Worlds back in ‘16, we stopped by the Glasgow Brewdog quite a bit as our dorms weren’t too far from there.

I remember one one of their beers was done in tandem with Ballast Point (a San Diego brewery for those that don’t know), but made it look like they scratched out BP’s name on the label after BP got sold to a large company.

Unfortunatley being somewhat hops intolerant/sensitive, I can’t drink IPAs (which the joint brew was, it would have been cool to have a Glasgow/San Diego beer), and just about every bar around here serves 20 IPAs and 5 non-IPAs.

[Wareyin]

Brewdog had a television show for a couple years, called Brewdog (oddly enough). They traveled mostly American areas, brewing one off beers at each location. It was a pretty fun show, although how they made the sour beer they brewed with Jim Koch (Of Samuel Adams brewery) still haunts me.

They currently have a brewery in Columbus Ohio, so a lot of their beers are available in the midwest. I've only tried one, Punk IPA, and that was 5 years ago or so. I wasn't a fan at the time.

[Richrail]

We visited Brewdog's in Aberdeen and Stirling.

[Tomo]

Clearly facebook's listening post is working as this appeared in my newsfeed today.

11 Things You Should Know About BrewDog: https://vinepair.com/articles/brewdo...MdaD6tGoFCPkXA

[Scooter]

I ran across Brewdog while in Glasgow, and my wife and I love it. We found that they opened a brewery in Columbus, Ohio. It is a nice IPA, but still difficult (for me) to find in the US. Slàinte!

[Hirsty]

I knew these lads when they first started out. They used to drop off casks to our brewery for beer festivals. They were not interested in engaging with others in the trade who had been around for a while - not cool enough, not American craft enough. So we never really spoke much after that.
Not a falling out, just they thought of themselves as superior.
They made a lot of money by copying Stone's business model and using a not dissimilar marketing strategy.
Their beer is good most of the time but can be hit or miss. Their bars serve some good guest beers that are hard to source otherwise in Scotland.
They have three current brewing locations - Ellon Scotland, Berlin Germany, and Columbus OH. The one in Australia has been put on hold due to the purchase of the Berlin property from Stone.
Personally, I would recommend, if you want US style craft beers, purchase from US breweries. If you want classic Scottish style beers, I can recommend several in Scotland and a fantastic one in Colorado ;-)