Boggle Sips The Kool-Aid...

I'd been meaning to get along and have a beer at Brewdog Camden so, on a sultry afternoon, I made my way over to boho Camden Town to check it out.

The place was deliciously air-conditioned as I walked in, with a few small groups of lunchtime hipsters dotted about, and a customer at the bar chatting to the barmaid. The place is branded top to bottom, and a small TV plays video of the zany BD antics on a loop on a fridge behind the bar. Not unlike one of Orwell's telescreens. Some beer books are dotted about for the customers to peruse, and there are board games.

The barmaid broke off from her chat to introduce me to the Brewdog Experience, which goes along the lines of, have you been here before, have you had Brewdog beers, etc. I hadn't and I had, so we got on with getting a pint. She was knowledgeable about the state of play with the beers, and open about who was brewing what these days - I opted for some Meantime-brewed Zeitgeist, a which seems to have given Meantime some problems. This pint was pretty good, maybe a bit hoppier than I remember.

I took my beer and plopped down on a stool facing the telescreen. The bloke from the bar sat down a few stools away and got a conversation started. He's about my age, but decided fairly recently that he liked beer, and was just getting his feet wet around the London scene. He was toting a copy of 'Man Walks Into A Pub' and had picked up this week's freebie Shortlist magazine, containing an article by Peter Brown (?) on the rise of craft beer. His particular interest seemed to be in the broadening of the gastro offering in 'craft beer bars' to include proper gelato, so he'd been going around to try and generate discussions with small pubcos and bar operators. Despite his years (a few above the age range Emma Cole at Craft Brighton identifies in the Shortlist piece, thank you very much), he was enthusiastic as a kid about what he was discovering.

He departed and I had another beer, this time a black IPA called Libertine. Single-hopped with Simcoe, it showed off the hop nicely, but the beer lacked a bit of complexity. I'd have liked that hop in an IPA. Sums up Brewdog's beers to me, they just stop short of being very good. The bar, though, was a pleasant place to chill out with a couple of their beers. Staff friendly and helpful, and they know their stuff, and the food got the thumbs-up for value and quality from my erstwhile drinking companion.

I suppose the thing is, with the pleasing expansion of 'craft beer bars' around London, the Brewdog brand is the USP here. I imagine I could have gone to the Crown & Anchor in Brixton Road, or Craft in Clerkenwell, and encountered similarly knowledgeable and enthusiastic staff, but there's no doubting Brewdog's cult-like appeal to a section of beer drinkers. I'd be happy enough to shut out the irritating cacophony that occasionally issues forth from Fraserburgh and come back here to drink more of their beer.

It's also handily-placed for the so-called 214 Bus Crawl, a route which will take you from the Bull at Highgate, to the Southampton Arms, past Camden Brewing in Prince Of Wales Road, and by this place on its way to Liverpool Street.

I walked out of the place and back into the stultifying heat.

They tell me the second London bar will be in Shoreditch.

Who Killed Bambi?

At 1910 hours on 30 January, in his response to Melissa Cole's criticism of his views on the unfriendly British brewing scene as published in the beer book authored by Matt Allyn and Greg (Stone CEO) Koch, James Watt from Brewdog followed up some initial comments and an exchange with Kristy McCready of Molson Coors and Sharps head brewer Stuart Howe, thus:

I would rather quit beer than work for an evil multinational, faceless, generic corporation pedalling insipid liquid cardboard like MC.

Good luck with that. However, you should realise, that by working for them, you have zero craft beer credibility whatsoever. That must suck. I would almost be sorry for you if you were not so mean about BrewDog. Jealous? probably.

Still I guess for some people being paid well and comfortable beats putting absolutely everything on the line for something they believe in.

Oh and Mr Howe, as for the fact that we don't make great beer, how many World Beer Cup Gold Medals do you have? We have 2. Are you on the ratebeer top 100 list? Thought not. And we also don't work for Satan.

"Craft beer credibility"? Eh? What's that? James appears to know, and so presumably there's a list somewhere at Brewdog. If you want to know if you're credible, write to James, c/o 'Craft Beer', 15 Credibility Street.

Or maybe you shouldn't ask him. As sometimes happens, you turn over a few rocks, and things look different. Like the fact that under their old distribution deal in the US, their beers were distributed around New York by the same distributor as Budweiser's. Not the one brewed by cool and plucky Czechs, the other one. The evil, multinational, faceless, generic corporate one. These days Brewdog in the US is handled by Anchor Brewers & Distillers, but for all I know, they're still using AB-I's distributors. How many 'credibility points' would that cost them? If Molson Coors is Satan, what is AB-I? Come to that, what about the Big Four supermarkets? Are they on the credibility radar?

I know this whole idea of what 'craft beer' is bamboozles and annoys beer lovers as parts of the blogosphere struggle with trying to define it. But really, 'credibility'? We might as well just call it all beer and find something else shiny to look at. It really does smack of a bunch of indie kids comparing bands. Does being recognised by the ticker fanboys of Ratebeer and Beer Advocate mean anything? Maybe James can foresee the day when the fanboys turn on Brewdog and accuse them of selling out by becoming too big and popular. Somehow right now, they're pulling off a clever sleight-of-hand by making themselves seem like the small guy being picked on. Or maybe there's something to the idea that they're not all so cool and confident as they make out. I dunno. But in the future I might think twice about using craft beer as a term if there's some kind of unsavoury point-scoring baggage sitting behind it.

Poor Doggies, Bad Carma & A Man Called Goliath...

The Beer Interwebz are alight with the reaction to the news today that BrewDog's proposed Brewery Bar at this year's GBBF has fallen through.

It would appear that a revised final payment deadline for the pitch was approaching, and meantime BrewDog and GBBF organisers, led by Marc 'Goliath' Holmes, were still negotiating over the size of containers and the dispense. The BrewDog blog has the full chronology set out by James, while the comments contain responses to some of the points by Marc Holmes.

It seems that BD were prepared to concede that they could not have their beer in 30 litre 'key kegs' (lined kegs which mean the beer does not come into contact with any 'extraneous gas'), instead 'reluctantly agreeing' to supply beer in 18 gallon casks.

What does seem to be a matter of confusion is the revised deadline for the final payment. BrewDog says they had 'til last Friday per an email from Marc, but the plug was pulled the day before. This hasn't been rebutted convincingly by Marc and Camra. Cue uproar with the Brewdoggies spitting venom over Marc and some Camra stooge called Graeme Gander, and a general monstering of Camra.

A couple of points occur: I believe the Camra Technical Advisory people are now looking at Key kegs, and that some will be set up on the staff bar at GBBF as part of a trial. Further, some of the Czech beers on GBBF are apparently being supplied in key kegs. BrewDog said they were told there would be a lab at Earl's Court . Sounds odd, but perhaps they're monitoring this trial anyway. Marc says it's the container size (BrewDog wanted to use 30 litre kegs, not 50's, before Camra allegedly moved the requirement to kilderkins).

But, Marc says BrewDog was too late. It does sound odd that there was a dialogue all the way along the process which seems to have lapsed right at the point BrewDog were paying their final fees. Indeed, if what BrewDog says is correct, Camra might have pulled the plug ahead of the deadline.

I don't suppose it will be the end of the world for a business that thrives on conflict and tension in order to generate publicity, but it does seem to put Camra on the spot. You would forgive the latter for being cagey about BrewDog given their previous in supplying Camra fests, and they may even be in the right on a technicality, but it does seem a bit fogeyish and prissy to have agreed a deadline extension to a few weeks before the event, then pulled the plug. I wouldn't know if there were people heading to GBBF this year just for the BrewDog bar, but it did signal that Camra's GBBF Committee at least, were keeping an open mind about building a relationship with a brash and outspoken brewery.

Tom Stainer, editor of Camra's What's Brewing and Beer magazine, has tweeted to caution about knee-jerk reactions to this story, but it does seem that Camra need to get their side out quickly and credibly, or take a slagging off.

Arrogant Bastard?

This is Greg Koch, CEO of Stone Brewing, pictured, I am informed, at the National Homebrewers Conference in San Diego last month. And yes, that face on his tee shirt is, erm, Greg Koch.

Greg recently received the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Award for San Diego, and will go forward as a finalist in their national competition. Accepting the award, Greg said,

Receiving this award is a true honor. I’m proud to accept it on behalf of the intense—yet rewarding—work that my business partner Steve Wagner and I have put in over the past 15 years to help unite people who have exquisite taste with craft beers that have the same.

Proud, determined, aspirational. Makes the heart soar. A bit like Bono. A true Mission Statement for the craft beer movement.

Here's another pic...

The picture on the presentation screen appears to be God as envisioned by Terry Gilliam for Monty Python & The Holy Grail. I think those people in the surplices are Stonies (like Moonies) ready for Stonestown, where Kool-aid will not be on the menu. We've had cult beers. Now we have the world's first Beer Cult.

Only kidding. However...

The point of all this is that we know that BrewDog take a great deal of inspiration from Stone in the marketing and promotion of their business. Therefore, I'm offering a prize for the first person to send me photographic evidence of either James Watt or Martin Dickie wearing tee shirts adorned with their own fizzogs. They're at The Rake this evening (flogging shares, I imagine...), so take your camera and be ready. I'll give the first person to send me the goods a bottle of decent beer. Or a beermat. Or something. BrewDog management and staff are encouraged to enter. Especially James and Martin.

Around The World, One Hop At A Time

To the Euston Tap, where BrewDog have commandeered the upstairs area to host a launch of their new limited range of single-hop IPAs. Our host, BrewDog's own south of England Duffman ("oh yeah!") is Tom 'The Cad' Cadden.

The brewery's bold proclamations and often irritating promotional flights of fancy have provoked a well-documented and lengthy sigh of exasperation on the interwebs (Martyn Cornell refers to the latest one here), but I've decided to ignore the bollocks and focus on the beer, which is often very good. So, don't read any more if you want quotes off the labels of the bottled versions - it makes my stomach hurt. In typical BD Newspeak however, the beers are all called "IPA Is Dead", based on a dialled-down to 7.5% Hardcore base, and single-hopped in the kettle and dry-hopped up to 75 IBUs. An interesting technical exercise which aims to showcase the characteristics of each hop. Draw your own conclusions from the name, or ask The Cad.

The Cad attempts the tricky "glass/bottle bottle/glass" trick a la Tommy Cooper; beer in fridge

I said the beers were often very good. I thought these were. The four hops chosen include hop du jour Citra from the US, Nelson Sauvin from New Zealand, Bramling Cross from the UK and Sorachi Ace from Japan.

I'm not going to say too much about the first two, since the hops they're based on have been cropping up in beers from a range of brewers recently. However, having recently sampled Oakham's 4.2% Citra, I thought it worked slightly better in a session strength beer, rather than in a "one and done". Generally though, I like the way these 'new' hops soften the sometimes harsh citrus notes you find with so-called 'C' hops, specially in higher-ABV beers. The Nelson Sauvin imparted huge blackcurrant notes in the mouth as well as the mango and pineapple I tend to find, as well as that 'just-used-cat-litter-tray' aroma on the nose. Lychee and tropical fruit similarly predominate in Citra and both hops were shown off nicely in this package - well-balanced, complex and easy drinking.

The latter two beers were the most interesting. The Bramling gave off huge fresh pine and pepper on the nose - so much so, I thought the bare floor of the pub had recently been stripped. There was a slightly phenolic sweetness in the mouth which seemed to work well with the malts. It woke up memories of one of the Hitachino beers I sampled on draft in New York some years back. The Sorachi Ace hop has been talked about as being too difficult to brew with, but I don't see the problem. This is the first time I've sampled a beer using it, and it lent the beer astonishing complexity. Grassy lemony honey mint green tea sherbet all got offered up, and something else that poked my boyhood memory with a stick every time I took a sip and sloshed it around. This is a beer I'd like to try again.

These beers were from the keg and I didn't find them too cold or over-carbonated. Indeed, the liveliness of the Bramling version helped to open the beer up nicely, I thought. BrewDog are also doing a mixed 4-pack of each beer or single bottles, judging by the Tap's fridges.

Orwell's Sheep

Synchronicity, eh? There's Roger Protz over at Pete Brown's blog, defending CAMRA members against a charge of boorishness, and in his defence, recalling the monstering he took at the hands of the BrewDog BrewPuppies when he criticised the brewer some months back.

Over at BrewDog, James Watt (below, left) posts some footage of a business-themed reality show he took part in last year, and won. I guess the lads must have been between shenanigans. Anyway, with Pavlovian reliability, the Puppies sprang to the job of reminding readers that, like the sheep in Animal Farm, "BrewDog goo-oo-ood, everything else baa-aa-ad!". In this case, James's female partner on the show is the target for their bile. On the BD blog, insults like "stupid cow" and "bint" are offered, one poster mused on how filled with hate he was by her while another wondered how James hadn't killed her. The best is to be found on their Facebook page, where somebody called Andrew posted that he wanted to see an episode where James broke a bottle over her head.

I've met James Watt. He struck me as a thoughtful bloke. Certainly not somebody who would resort to violence or abuse in the face of TV-engineered provocation. Why these dolts would want to see him lose it and attack a woman is beyond me, but then I've wondered how many of them are supposed to be on the big people's interwebs. Emotionally, they're all juveniles.

Greene King, BrewDog, To Collaborate!

Suffolk brewing giant Greene King have announced an exploratory brewing collaboration with wacky Scottish new kid on the block, BrewDog.

James Watt, in naming GK CE Rooney Anand "Honorary Emperor Penguin", said he was thrilled to be able to engage in a new project with the often-derided PLC. When asked how 'punk' this was, he drew comparisons to the legendary boy band, The Sex Pistols, comparing himself to charismatic singer John "Johnny" Rotten, while Mr. Anand was band manager Malcolm McLaren.

Is THIS Rooney Anand?

Mr Anand, dressed as the now-familiar zany penguin,momentarily removed his head to express his delight at the link-up. He said the first beer the brewers would work together on was 'Firpool Ale', a 15% gooseberry ale, aged in thousand-year old port casks recovered from a shipwreck, and then re-seeded with brett, laid down for two years and taken on the Mersey Ferry to replicate sea conditions somewhere.

BrewDog Sinks The Bizzzzzzzzzzzzzz.....

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

















Sink The Bismarck reclaims world's strongest beer title

BrewDog Tokyo*, pt. 94...

Those naughty BrewDog boys have put the latest batch of controversial 18.2% stout Tokyo* up for sale. See here.

Ho hum...

Portman Rules Against BrewDog Tokyo*

A number of websites, including the Morning Advertiser and BBC, carry the breaking news that The Portman Group has ruled that BrewDog's 18.2% Tokyo* breached the Group's code of practice on responsible marketing. This is in response to complaints from Alcohol Concern Scotland, and, as reported extensively in the blogosphere, BrewDog themselves.

Portman are issuing a Retailer Alert asking that the beer should not be sold until the marketing is compliant with the code of practice. With typical BrewDog punk attitude, the brewer has offered to provide Portman with the names and addresses of the small list of outlets which sells the beer.

All of the coverage mentions the subsequent launch of Tactical Nuclear Penguin, the brewers' 32% "uber-imperial stout", which interestingly, attracted relatively subdued coverage from the press, including a quite good piece in the Guardian online. Interestingly, that article mentions that BrewDog had withdrawn Tokyo* as Portman had "banned" it, which jumped the gun on this ruling by about a week, though proved prescient.

I wonder if this could be the end for Tokyo*, though. At a recent 'Meet the Brewer' event at Melissa Cole's LoveBeer@Borough, James Watt said that they were looking at casking some of the beer and selling it alongside the keg version. Time (and a change in the marketing?) will tell.

BrewDog In New York: Epilogue

So, in the last thrilling instalment, BrewDog were featuring in a Wednesday night beer event at the Blind Tiger in New York, which, since I didn't already mention it, is my favourite NYC drinking hole.

I did some asking around, and had a BA secret shopper on the ground. First, from a BT insider...

I think that kind of extreme movement is always fun and jazzy, but what ends up really playing through is the quality, which Brew Dog does have. It is not just big beers for the sake of big beers - there is a real foundation there - heck, the black lager was a hit. That said, at the price point, most of the beers are special adventures for most patrons... some are solid beers with great stories, while others are new dynamics of classic styles.

Looking back over the BT Wednesday events in 2009, I think this is only the second time a European brewer has had a dedicated event. From the comments I picked up, it seems beers like Atlantic IPA got enough attention that the Tiger were keen to give them a play. They also have an importer and distributor network working for them. In NYC, its the same people who distribute Budweiser from AB-Inbev.

So, bars who want to sell BrewDog have some infrastructure to work with. What about the view from the other side of the bar? My man on the ground had a slightly different perspective:

Got [to BT] late, like 7:30. Place wasn't packed like some brewers can accomplish.

The regular Smokehead Imperial Stout fooled me. I got a taste, knowing it could suck, but the tiny sip was ok enough that I got a glass... All plastic and baby diaper.

So the Punk IPA can't suck, right? Wrong. Thin, one-note, no malt to speak of. Got a little better by the time it warmed up to room temp. Still shite.

The Zeitgeist Schwarzbier was appropriately roasty. However, it was inappropriately diacetyl-y. Fortunately, not so laden that it was undrinkable. I'd give it the "gentleman's Meh".

This was the most disappointing "event" this year at the Blind Tiger since Kuhnhenn.

This isn't the exception. US beer drinkers on one forum I read are still leery of BrewDog, especially since the beers are priced at a premium. One noted that "bad reviews across the board = avoid, esp considering they aren't cheap". Atlantic IPA was on sale at the Tiger for $40 a bottle. Unbelievable for a beer that sells at The Rake in London for £12, even through the US distribution system BrewDog says tripped them up when they first started shipping Stateside.

There's a piece about the brewery from last weekends' Sunday Times. It seems their new 'A' shareholders are on-board to help with breaking the US market. I wonder though, while problems of pricing and quality scare beer drinkers off and BrewDog don't have an Aunt Sally to shy at like they do here (all other 'boring' microbrewers, CAMRA, Portman Group) to differentiate their brand, how do they fix this?

I might be inferring a lot from one night in one bar in one city. However, it seems to me that at some point BrewDog will have to abandon their po-mo pranksterism and concentrate on brewing consistent, quality beers for all their markets.

BrewDog will be at LoveBeer@Borough next Saturday, 21st November, for another 'Meet The Brewer' event. Tickets are selling fast, so they tell me...

New York, New York - If BrewDog Can Make It There..?

A lot has been written about BrewDog over the past few days and weeks. The equityforpunks announcement and then the revelation (press release?) that they themselves made a complaint to The Portman Group about Tokyo* has garnered them a lot of attention, mostly unfriendly.

Another big day looms up today. New York City beer bar, the Blind Tiger, is hosting a BrewDog night. This extract from co-owner Alan Jestice's email, sets the scene...

Now we have all heard the hype but it is time to walk the walk with Brew Dog. This cutting edge Scottish brewery is a true member of the craft beer movement. We are lucky enough at the Tiger to have a handful of their kegs (and casks), to let you all join in this Scottish revolution.

Join us this Wednesday Nov. 11th at 4:00PM, as we host Brew Dog at the Blind Tiger.

The brewer also featured at the recent third anniversary weekend at Hamilton's Tavern in San Diego, with casks of Hardcore and Smokehead, and the 'other' keg of Tokyo* (renamed 'Tokio' for the US) on offer.

James Watt recently gave an interview to US-based beer website thefullpint.com. Apart from the comments about the UK craft scene and CAMRA (presumably offered for less well-informed US consumer digestion), he is quite candid in responding to questioning about prices and quality of BrewDog beers in the US. So, my question is this. Is this a relaunch of the brand to recover ground lost due to high price and poor beer? Or part of a business plan to launch draft BrewDog and get on the fonts of influential beer outlets across the 25 states their beer is available?

A look around beer rating websites suggests the former and indicates the extent of the problem with price and quality. The $30-35 price point for Atlantic IPA, though extreme, is mocked, while $12-14 for Punk wasn't uncommon. Meanwhile, many craft beer lovers appear from anecdotal evidence to be gunshy of the brand after paying over the odds one too many times for beer in deteriorated or less-than-ideal condition. It's a price-sensitive market and they question why they should pay for the label if they can drink better from local brewers.

A glance at the equityforpunks prospectus shows the importance of this market to BrewDog in terms of sales, with about a fifth to a quarter of their business coming from here, and with their professed ethos and inspiration tying them so closely to the US craft beer scene, I wonder if, as Alan Jestice remarks, their beer will indeed "walk the walk". Or, will the brand sink beneath the gaze of smart and savvy craft beer lovers who can pick and choose from a remarkable choice of American-made brew?

My spies on the ground will hopefully have some feedback in the next day or so...