Brewdog
Drama: Cole Calls Out Brewdog
Like a little drama in your afternoon? UK beer writer Melissa Cole has some not so nice things to say about the peeps over at Brewdog. Apparently she was reading Greg Koch & Matt Alyn’s book The Brewer’s Apprentice. A Brewdog quote about the UK brewing scene seemed to strike a nerve. James Watt is quoted in the book as being “closed off.”
What I will say is this though: this is utter, utter rubbish and I would implore you not to listen to it. The UK brewing industry is not only booming and forward-thinking, it is also fabulously friendly and I feel, quite strongly, that BrewDog owes the industry as a whole a bloody enormous apology.
Brewdog seems to piss people off fairly easily. Even a few years later. Familiar with the UK brewing scene? What do you think? [GirlsGuideToBeer via @ShotByKim]
UPDATE: James Watt (Brewdog) Responds on her blog:
So Melissa, my comments are borne from experience working within the industry, not writing about it. And they are based on things which have actually happened to us.
If the UK Brewing industry is so open and friendly, why did a bunch of SIBA (over 10 UK Brewers) members put together a dossier to a Scottish journalist outlining that we fabricate our sales figures and performance in 2010? (By the way we don’t. We are a fully audited plc.) Is this ‘fabulously friendly’? Full story here http://www.brewdog.com/blog-article/281
Why, when we started back in 2007 and I called the MD of Orkney Brewery (Norman Sinclair) did he refuse to tell me who he bought bottles from by firstly claiming he forgot and then secondly he could not check because he lost all the bottle invoices?
Why did Dougal Sharp (Innis & Gunn) say to the Scotsman “it is widely known their sales are not as they claim yet they have gone out of their way to falsify and mislead the press.” Open and friendly?
No doubt there are some great friendly open brewers in the UK, but overall (and I am speaking in terms of our own experience and not generalities here) they are much more closed than our US comrades. We get on really well with Kernel, Dark Star, Lovibonds, Williams Brothers, Thornbridge, Hardknott, Camden, Magic Rock and others. And we are really happy to be part of this hardcore group which is changing the UK beer scene. However, the old guard of the UK brewing scene have been incredibly closed and perhaps threatened by change. And I think it was fair to make this comment I did in print and stand by it.
Oh and Kirsty, you work for Molsen Coors. Why would Martin want to discuss craft beer with you? Everything Molsen Coors stands for, represents and perpetrates is what is bad about beer in the UK.
A Look At Brewdog’s In Your Face 2012 Specials
Brewdog is offering a sneak peek at a few brews coming your way in 2012. Kicking things off:
Libertine Porter -February.
A dry hopped aggressive porter. A rock n’ roll take on a classic beer style. Decloaked and radically reinvisaged, BrewDog’s Libertine Porter is a 5.9% union of one ancient recipe and an
avalanche of cross continental hop varieties. All resulting in an irreverent, devil may care rollercoaster of a porter. Oh and did we mention it was hoppy?
Anarchist Alchemist – March 2012
Anarchist / Alchemist – Fuck the system.
Forget what you know. What has been. Bow to no one. History is bereft. Reorder. Disorder. Embrace the unknown. The groundbreaking. The challenging. The ichorous revolution is upon us. Try until your fingers bleed and your mind is numb.Try harder. Try this. Try that. Try the other. Try what hasn’t been tried. Then try again. Keep trying. Forge the new. The molten elixir awakens. A 16.5% IPA Evolution. Taking our favourite beer style to the next level, Anarchist Alchemist is a triple dry hopped triple IPA. Did not think triple IPAs existed? Neither did we. So we brewed one.
IPA is Dead 2012 – March
A 4 pack of 4 hop varieties. Each a single hop bomb of flavor. Each IPA contains the same malt backbone and is brewed to be 75 IBU and is enthusiastically kettle hopped and massively dry hopped. To appreciate the true character, flavour, power and aroma of our favourite hops you need them in their purest, undiluted form. Can you say you’ve ever experienced 100% pure hop awesomeness? IPA is Dead is brewed and bottled to do just that.
The offerings – HBC – American prototype hop, Galaxy – Australian Hop, Challenger -British hop and Moteuka – New Zealand hops.
Last but not least!
Punk IPA will arrive in 2012 in 22oz bombers too!
Beer School With A Brewdog Brewer
Back to the basics for some of you. Curious as to how beer is made? Here’s the basics with Brewdog brewer Stewart Bowman. It’s as simple as it gets.
Beer School from BrewDog on Vimeo.
Brewdog Makes Adjustments In 2012
Brewdog most certainly has a flair for the dramatic. Fights with CAMRA (English Real Ale fanatics), fights with Germans, beer stuffed in dead animals (or poured through one) and more. The brewery has made some resolutions going into 2012. Focus more on what is IN the glass and not what goes on around it.
Addressing Punk IPA issues:
A few factors have thrown Punk IPA ever so slightly off course. Firstly the new annual harvest of malt has had a massively different fermentation profile to the previous years. This means the beer has been consistently over-attenuating (fermenting too far) resulting in a little less mouth feel and malt flavour, not the intended balance between malt sweetness and hop bitterness, and a little perceived astringency from the slightly higher than intended alcohol. All just tiny things, but together they change the profile of the beer. And it takes a little bit of time to adjust the recipe for the changes in malt. …We have to order hops a year in advance and we ran out of some varieties in November and were missing the awesome Simcoe for a few weeks, a hop which is key to Punk IPA. (We forecasted the hell out of our hops for 2012 and definitely won’t run out again — even with our hopping rates!)
Things to be on the lookout for:
Brewdog, through funds raised through Equity For Punks, is in the process of building a new brewery, and will release an Estate Beer this year.
A new Paradox brew is soon to be released – Paradox Jura.
Trashy Blonde is headed states side soon.
Cranachan Imperial Stout could be an Abstrakt release
Lost Abbey/Brewdog Collaboration will head stateside this year.
Brewdog & Ballast Point created a rum, raisiny collaboration recently also.
and thats just the beginning…
Brewdog 2011 Year In Review
2011 Year End Video from BrewDog on Vimeo.
Brewdog Brewing sums up 2011 in a fun vid. Be sure to check out the 2012 outlook.
Brewdog/Lost Abbey Lost Dog Releasing Soon
The Brewdog/Lost Abbey collaboration – Lost Dog, will be released any day now. This is an imperial porter aged in rum barrels.
Look for it in the Brewdog online store soon, with some headed stateside in early 2012.
We brewed an Imperial Porter, aiming for 10% ABV and using a blend of 7 different malts. In terms of hops, we keep the IBUs modest at 35 and hopped the beer entirely with First Gold. And of course this collaboration just had to be aged in oak.
We settled on some killer rum casks for the Imperial Porter. We only brewed a tiny batch of this beer and intend to age it in the rum barrels for about 12 months. So look out for the Lost Abbey & BrewDog rum barrel aged Imperial Porter coming your way
Vote On Brewdog Prototypes
Brewdog has 4 prototype beers under consideration for their 2012 brew schedule. They are leaving it up to you, the drinker to decide which beer gets brewed.
Blitz! – a 2.8% caramalt only west coast hop bomb.
Scotch Ale – a 7.5% indulgant malty treat combining heather honey and 8 different malts.
Prototype 17 – a 4.1% pale ale with american hops, belgian yeast strain aged with fresh Scottish raspberries.
Hops Kill Nazis – a 7.6% red ale loaded with chinook hops
Head over to their website and cast your vote. [Brewdog]
Also, shares in Equity For Punks are running low, and are available to North American residents.
