A Visit to Brewdog

I was invited to the Brewdog brewery recently along with a number of other beer writers for a media day. I had actually been invited to go last year in August but I couldn't make it at the time.

In the European craft beer world, Brewdog is big. They have grown to be a similar size to many regional UK breweries though perhaps not as big as the the large American craft breweries like Sierra Nevada or Samuel Adams. The most impressive thing about them isn't how big they are now, it's how quickly they have grown. There's may be a correlation between the rise of craft beer in the UK and the rise of Brewdog. I would say that while the craft beer scene in the UK would have happened anyway, I reckon Brewdog played a role in making it as big as it is. People talk about Brewdog, perhaps not always in a positive light but the point is, they are talked about. Kegged beer in particular got a lot of media attention as a result of the numerous Brewdog PR stunts.

Perhaps the most impressive thing about Brewdog is their equity for punks scheme. This is one of the reasons they have become so big. There are many perks to being a Brewdog punk, especially if you have a Brewdog bar near you. Dublin doesn't have one, at least not yet. I have it on good authority that it's on the list though. One of the things Brewdog says on their prospectus (page 23) is: 

IF WE RECEIVE MORE THAN 200 NEW EQUITY PUNK INVESTORS FROM A TOWN OR CITY WHERE WE DON’T CURRENTLY HAVE A BREWDOG BAR, WE WILL ENDEAVOUR TO OPEN ONE THERE WITHIN 12 MONTHS.

If enough people in Dublin sign up as an equity punk, it might help speed up the process. Looking at the little chart now, Ireland is in green which means we have between 50 and 99 equity punks. Actually, I just joined up a few minutes ago so that might help.

Brewdog has a referral program so I contacted a friend I knew to have shares and got his code. I think you get some free beer after 5 referrals and they then stack with other rewards as they increase. The top one is 40 referrals where you get an all expenses paid trip to the brewery and brew a beer and stuff like that. There's a chart on the site that shows that 1st place so far is someone with 26 referrals so there's a bit to go for that guy but it seems achievable.

Now that I have become an equity punk, I have my own referral code. If you are thinking of investing, make sure to get a referral code from someone you know so everyone benefits. Or just use mine if you like prefer.

R080121

I almost feel dirty posting it but that's what the code is for, for sharing and growing the community. Let's get a bar in Dublin! You know you want one.

Brewdog has a tiny Sabco pilot kit for doing testing and also inviting the public to brew one off batches. They might even bring it to a brewdog bar for a brewday if you ask nicely from what I can tell. It's a 50 litre kit so enough for a single keg of beer at your local brewdog bar.

This is the real pilot kit and it's as big as many microbrewery kits I have seen and bigger than many in Ireland. This pales in comparison to the size of the main brewery though.

The image above might look like a pile of fudge but it's actually mash run off. The day before our media day, a few beer writers were brewing on the main pilot kit. You can just see Matthew Curtis in the image above. He and Adrian Tierney Jones along with The Craft Beer Channel were there to brew a peach and apricot tripel. The initial mash didn't go quite according to plan as you can see from the fudge run off but that was sorted out with a second mash.

 We were also brought down the road to their barrel warehouse where we had a tasting direct out of some of the barrels. Most of these are simply ageing with no end goal in mind. The guys will decide to do something with them as time goes on. Some might be blended, others released as special batches. It's a very impressive sight.

I brought a shiny new can of dead pony club across the road with me. It looks a little out of place on the barrel but it made a great palate cleanser in between the barrel aged beers we were trying. The can of dead pony club is one of the first off their new canning machine. This will also see 500ml cans of punk IPA being released soon.

Fresh off the line, not even released yet.

Another first was the new born to die. An 8.5% DIPA with a short date on it. You drink it before that date which in this case is the 4th of July. You don't get fresher than a bottle lifted off the bottling line and it is delicious.

I put together a couple of videos of the brewery. The first one is a general look at the brewery, especially the packaging machinery and the second is an interview session with James and Martin where we just asked a bunch of questions over a beer tasting session.

Feel free to take a look. Apologies for any camera shake, I didn't have a tripod with me.

You can also take a look at all of my images on my Flickr page. Here's a direct link to the Brewdog images.

This short video contains a look at the brewery and specifically their bottling and canning line. It's fascinating to see it in action.

This much longer video is just a questions and answers session with James and Martin. It might be of interest to some.

A big thanks to Brewdog for arranging the media visit. It was a lot of fun and at the end of the day, James and Martin are really nice guys who just love making the best beer that they can.