Brewdog. Mediocre beer, great marketing, shitty company.

I love hops. Cans can work. Being able to buy reasonable beer everywhere now is great. Suck it up.

I know nothing about the politics of this company, but I do know beer…

I think it’s pretty damn fine, distinctive taste, I like the Elvis Juice best and the misses is a big fan of the Vagabond gluten free stuff.

I do like very hoppy beers though, I usually tend toward the American craft stuff as I find British beers a bit dull – Brewdog has been welcome addition to the local Booths

IPA in cans is for hipsters. You have to have a beard, tattoos and a skin fade to drink them.

Slagging people off for liking a particular beer is for bellends
You need to be bitter, opinionated and full of your own self importance to bother.

I love hops. Cans can work. Being able to buy reasonable beer everywhere now is great. Suck it up.

This. My dad tells stories of how in the 70s it became near impossible to buy a decent pint in a pub, with choice often limited to Watney’s red barrel. CAMRA did sterling work in getting pubs to sell good cask ale, and the more recent craft ale movement has widened choice and opened up the market. The choice of decent beer in an off licence or supermarket is quite staggering compared to what we had twenty years ago. Brew Dog is partly responsible for that, makes good beer, and gets a slagging because they’ve committed the crime of being successful.

I look at this way, i grew up in Portsmouth, had my first pint in a pub in 1989, the choice was two piss-weak lagers, a strong lager and if the pub was exotic and well stocked, maybe Guinness or Newcastle Brown.

It was not until in went to Uni in York and there were real pubs with hand pull real ales that i realised beer can have a variety of flavours and can be interesting and not just ice cold Fosters.

Whilst people criticise Brew Dog, yes they are aiming for world domination and yes they aren’t really a small “craft” brewery anymore and the beer they sell in supermarkets has had recipe changed (i’ve been told often uses cheaper specific hops than the ones in the original recipes), what they have done is shown that you can be a success story and a proper business and make interesting often small batch beers, this has led to hundreds of smaller craft breweries popping up and a variety of beers in taste, ABV and type that we’ve never seen before.

At the weekend i had a 13% Imperial coffee stout, a 9% DIPA, a Saison and others and they all tasted a lot better than that pissy pint of Fosters, so i for one are glad the direction beer is going in.

I know nothing about Brew Dog, but I like beer.

Doom Bar, Butty Bach, HPA are current favourites.

What Brew Dog Brew for me?

Plenty of choice in decent beer which tastes better than Fosters* which isn’t “craft beer” and nothing to do with anything BD has done to the market. I was certainly drinking good beer regularly way before 2007, and whilst it wasn’t in every pub, neither was there a problem finding a pub with a decent selection. I don’t think you can put the revival of good beer down to BD – their part in the movement has been fairly insignificant.

* arguably that’s every single other beer

What’s a skin fade?

Is it something to do wit Michael Jackson

mrmonkfinger if you like Doom Bar, there is not a single Punk beer for you.
My first time in the one in Brum I asked which is the ‘normal’ beer. Can you imagine the look on the bar persons face? You might be mistaken for thinking I’d asked if I could take a shit in her pocket.
Anyway they go from beers I can manage one pint of, to the undrinkable in their hoppiness.
It was like traveling across the states 10 years ago, every craft ale was hoppy.
Can’t ever imagine having a session with them.
Surely the real craft is making beer around 3.8- 4.2% that is tasty. I would guess any fool could chuck in loads of hops and call it craft.

Surely the real craft is making beer around 3.8- 4.2% that is tasty. I would guess any fool could chuck in loads of hops and call it craft.

A good, traditional style, 4% English bitter is very simple to make.

However, getting a very bitter, heavily hopped ale to taste “right” is much more difficult. It’s not just a matter of chucking a load of hops in.

Plenty of choice in decent beer which tastes better than Fosters* which isn’t “craft beer” and nothing to do with anything BD has done to the market. I was certainly drinking good beer regularly way before 2007, and whilst it wasn’t in every pub, neither was there a problem finding a pub with a decent selection. I don’t think you can put the revival of good beer down to BD – their part in the movement has been fairly insignificant.

* arguably that’s every single other beer

Not what i said though was it? What i said was that Brewdog in existing, has helped (not the sole reason for) lots of smaller breweries popping up making interesting beer and thinking that there is actually a market for it and that it can be a viable business.

Personally i’m not really a fan of Brewdog beers except Elvis Juice and a few others, but what they have added to, not created, is probably the greatest time for UK beer, whether that be keg, cask, bottled or canned.

In addition, many “drinkers” pub were dying on their ar*e, any bar that promises a wide selection of beers and brings people to spend money in our city centres instead of drinking a four-pack from Tesco at home is a good thing.

Given that they’re about twice the cost (is that “reassuringly expensive”?) of what I usually drink, perhaps I’ll give them a swerve.

What you did say was that it was better than Fosters, as if it was only craft beers which were. I was just pointing out that better than Fosters isn’t a particularly useful yardstick, and that you didn’t have to wait until 2007 to manage that.

If you wanted to suggest it was better than more traditional real ale then that might be a useful argument, though I reckon you’d have a fight on your hands. Of course traditional real ale probably includes my local brewery http://www.stgeorgesbrewery.co.uk which has been going a lot longer than BD, yet is still far smaller scale (and I don’t think they have any ambitions to get much bigger). I’m sure there are similar examples local to most people on here which have nothing to do with the influence of BD and most of which were founded before BD. Because BD hasn’t even had much influence on the trend for small local traditional breweries.

What it probably has encouraged is the “craft beer” market – but as I pointed out before, beer doesn’t have to be “craft” to be good. Just my personal opinion (though I suspect it is shared by many on here and elsewhere), but I’d far rather have a pint of St George’s than something overhopped with high ABV (which you need to take out a mortgage to buy). Sure there is a market for such beers, but it’s still a small part even of the “real ale” market and you certainly can’t put the revival of proper beer down to it.

a few years back the only decent beers in the supermarkets were the “ales” which were usually bought by Hawkwind fans with questionable personal hygiene.

If I can go in to Asda and pick up a couple of fancy beers with hip labels then great, i judge books by the cover all the time

AM not reading all that

I agree with the OP.. there are many very good Micro/Mini brewers out there who are being very creative and coming out with some excellent tasting beer.
Porters, Stouts, IPAs, Session ales they are all covered.

I won a case of 18 tins of John Smiths at Christmas(3 years ago).. they are still sat in my garage .. free to a good home..

Not only by their covers, but also by who else is reading them apparently.

If you wanted to suggest it was better than more traditional real ale then that might be a useful argument, though I reckon you’d have a fight on your hands. Of course traditional real ale probably includes my local brewery http://www.stgeorgesbrewery.co.uk which has been going a lot longer than BD, yet is still far smaller scale (and I don’t think they have any ambitions to get much bigger). I’m sure there are similar examples local to most people on here which have nothing to do with the influence of BD and most of which were founded before BD. Because BD hasn’t even had much influence on the trend for small local traditional breweries.

What it probably has encouraged is the “craft beer” market – but as I pointed out before, beer doesn’t have to be “craft” to be good. Just my personal opinion (though I suspect it is shared by many on here and elsewhere), but I’d far rather have a pint of St George’s than something overhopped with high ABV (which you need to take out a mortgage to buy). Sure there is a market for such beers, but it’s still a small part even of the “real ale” market and you certainly can’t put the revival of proper beer down to it.

As i stated:
“……….is probably the greatest time for UK beer, whether that be keg, cask, bottled or canned.”

I wasn’t disagreeing with you, i was stating it is the best time currently for UK beer, whether that be “real” or “craft” ales, as i say i grew where there was nothing except lager and Guinness and to discover the selection of real ales when i moved to York was a real-opener.

I’m not against any type of beer, i’m all for choice, as for some craft beers being expensive, you’re right some are, but they often use more expensive ingredients and have much shorter shelf lives.

I am lucky enough to now live in Norfolk (for beer, not bikes) some great local pubs and apparently more breweries than any other county, i have a good relationship to the brewery (brewing great real ales) Beeston Brewery and i brew my own beer to, i’m not one of the geeks that goes mad with all the tasting notes, but i do like to try lots of styles of beer and enjoy the chemistry/ brewing behind it

Are you looking at my overpriced 330ml tin of craft ale?

mrmonkfinger – Member

I know nothing about Brew Dog, but I like beer.

Doom Bar, Butty Bach, HPA are current favourites.

What Brew Dog Brew for me?

well, its a safe bet to start with their ‘Dead Pony Club’ which is 3.8% iirc. Very nice session style ale and a good in to their product- which contrary to alot of the opinion above- i really like. Punk IPA is also good with a little more citrus Bitterness but not overly so like some US ipa’s that are very bitter. That tends to be the one most go for due to its average ABV (5%) and accessibility in supermarkets. From there there’s a huge variety. A personal fave of mine is Elvis Juice which has a grapefruit flavour. Very nice.

Id also recommend trying one of their bars if you can. Some bores seem to equate a bar that doesn’t have wood panelling and a juke box with ‘pretentiousness’ but that is a load of bollocks reflecting the type of anus who parks in disabled spaces/books anniversary meals at a Jamie Oliver/wears cargo shorts etc etc… (that’s a joke btw calm down) The staff are knowledgeable and are happy to let you try all beers on draft before committing.

I’m from Aberdeen and saw the effect Brewdog (their flagship bar is in the city- one of two) had on the extremely tired ‘auld manny’ and chain winebar shitholes that were/are ten a penny. There are now several independent bars and breweries in the city and beyond which has been great for the pissheads among us. I see them as a positive force. Some others as this thread would suggest, have something against the company which is- in my opinion- odd and sad. However, some genuinely think the beer is not very good, so its all subjective of course. They certainly should have at least one beer you’d like.

I’m not against any type of beer, i’m all for choice, as for some craft beers being expensive, you’re right some are, but they often use more expensive ingredients and have much shorter shelf lives.

Not sure why this would be . Hops aid shelf life, more hops generally means longer shelf life in cask/draught beer. If its packaged ( bottle – can ) then it makes no difference. That is down to how clean the brewery is, and how its preserved ( filter or pasturised )

You can hide a multitude of sins behind a large hop bill. EG , Diactyl is an off buttery flavour , you wont find in a 60ibu IPA , but in a 20IBU Best Bitter if you have a few mg’s it will show through. Ditto DMS, some VDK flavours simply get overpowered by the hop alpha acid and heavy aromas .

Not sure why this would be . Hops aid shelf life, more hops generally means longer shelf life in cask/draught beer. If its packaged ( bottle – can ) then it makes no difference. That is down to how clean the brewery is, and how its preserved ( filter or pasturised )

You can hide a multitude of sins behind a large hop bill. EG , Diactyl is an off buttery flavour , you wont find in a 60ibu IPA , but in a 20IBU Best Bitter if you have a few mg’s it will show through. Ditto DMS, some VDK flavours simply get overpowered by the hop alpha acid and heavy aromas .

Whilst i understand what you are saying, many of the large IPA and Pale Ales and other hop heavy/ citrus tasting beers, you can taste the same beer fresh, at a month post brewing and 3 months post brew and the tastes definitely change, the hops often lose their potency and taste changes. Whereas many of the big imperial stouts/ darker Belgian style beers, definitely improve with age so to state once packaged in bottle/can, flavours can’t change, whilst i understand that being hop heavy aids longer shelf life (why IPA came about), many of the fresh fruity/ hoppy beers definitely don’t age well in taste even if they are safe to drink for years.

It is often interesting to taste on the big IPA’s at a month post-brewing and then a year after, sometimes the flavours have mellowed for the better.