tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30743480.post8951556261545073914..comments2023-09-20T12:50:40.208+01:00Comments on Pete Brown: Why I can't get too excited about BrewDog's big 'sell out'Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03011702209832734676noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30743480.post-27218636411376075092017-05-03T14:00:24.274+01:002017-05-03T14:00:24.274+01:00Everyone knows Greg Koch is an ass. He said simila...Everyone knows Greg Koch is an ass. He said similar things then fired his long time and loyal folks. If BrewDog are going that direction, it's troubling for all. Koch sold out and now BrewDog has done the same. No surprise, really...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30743480.post-55414511178458438872017-04-17T18:45:48.536+01:002017-04-17T18:45:48.536+01:00As you say, BrewDog has been around for some 10 ye...As you say, BrewDog has been around for some 10 years or so now. I was around 18 at the time it was beginning to break through and I have to say that at the time I didn't rush to the pub to get involved with the offering of craft beer. But the company did pave the way for more local craft beer in my home town. And that's where I take my hat off to BrewDog.Simonhttp://www.mouldremoving.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30743480.post-74583316970899332412017-04-16T10:02:41.383+01:002017-04-16T10:02:41.383+01:00"If you insist on going by the US definition ..."If you insist on going by the US definition of craft beer, the sold stake is less than the threshold that disqualifies BrewDog from being craft. "<br /><br />And if you listen to James & Martin back in 2013 they sold more than the threshold.<br />https://www.brewdog.com/lowdown/blog/defining-craft-beer<br />(They also opened up this discussion a couple of months ago, but for some strange reason i can't locate this blog entry.)<br /><br />Also note that in "Nailing Our Colours..." they call they buyers of Nøgne Ø "a mega beer corporation".<br />This is Hansa Borg, with a production close to the capacity of BrewDog....<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30743480.post-22195719952975684012017-04-13T04:06:14.680+01:002017-04-13T04:06:14.680+01:00Just so happens you can still read that post here ...Just so happens you can still read that post here if you'd like. Archived. https://web.archive.org/web/20160611171131/https://www.brewdog.com/lowdown/blog/nailing-our-colours-to-the-motherfucking-mast MarkoJamesKellyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01225536992020902506noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30743480.post-89645107270763535312017-04-12T20:19:00.343+01:002017-04-12T20:19:00.343+01:00They had 7,000 people at their AGM this weekend. N...They had 7,000 people at their AGM this weekend. Not a single one of them appeared to take this investment news negatively, preferring to lap up the plans for 20 Brewpubs, expand in Ellon, build breweries in Asia and Australia, and continue to develop in Ohio.<br />They haven't sold their whole business. They'll still make the decisions. And their fans, who are pretty mainstream remember, will continue to love them.<br />He word hypocrisy is only being cried by those who weren't fans in the first place. Like with a lot of things in life at the moment, the most offended appear to be the ones the least involved. Fair play to them I say.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30743480.post-56312395502036103812017-04-12T15:41:47.511+01:002017-04-12T15:41:47.511+01:00Depends what you think craft beer is eh?
A fair n...Depends what you think craft beer is eh?<br /><br />A fair number of producers sell it as much on the basis of it's "values" as any intrinsic feature of the product being better or desirable. Those values may vary between producers but each one tends to be vocal about their own. No more so than Brewdog.<br /><br />When a producer fails to live up to values they previously stated they did, then that's hypocrisy and we then understand the product and company no longer has those values and even question whether they ever did. Those that bought into those values are bound to be annoyed as much as those of us who have long mocked those values are amused.<br /><br />It's on a par with Labour MP's sending their kids to posh private schools whilst making it more difficult for the rest of us to do that. The question ceases to be the actual values or even the merit of those values but the hypocrisy in failing to live up to values you previously publicly advocated.Cooking Lagerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02830924433230427226noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30743480.post-68333978825481179472017-04-12T12:22:25.036+01:002017-04-12T12:22:25.036+01:00Ah right. So if they're 'paying someone...Ah right. So if they're 'paying someone's wages' that makes the crinegeworthy cultural appropriation cash-in OK, yes? What an insufferable Tory boy you are. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30743480.post-88991671259670489742017-04-12T11:15:35.626+01:002017-04-12T11:15:35.626+01:00Punk is dead. But the punks won.
ITYM "Punk ...<i>Punk is dead. But the punks won.</i><br /><br />ITYM "Punk was dead all along, and the irritating blowhards who turned it into a brand while making completely spurious claims to adhere to its values of anti-establishment authenticity are laughing all the way to the bank." People aren't angry with BD because we ever believed they were for real - we're angry because they now look like successful con artists.<br /><br />Also, what happened to <i>nailing our motherfucking colours to the mast</i> by writing into BD's articles of association that they wouldn't sell a single share to a corporate brewer? Oops, sorry, that's a 404. Must never have happened.Philhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07009879034507926661noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30743480.post-70871353769840007292017-04-12T10:48:13.798+01:002017-04-12T10:48:13.798+01:00BrewDog lore is that the brewery started with £200...BrewDog lore is that the brewery started with £200,000 of money borrowed from a bank based only on the strength of their business plan, passion in the beer and conviction of founders. Which is clearly utter nonsense, as anyone who has ever tried to get a startup loan will know. <br /><br />BrewDog has achieved a heck of a lot. They have acted as a catalyst for the changing face of beer in this country by becoming the default gateway hoppy pale ale, and in so doing they have inspired many to start their own breweries and bars. In part this was due to the beer, but the marketing was the real star of the show. Those who were unfamiliar with Stone, and so unaware of BrewDog's almost verbatim plagiarism of the California brewer's schtick, lapped up the sanitised idea of rebellion in beer form, resplendent with expensive stunts involving tanks, freeze-distilled beers and baiting The Portman Group. But behind this, the beer was contract brewed, a large chunk of the company was sold to a private equity house and new arrivals started to make BrewDog look a bit...well...old. BrewDog responded by building a shiny new brewery at great expense, rebranding, rolling out their bar concept and generally pushing the idea that their beer still encapsulated the fight against 'the man'. And the craft beer revolution was over, with a small brewery and a dedicated craft beer bar in every town, not to mention cans of Punk in every Tesco at £1.50 a pop. BrewDog had won. So they did what a lot of companies do in their position - they carried on the 'fight' and in so doing became irony impaired caricatures. They dropped stuffed cats on The City from a helicopter; provided numerous awkward moments on a BBC programme about collaborative hiring; and most recently they sued a pub in Birmingham for their name. (It must be noted that James, a lawyer by training, blamed the company's lawyers, suggesting that people who bill significant sums by the hour just start doing work for their clients without instruction from those clients.) <br /><br />We should not belittle what this company has achieved, both in terms of their product (which is now more consistent, better quality and easier to get hold off than ever) or as a business. However, we should remain realistic about the fundamental disconnect from the outset between the 'punk' rhetoric and the ruthlessly driven business brains behind it. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30743480.post-50315314885288019542017-04-12T10:39:55.201+01:002017-04-12T10:39:55.201+01:00Insofar as they ever had any claim to 'punk...Insofar as they ever had any claim to 'punk' the moment to outraged about hypocrisy (if you're that way inclined) was probably when they started supplying Tesco. That's the one we asked them about when we were working on Brew Britannia and they had no trouble shrugging it off -- "Gets craft beer to more people so surely a good thing?" or words to that effect. As you say, nothing since then has been a startling change of direction.<br /><br />If this recent announcement had been a takeover by AB-InBev, then we might have been a bit surprised, but even then, not that much.<br /><br />(And can someone let Twitter know that the jokes 'Hur hur, so much for being punk!' and 'Ever get the feeling you've been had?' expired in about 2012?)Baileyhttp://boakandbailey.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30743480.post-63918806205245512792017-04-12T09:36:42.943+01:002017-04-12T09:36:42.943+01:00If it hadn't been for the butter ads there wou...If it hadn't been for the butter ads there wouldn't have been the 'This is Pil' album. If there hadn't been that they wouldn't have appeared on Later... If they hadn't appeared on Later I wouldn't have seen them three times live since. Which would be a great pity. So a begrudging thanks from me.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com