What would you ask Brewdog?

[Jim]

If they do to beer what punks did to music in the 80s, god help us all.

[mysterio]

If they do to beer what punks did to music in the 80s, god help us all.

Jim says while hiding the studded leather jacket, tartan trousers & hair dye in his cupboard

[Jim]

If they do to beer what punks did to music in the 80s, god help us all.

Jim says while hiding the studded leather jacket, tartan trousers & hair dye in his cupboard

Sadly, punk was after my time.

[Stonechat]

If they do to beer what punks did to music in the 80s, god help us all.

Jim says while hiding the studded leather jacket, tartan trousers & hair dye in his cupboard

Sadly, punk was after my time.

Shouldn't the "Sadly" be "Thankfully"?

[Stoutman]

I only just read about BrewDog the other week, and I was interested to see what they're all about. Is there a lot of resentment for them or?? They do look a bit over the top perhaps, with all the hoo-haa about, well not a lot really.

Am I right in saying that (not having drunk any BrewDog beer I might be wrong), they are really only playing around with the abv and ibu's and saying theyr'e re-inventing the wheel?

[Horatio]

Am I right in saying that (not having drunk any BrewDog beer I might be wrong), they are really only playing around with the abv and ibu's and saying theyr'e re-inventing the wheel?

I think you absolutely bang on there Stoutman!

I have tried the Punk IPA and didnt like it at all; I also found all the hype on the bottle very arrogant and annoying. I don't like the website and am not inclined to try any of the other beers (maybe to my loss?) but hats of to them for the way they generate publicity!

Also, being an old punk, I laugh at their self appointed punkness! They are not real punks the same as most people who call themselves punks are not either; but that is an entirely different debate

Good luck to them and all that they brew; diversity makes the world a far more interesting place. Boundaries are there to be broken.

[mysterio]

Am I right in saying that (not having drunk any BrewDog beer I might be wrong), they are really only playing around with the abv and ibu's and saying theyr'e re-inventing the wheel?

The marketing winds some people up, it's bound to, but they have good beer to back it up IMO. I don't drink marketing and I still reckon they produce some of the best beer on the supermarket shelf. They also don't sterile filter or pasteurise their beer which helps to a degree.

[lancsSteve]

The Punk IPA seemed very American to me (maybe that's punk - like the pistols being a bit like the new york dolls and ramones?) but refreshingly different for a UK bottled beer - reminded me of the appearance and brashness and sharp (over?) hoppiness of a fair few IPAs in brewpubs I tried in NY and Vermont earlier in the year.

I've heard to oak aged porter is superb.

Not the best beers I've ever had but they do stand out from most others on the shelves and are distinctive unlike the run-of-the-mill 'MO + crystal + fuggles + vague sense of disappointment' that seems to be the middle ground of most other bottled ales, which are good but very few zing or make you go 'ooooh that's different', same goes for the packaging and marketing IMHO - little else in the real ale world stands out much less shouts.

On a tangent:
I think this is something that homebrewing insulates us from - we're free to experiment and throw caution to the wind (though I don't think many do) and try something new and far out, very few commercials will or can risk that. It's a pity we don't have more brewpubs as they do in the states that experiment - a chain of independent firkin-style pubs all with a 'standard' best and IPA and then a rotating alternative for just that pub would be great... What I'd REALLY would be something that with an annual home/craftbrew recipe competition and then have the winner upscaled and made on their equipment and sold as a post-comp special...

WOnder if brewdog would consider that - equity for punks and now recipes for punks...

[KevP]

If they do to beer what punks did to music in the 80s, god help us all.

Jim says while hiding the studded leather jacket, tartan trousers & hair dye in his cupboard

Sadly, punk was after my time.

He's not wrong!

[KevP]

I, personally, do not like their trying to make real ale look hip and trendy, I couldn't give a rats arse if the 'yoofs' in the street got a taste for it instead of $tella or Magners, I am happy to be in a minority.
I remember a good 20 years ago when, in a pub ordering a round it ould be " 4 lagers and a pint of whippet p!ss for me mate" I was a pariah back then, now its trendy? Give me a break.

[Invalid Stout]

I, personally, do not like their trying to make real ale look hip and trendy, I couldn't give a rats arse if the 'yoofs' in the street got a taste for it instead of $tella or Magners, I am happy to be in a minority.

I don't think it's Stella or Magners drinkers picking up BrewDog. Anecdotal evidence from amongst my acquaintances suggests it's people who would otherwise drink things like Leffe/Krusovice/Erdinger but have not been attracted to other real ales.

Apart from that, what Mysterio said — the beer is good and I don't pay any attention to the marketing.

[Stoat on a rope]

Apart from that, what Mysterio said — the beer is good and I don't pay any attention to the marketing.

Likewise. They are over the top, but for me it doesn't change the taste of the beer.

[leigh1919]

I know its late, but how about asking them when they intend to brew a beer below 20% abv? Because that would make refreshing change.

Punk IPA. 6%.

Sorry - coulndt find the 'sarcasm' emoticon...i'll try better next time.

[TC2642]

I either love or hate brewdog's stuff. The punk IPA is excellent, just what I want from an IPA but some of their other stuff like paradox, their oak aged imperial stout, was ok but it costs four f*cking pounds a bottle, so that's a fail. Their dogma IPA just had too much stuff in it.

But they are doing something new and I quite like the marketing, the very fact that it has people talking about it means it's working and I do get rather tired of the usual safe bottle labelling that a lot of breweries go in for and as already mentioned on here the usual bitters that you find in them.

[Stoat on a rope]

ok im back from my weekend and i bring lots of goodies!

mainly, the hops change quite a lot, as do the recipes. hops are dictated by supply as we suspected, but thay generally stay the same.

to the hops listed on the website for punk ipa, you can add simcoe. they have recently changed how they add the hops for the punk, but its chinook and ahtanum at the start of the boil, then after 30 mins the same again, then when the boil is switched off a mix of chinook, ahtanum, N S and simcoe go in for 30 mins and for the last 10 mins those 4 go in again!

they have a few beers that they are experimenting with, some stuff if i told you i would have to kill you but you will see it in the shops befor long. i can say however that i tasted the barley wine that they had stuck fermentation on a while back and its pretty good, its called divine rebel. they are also perfecting a respberry beer at the moment but its in casks right now so i could get a taste. they also have a couple of black ales on the go, one of which is being dry hopped and will be delicious as soon as they manage to filter the damn thing (i spent alot of time today back flushing the filter so im sure gonna appreciate it when im sipping on it!).

all in all it was an awesome weekend, worked with some really genuine guys and i will be definitly going back to help out more. i left with a lot of respect for the guys who work there, and after seeing the effort that goes into each brew il never think their beer is pricy again.

il have a look over my notes and see what else i found that could be of interest, but for now im going to enjoy my nice cool bottle of Brewdog Chaos Theory

oh and i asked about roger protz, they are a bit disappointed about the recent problems as he gave them a lot of support in the early days, and i think they would quite like to patch things up with him!