Analysis: What’s the deal with Brewdog?

They’ve moved ahead of Carlsberg in the “most hated by the craft beer industry & well-meaning beer nerds” standings and have their own section on the BBC News website.

So, what’s the deal?

It would be remiss of me, when talking about making craft beer accessible, to ignore the juggernaut that is Brewdog. As a name, it represents the entire world of craft beer for the casual pint-necker. Head into any UK supermarket and someone looking to branch out from a 128-pack of Heineken will almost certainly glance at the Brewdog beers on display, know that they aren’t a multi-national conglomerate, see that they are affordable and recognise the logo from a High Street Near Them^TM. Next thing they know, all they do is chug Punk IPA and talk to their friends about the fact they drink edgy beer.

The plain fact is, since their inception in 2007, Brewdog have remained fiercely independent (insofar as they are not owned in any way by the major beverage corporations of the world). They have used a variety of inspired business practices in an only-just teenage lifespan to rise to the top – and then above the top – of the craft beer world, while courting controversy at nearly every turn. This fizzing over has caused consternation – but is it justified? Let’s crack this can open.

Show me the money
Brewdog have heavy investment from corporate money from outside of the beverage industry – that is no secret. This is paired with a façade of being owned by individual beer lovers, whom Brewdog terms “Equity Punks”. Officially, these Punks do have a legal share, but the percentages are so small to be almost irrelevant. However, as a community building tool it is genius and ties into their broader brand, based largely around disruption of the beer industry at large. This is where I believe some of the ill-feeling in the craft circles was first bred: once they disrupted, now they conform but still claim to disrupt. Do they conform, though? Or do they lead, now that the disruption is mainstream?

Whose idea is it anyway?
Brewdog have been going since 2007 and they need to be acknowledged as having influence over the beer scene in the UK like no other brewery this Millennium. They continue to try and lead the way with innovative developments such as becoming carbon neutral (and apparently even carbon negative). This has gone hand in hand with accusations of dubious business practices such as stealing recipe ideas and trying to crush opposition who brew similar beers. I don’t know whether there is merit to these stories – The Daily Mirror is not generally my source of quality journalism – but smoke tends to equal some sort of fire, no matter how small.

There’s no such thing as a free lunch beer
Or is there? Brewdog are masters and mistresses of the loss-leader, a marketing gimmick as old as Lady Capitalism herself. Not even two months ago, they announced a vast free beer giveaway with no catch. Even more recently, they re-emphasised the publication of all their recipes – intellectual property theoretically worth millions – yet a masterstroke, given they hold almost the entire UK buying rights to many of the key ingredients. This is unprecedented in the industry and has many insiders reeling and frustrated. Indeed, everything that has recently emanated from their marketing presence is ‘positivity tinged with regret’ – an attempt to backpedal into humblebrag territory and reassert themselves as the disruptors they claim to be. They are doubling down on their perception of themselves as a flawed genius company, relatable and self-aware to the core, while destined to breed jealousy and contempt from the rest of the beer world, craft or not. This is nowhere more apparent than the rhetoric coming from their individual leadership.

The man in front of the curtain
CEO and Co-Founder (and self-proclaimed ‘Captain’) James Watt has a very active online presence, with a bluntly honest personal brand and aggressively proud marketing – indeed, he showcases a direct and relatable public approach, something that tends to go down well these days. Articles on his open Linkedin profile showcasing his biggest mistakes, coupled with his propensity to respond to comments on there and on Twitter, imply that Mr Watt is not an anonymous or sinister presence, but one that seeks to engage with critics and promote his industry. It ties perfectly in with the world Brewdog is creating for itself and hopes to encompass everyone else in.

However, this cult of the personality-type leadership can backfire and has done so for Brewdog spectacularly this year. High profile revelations by all manner of Brewdog employees from around the world talk about a toxic workplace culture, rife with sexism and misogyny among other equally appalling traits. The accusations vary, but one theme runs throughout: that Brewdog’s problematic internal culture comes directly from the Captain, and it is he who should shoulder the blame.

The response was so on-brand as to be almost ironic, with James himself releasing apologetic public statements that promised change and reform within the company, and a long hard look at himself as a leader. It is still too soon to say whether this hugely courageous and public outpouring of internal frustration from Brewdog people past and present will lead to positive change, but at least the problems have been aired and one hopes that the company will learn from this.

Punching upwards

It is increasingly obvious that Brewdog aren’t here to compete with rising star UK craft breweries; they’re here to compete with multinational conglomerate beverage companies and in the UK, they are succeeding. It is apt to categorise them with the Heineken’s, Carlsberg’s and ABinBev’s of the world, because that is the status that they are heading towards and evidently aspire to. They haven’t yet signalled an intention to buy out smaller breweries but if I were a betting person, I’d put down a couple of pints that they’ll attempt to in the next five years. The presence of Brewdog bars around the world (and their plans for more and more) show that they have a divide and conquer strategy that will most likely pay multi-national dividends, especially if they can infiltrate populous destinations that are beer-heavy but craft-lite, such as Turkey, Mexico and India.

Turns out they brew beer too

Amid everything else, this is ultimately a brewery, so a final key question has to be: is the beer any good? I used to drink a lot of Brewdog – in fact, from 2011-2016 it was my go-to for visitors to London looking for British craft. Punk IPA 2012? A stone cold classic. Original Hazy Jane 2016? Sign me up. This was stuff we had never tasted in the UK (i.e. US West Coast hops).

Since 2017, I shied away from Brewdog in my attempt to discover the craft beer scene of the UK until recently, when I was the recipient of a beer “gift box” from some colleagues. Extremely well-meaning, they chose the “craft selection” on a beer delivery service, despite not being beer drinkers but having enough guile to associate the word “craft” with specialisation and therefore something I would like. Most of the beers? Brewdog.

Did I drink them? Sure. Did I enjoy them? Sure, some of them. Did I thank my colleagues profusely? Of course. Would I buy them again myself? Not a chance.

The Facebook of beer

My humble, one line take on Brewdog for the TL;DR brigade is as follows:

They are independent. They are a multi-national corporate company. They were craft beer. They aren’t craft anymore. They are a gateway to actual craft beer. And they have their issues that they really, really need to fix.

See, the problem is everyone assumes that to be a world-dominating corporation you need to have been around for decades and be run by a bunch of anonymous old dudes named Walter or Henry. This is proved a fallacy by many industries today, not least the tech industry where “young upstarts” like Facebook happen to now control the whole world (hi Mark if you’re reading!).

Brewdog are the Facebook of the beer world. Once seen as an edgy, era-defining disruptor, now seen as a certifiably evil dominator of those that have come after it, while still exhibiting faux-humility with reference to very humble roots in very living memory – and run by a ‘cult of the personality’ leader who often seems like he has sipped a bit more than he can drink.

To conclude: as discerning craft beer drinkers, should we drink Brewdog?

That’s for you to decide – sorry!

Brewdog gets a lot of hate. I don’t believe it is entirely justified. Have they “sold out”? Spiritually, yes, but not literally – and I believe they deserve a little respect for that. Do they have a problematic internal culture and some dubious business practices? Yes, yet I retain the maybe too-optimistic hope that they can turn that around, though the fact it took such a public outcry to pledge change is concerning. Is the beer good? A very concrete Sometimes.

The company is making the most of their era-defining approach to beer in the UK and if they continue to be a gateway to real independent craft beer for those who would usually only choose a Peroni at the pub, then I’m in favour, even if they aren’t craft and people drinking it think they are.

Although of course, I would never actually spend my own money on one of their beers. Come on now.