Brewdog Glasgow

[Bebop1980]

Hey Guy's, took a trip to Brewdog at the weekend and i have to say it was fantastic.

Tried a few of their beers was very impressed.

Hardcore IPA, 9% awesome
Paradox Jura, Casked in a Jura whiskey barrel, 15% Tremendous chocolate and coffee explosion.
Sink the Bismark, 41% tasted like a cross between a sherry and port. Really sweet and strong but nice.

Then just a few of the normal ones.

Punk IPA
7AM Saint

 

[jamesb]

I went to Brewdog Camden on Saturday and I was a bit underwhelmed.

Maybe I've just been spoilt with really good beers lately.

 

[shearclass]

I was in the Camden one recently and i loved it. Been to Edinburgh once too.

Hops Kill Nazis is great. I tried it purely for the comedic value of name, but the beer was even better than the name.

I am a brewdog fan, but unlike JamesB i am nto experienced or spoiled with other great beer.

 

[Swift Pint]

I've been to the BrewDog in Camden a couple of times and think its pretty good. Massive range of BrewDog beers and good selection from other craft breweries (mostly overseas?). Compared to other London craft beer pubs it seemed reasonably priced too.

My main criticism is that there were very few beers under 7%, meaning limited choice if you're after a session.

 

[calumscott]

I was really really excited when I went to Edinburgh for a business trip, I'd been hankering after a trip to a BrewDog bar for ages.

I was not just underwealmed, I was actually disappointed.

1) No Tactical Nuclear Penguin - the stupid "beer" that you can't justify a whole bottle of but would take a "small one" at a brewdog bar just for the experience should surely always be in stock???
2) No Sink the Bismark - the other stupid "beer" that you can't justify a whole bottle of but would take a "small one" at a brewdog bar just for the experience should surely always be in stock and particularly if the other one isn't???
3) Geeky and disinterested staff - Brewdog's whole schtick is about being passionate about getting people drinnking great beer - surely the right way to go about it is to have staff that are actually *happy* that you've come in to the bar to drink the beer, to engage with them rather than just pulling a pint taking their cash and going back to chatting with their beer-geek mates at the end of the bar.

Shame really. It's one of those - "I really wanted that to be really brilliant and it was apart from the fact that you screwed up a couple of really basic things" experiences...

(Draft Tokyo was absolutely smashing mind...)

(...or maybe mind smashing?)

 

[disgruntledgoat]

I found the one Glasgow to be excellent... great selection of guest beers, staff were enthusiastic and keen to talk beer, even the food was great.

It's becoming a regular haunt of mine, they even let our dogs in.

 

[Bebop1980]

Glasgow one was good, must have just been the edinburgers being snooty as usual.

Also they had nearly everything available, which i thoroughly enjoyed.

 

[alanywiseman.]

I am a big fan of the Brewdog pub in Glasgow and most of there beers. I have had a couple of really interesting ones, somewhich i would have again and some were good for the experence. One being a 'Mr Wasbi Stout', too much wasabi taste for me but still enjoyable and the other was a IPA i think brewed with viagra and horny goat weed, It was great and i will definetly have it again.

I have always found the staff great and always up for a goo chat about beer when they are not to busy and the guest tap are always a hit.

 

[shearclass]

Staff were a good laugh in the edinburgh ones, cheering on my 6 year old son as he played connect 4 vs my dad!

 

[adrianmole72]

There's one opened up in Nottingham. I don't think I'll bother.

 

[Swift Pint]

Sounds like you had bad luck in Edinburgh Callum, the staff in Camden were pretty freindly and very generous with their tasters :thumb:

They are opening one in Newcastle too, will have to check it out next time I'm up. One more pub to fit into the already very long pub crawl of decent Newc pubs... :drink:

 

[calumscott]

Yeah, I think I was unlucky and I think it was made so much worse because I'm such a huge fan of their beer and, if I'm honest, their marketing...

I will be checking out some of the others as and when I'm in their vicinity. TNP and STB *will* be tasted... :)

 

[disgruntledgoat]

The bit I didn't like was being handed an investment prospectus with my change... stocks and shares, how punk is that?

 

[Kegged]

I have not been to any of the Brewdog pubs or breweries yet. . . I did come across a bottle of Hardcore IPA in Tesco a week or so ago and it was lovely.

 

[Bebop1980]

Ok went a bit mad and ordered a few beers from Brewdog.

Original Dogma: Enigmatic ale brewed with guarana, poppy seeds and kola nut all blended together with Scottish heather honey

Dogma: Decadent and encapsulating scotch alwe brewed with 10 different types of malt all blended together with Scottish heather honey.

Hardcore IPA: 2,204 malted Maris Otter grains gave all they had to offer the world to provide the robustly delicate toffee malt canvas for the ensuing epic. 6 Hop Cones willingly sacrificed themselves in fiery cauldron that is our brew kettle to ensure your mouth is left feeling punished and puckering for more. 9,900,000,000 yeast cells frantically fermented their little hearts out as the sugars were magically turned into alcohol in the dark depths of our fermentation tanks. This explicit ale has more hops and bitterness that any other beer brewed in the UK.

Hops Kill: The beer is a 7.8% Imperial Red Ale. Boasting 80 IBU, it is hopped with huge amounts of Chinook and Centennial in the kettle before being massively dry hopped with only Chinook, twice.

Zeitgeist: 4.9% Black Lager

Riptide: A strong, silky smooth imperial stout with a deep, dark ruby appearance. Mocha, bitter chocolate, liquorice and dark cherry flavours prevail, before the balanced, warming and encapsulating finish.

Bitch Please: An inherently Scottish spin on a barley wine brewed with peated malts from Islay, shortbread, toffee and eclectic hops. After fermentation the beer was aged in old Jura single malt whisky barrels for 8 months.

Tokyo: This imperial stout is brewed with copious amounts of speciality malts, jasmine and cranberries. After fermentation we then dry-hop this killer stout with a bucketload of our favourite hops before carefully ageing the beer on French toasted oak chips.

I'll keep you all updated on what i think, except from the hardcore as i have had that oe already and it's awesome.

 

[Shug]

I thought the bitch please was disgusting.
Hops kill nazis is very nice.
Tokyo, much like paradox jura, is not something I could drink much of. Not because of the %, but because of how sweet they are. Still nice, but only in small amounts.

 

[Bebop1980]

I am slowly making my way though their full range, so far i have liked them all to some extent.

I will soon tell if any of these are good.

 

[Darcey]

I have my problems with Brewdog but annoyingly they keep making beers that I love.

I am yet to visit a bar as they have neglected to build anything Lancashire / Gtr. Manchester / Cheshire way.

Tokyo* is a winner... really nice. I think I got a bottle of the second run @£9.50 +P&P. Tend to have a moment of weakness and buy a load from their online shop. I still have 2x Tactical Nuclear Pengin first run. Felt like a bit of a fool when I bought them for £60 a bottle and my mate decided he didnt want his... A few months ago someone offered me £90 for one of the bottles...

I have had Trashy Blonde, 77 Lager and Punk IPA in cask at the pub and all sold well. Trashy Blonde really lends itself to hand pull dispense I can understand why brew dog use keg for the rest.

Ah brew dog every time I doubt them or they annoy me I somehow end up drinking their beer.

Unfortunately they have got to a point where they are starting to believe their own marketing. There is only so far you can go being 'punk' before you realise that you have area managers in suits demanding yields and your 'punk' dream becomes a corporate beast..

D

 

[jamesb]

My favourite PUNK expression from one of their latest blogs was "fulfilment partner".

It just oozes anarchy and non-conformism.

 

[calumscott]

Unfortunately they have got to a point where they are starting to believe their own marketing. There is only so far you can go being 'punk' before you realise that you have area managers in suits demanding yields and your 'punk' dream becomes a corporate beast...

The danger is not the dream becoming a corporate beast, the danger is that in becoming so big the dream is lost. In reality, if a brewer is prepared to stick to the founding principles of good beer made the right way at all costs (i.e. "yes we could make *more* money if we cut corners, but the beer comes first") then that actually sends a very "punk" message to the mass market, it actually starts to change the market and put pressure on the brewers of the bland.

I for one hope they achieve whatever critical mass they need to be a permenent thorn in the side of the commodity brewers - at the moment I don't know that any of them are yet taking them all that seriously as a threat.