Brewdog in trouble again

[Stu's Brews]

Delighted to see Brewdog not only getting into bed with Budweiser (a popular choice for people slagging off mass produced, conglomerate dishwater) but ALSO moving into China, where everything requires the endorsement of the state.

Delighted to finally see them showing themselves for what they are. "Equity Punks" every where having to pop the soapbox back in the garage.

Be better. Don't buy Brewdog

The irony of it all being, if they just admitted they wanted to be 'one of the big boys' they wouldn't get half as much stick for it.

Continuing to pretend they are 'punk', 'anti-establishment' and 'fiercely independent' when their actions say the complete opposite just makes them look daft.

It's ok to change your business priorities and values (within reason) but at least be honest about it.

 

[Agentgonzo]

In fairness to them, it's worked as a business model. It doesn't matter if they look daft to 5% of the population when 95% of them believe their tripe. I've always said they are better at PR than they are at brewing.

 

[LeeH]

They are very capable brewers, the early beer was very good. Unfortunately the accountants now brew the beer.

 

[Brewnaldo]

Yeah I'm under no illusions that they will continue to rake in screeds of cash, but im willing to settle for having been right about them all along and use this to lord it over a few sanctimonious fanboys I know.

 

[Sadfield]

Yeah I'm under no illusions that they will continue to rake in screeds of cash, but im willing to settle for having been right about them all along and use this to lord it over a few sanctimonious fanboys I know.

....but they'll probably have sanctimonious punk equity to dry their eyes with.

Watts is a knob. Annoyingly though, this forum would probably be much, much quieter and we'd have less fun ingredients to play with, without Brewdog's influence on the UK craft beer scene.

 

[Pavros]

Rumour is that they may also be looking at a stock listing - so much for being 'fiercely independent'

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Be better. Don't buy Brewdog

I haven't bought anything made by them in years not because of their business ethics because I have found far better beers.

 

[marshbrewer]

Likewise, last December but one I was given a Brewdog advent calendar, and I think there were only two beers I would choose to drink. It was a cracking gift as it forced me out of my usual types of ale, but it didn't make me want to rush out and buy Brewdog beers.

 

[LeeH]

I’m a share holder and it’s worked out very well. 15% off plus 7% using my prepaid credit card. Makes a considerable difference to the tab.

The hotel is a great place to try if you haven’t been. We went just mid December.

 

[Bjorn Toulouse]

Don't get it with this thread, a couple of home brewers who hit the big time with their beers? Lets face it "Sink the Bismarck" was interesting to say the least. Good luck to them. The Press v Brewdog, I'm with brewdog.

 

[Deadhead]

The craft beer market in China is just on the edge of something big, so I can see why they want to try and get in there.
When I first went to China in 2005, it was all big bottles of washed out lager that you shared and split in small glasses around the table.
The last time I was there in January 2020, I could easily find craft beer bars and taprooms in every city I went to.

Still, getting in bed with Budweiser China certainly doesn't make it very independent and 'punk' anymore!

 

[Stu's Brews]

Don't get it with this thread, a couple of home brewers who hit the big time with their beers? Lets face it "Sink the Bismarck" was interesting to say the least. Good luck to them. The Press v Brewdog, I'm with brewdog.

I think for the most part people are appreciative of and applaud the role BrewDog played in the early days of the craft beer movement and helping to promote that.

The problem now is that they have diverted away from their initial priorities, which were essentially high quality craft beer instead of macro-produced, low-quality beers. They now produce at volume and appear willing to sacrifice quality and their initial values, not to mention all of the other ethical issues that have been raised around some of their operations.

As I said earlier; changing business priorities is ok, but they continue to purport that they are the 'little guy' in some David v. Goliath scrap when they keep aligning themselves with the exact same 'macro' brewers they supposedly detest. It's disingenuous to their customers and shareholders.

 

[MickDundee]

In the space of 5 years, they have gone from refusing to sell Laguinitas and Beavertown in their bars after those breweries sold stakes to Heineken, to selling Guinness in their London bar and teaming up with Budweiser China.

 

[Stu's Brews]

In the space of 5 years, they have gone from refusing to sell Laguinitas and Beavertown in their bars after those breweries sold stakes to Heineken, to selling Guinness in their London bar and teaming up with Budweiser China.

And don't forget James Watt has a not insignificant investment in Heineken as well.

https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/fabulous/8332380/brewdog-boss-heineken-shares-bbc-documentary/

 

[Braumeister]

In the space of 5 years, they have gone from refusing to sell Laguinitas and Beavertown in their bars after those breweries sold stakes to Heineken, to selling Guinness in their London bar and teaming up with Budweiser China.

It would be good if they did sell lagunitas and beavertown in their bars in my view. I struggled to try a decent beer when I was in there a few weeks ago. 90% of the homebrew posted on the “what are you drinking tonight thread” are a better option that anything I found on their draft menu.

 

[Zoiks]

Rumour is that they may also be looking at a stock listing - so much for being 'fiercely independent'

Confession to make - I bought some of their "shares" doing zero due diligence, have accepted it's now just a payment for being part of their storyline and keep an eye out on what their newest scandal is.

Off of the back of this thread I had a quick check and have seen that James Watt has shared that he's been diagnosed with autism and ADHD, had to jump to the daily mail as I knew that the comment section would be full of understanding folk.

 

[Justin Dean]

Delighted to see Brewdog not only getting into bed with Budweiser (a popular choice for people slagging off mass produced, conglomerate dishwater) but ALSO moving into China, where everything requires the endorsement of the state.

Delighted to finally see them showing themselves for what they are. "Equity Punks" every where having to pop the soapbox back in the garage.

Be better. Don't buy Brewdog

I agree. not touched it for years bad bad bad company. All of what you say and sex scandals to boot

 

[dad_of_jon]

I'm doing the scottish brewdog 500 next month where they will no doubt get £500 of my money. - 2 nights in the kennels and a brewdog in durham, Aberdeen , possibly a visit to ellon. Dundee on the way back. For all their faults thesedays they still beat the pants off greene king , marsdon fullers etc... apart from the Head of steam I'd say they are the premium craft beer chain.

Went to Bath November 2022 and tried a local microbrewery and the bath ales place at the stain station and quickly decamped to brewdog to escape the crap beer that bath offered. There is a great bottle shop but the pubs IMO are pants in Bath in general. Bristol on the other (left) hand, well i'd not end up in Brewdog, the same as Leeds when I was there on a 5 day training course there was so much choice I never got to brewdog.

 

[Leon103]

I'm doing the scottish brewdog 500 next month where they will no doubt get £500 of my money. - 2 nights in the kennels and a brewdog in durham, Aberdeen , possibly a visit to ellon. Dundee on the way back. For all their faults thesedays they still beat the pants off greene king , marsdon fullers etc... apart from the Head of steam I'd say they are the premium craft beer chain.

Went to Bath November 2022 and tried a local microbrewery and the bath ales place at the stain station and quickly decamped to brewdog to escape the crap beer that bath offered. There is a great bottle shop but the pubs IMO are pants in Bath in general. Bristol on the other (left) hand, well i'd not end up in Brewdog, the same as Leeds when I was there on a 5 day training course there was so much choice I never got to brewdog.

The biggest fault I see with brewdog bars is they don't seem to have the range of beers any longer that would draw me in. The ones I have been into in recent years have had limited guest beers and the same core range from themselves. Also I find some of their older bars run down.
The one in Bath is pretty new and ok, but you missed some treats if you only drank near the station and didn't walk deeper into town, so kany good places to drink.

 

[lindormonster]

The biggest fault I see with brewdog bars is they don't seem to have the range of beers any longer that would draw me in. The ones I have been into in recent years have had limited guest beers and the same core range from themselves. Also I find some of their older bars run down.
The one in Bath is pretty new and ok, but you missed some treats if you only drank near the station and didn't walk deeper into town, so kany good places to drink.

Its an odd one as we used to frequent our local Brewdog bar quite heavily as always a good choice of our chosen poison (imperial stouts) and even purchased 1 Brewdog share to take advantage of the heavy discount that offers which has paid for itself many times over. Over the past 12 months they have dropped off the face of a cliff in terms of higher ABV releases or guest beer stocks to the point where we barely go in there any more. These days when we do its more just to say hello to the staff that we now know well rather than to try a new beer they have on.

A few weeks back we noticed the guest beer board dropped down to 3 taps and were informed by the staff this is the new status quo from head office and they are to sell more Brewdog beer even though the cellar is full of tons of guest beer kegs

Seems to be a lot of bottom line penny pinching (abv dropping in core beers etc) and a reluctance to sell other peoples products thus pushing sales for thier own product which leads me to believe they are solely looking at profit margins to make the company look better on paper before the impending stock market float which has been promised for a few years now

Our local bar manager informed us the place has never turned a profit since it opened many years ago - no problem for BD as they are not worried about the venue profit but more the profit they get off selling thier own beer to the bars in the first place. This appears to be the case with many of the bars - hence why they launched the much hyped profit share scheme with staff - nothing to share if there is no profit but a load of great media coverage for doing such a bold scheme!

I also note they have announced no AGM this year as it will be hosted at BD bars accross the country instead thus saving them the millions it must of cost them to put on such a big event

Pretty much turned into weatherspoons for craft beer now