We’re writing about the emergence of Brewdog for our book project at the moment and would really welcome your help in remembering how beer geeks felt about them in their first five years.
Nowadays, even people who still have a soft-spot for the (wealthy, successful, very businesslike) punks begin any statement about them with the words ‘Whatever you think of Brewdog…’ or ‘I don’t like their marketing but…’
Back in their early days, though, there was no such quibbling: Brewdog were, as far as most people were concerned, a thoroughly good thing. Here’s what we said when we’d barely been blogging a year:
Isn’t BrewDog’s marketing strategy just ace? Cool-looking bottles that you’d happily give to non-beer-geek mates. Limited edition batches, like 90s indie singles. Lots of publicity in “taking on” the Portman group… you have to be impressed with that ambition.
Melissa Cole liked them enough to do this when the Portman Group were picking on them in 2008; and Zak Avery said this in 2009. Even Tandleman was impressed. Then things like this happened, and the love affair turned a little sour.
Because recent history is all a bit of a blur, we’d love to hear your recollections, or read old blog posts to which you can point us, either by email or in comments below. We’re especially interested if you:
- ever described yourself as a Brewdog ‘fan’
- started a blog mostly to write about Brewdog
- got angry at people for criticising them
- were on their side over Speedball
- aimed to buy everything they released, even if it was expensive or hard to find.
What attracted you to Brewdog? And, if you’re now out of love with them, what was the turning point for you?