• Launched in July 2011, Equity for Punks bypassed the banks to raise capital and gave all beer fans the chance to have their own share in the craft beer revolution
• 90,000 shares were made available to buy with a minimum investment of £95 for four shares, the average spend was £372 and the largest investment was £25,000
• Alongside equity in BrewDog, investor perks include lifetime discounts at BrewDog.com and the BrewDog bars, pre-launch consultation about new beers and bars and an invitation to the annual AGM event
• Investors will be given the opportunity to trade their shares in 2013 through the secure Equity for Punks website
• Social media has been a major influence on the success of the campaign, as thousands of craft beer fans rushed to promote Equity For Punks to one another via Twitter and Facebook when it was announced
• BrewDog has experienced record growth since its launch in 2007, seeing a 250 per cent sales increase for the past two years running

Quotations

James Watt, cofounder of Brewdog commented:

“Raising £2.2m before our deadline for closing the scheme is proof that people are not only looking for an alternative to mass-market beer; they are looking for an alternative way to invest their money, a way that bypasses banks, brokers and global mega corporations.

2011 was a watershed year in redefining beer in the UK and 2012 will see the craft beer revolution roll on as beer drinkers shun the tasteless, liquid-cardboard lagers churned out by global breweries and the soulless, apathetic bars that peddle them. With the new brewery in Aberdeen and the continued growth of our bar division, BrewDog will be at the forefront of a seismic shift in the UK drinks market – and our thousands of investors will all be part of it.”

One investor who learned of the project via Twitter was Heather Taylor, a Canadian living in London:

“It is hugely exciting to be part of such an innovative and unique offer. I have followed the inspiring journey of BrewDog since they were established in 2007, so to now have a chance to have a share in the business and the movement they have kick started feels great,” She said

I think it’s important to invest in growing UK businesses, especially one bold enough to want to change their industry. They make great beer and I can see this company expanding across the globe, it’s exciting to not only support this but to put my money in something I believe in rather than a faceless bank offering very little incentive,” She added.

Independent Scottish brewery, BrewDog will post an alternative Queen’s speech on their website, Christmas day at 3pm. Designed to provide a review of the year, including highs and lows experienced by the brewery, the speech will also outline the manifesto for the craft beer revolution in 2012. Not to be sartorially outdone by the monarch, BrewDog cofounder Martin Dickie will be dressed as Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

• Landmark events from the past twelve months covered in the video include:
• The world’s strongest fermented beer, Ghost Deer (28% ABV)
• Occupying Camden, north London with an armoured tank
• Unveiling the first beer brewed under the sea, Sunk Punk
• Unveiling a ‘fanvestor’ programme, Equity for Punks
• Low moments from the past year will also be included such as:
• A flooding in the brewery when a batch of 5AM Saint spilled out,
• Being forced to switch delivery partner due to poor reliability.

Quotations

James Watt, cofounder of BrewDog commented:

“2011 has been an epic year for BrewDog and for craft beer in the UK in general. We’ve seen sales rise by more than 250 per cent, opened three new craft beer bars and raised over £2m in equity from beer fans across the country. We wanted to set out our manifesto to do even more in 2012, so a Christmas message to beer fans seemed like the obvious thing to do. And Martin loves any excuse to dress as the Queen, of course.”

James Watt added:

“While it has not been an Annus Horribilis, there are things that sucked in 2011 that we want to learn from in 2012. With the capital raised through Equity for Punks we will be building a new eco brewery that will help us to meet the demand for our beers that we haven’t been able to meet this year, which has been our biggest issue.”

“Next year we’re planning to carry on shaking the dust from the beer industry, raising the profile and position of beer in the UK and brewing the beers we want to drink,”

Download the full press release and high resolution images below.

Independent Scottish brewery, BrewDog has today fanned the flames of the burgeoning craft beer revolution in London with the opening of its first bar in England, BrewDog Camden. To mark the maverick brewer’s occupation of Camden, cofounders James Watt and Martin Dickie rode into North London in an Abbott 433 armoured tank to greet hundreds of craft beer fans desperate to sample artisanal beers from across the globe.

• BrewDog Camden is the fourth bar launched by the brewery
• The new venue is located at 113, Bayham Street, Camden, London, NW1 0AG
• BrewDog Camden has two levels with an open, industrial-style space on the ground floor and a beer cellar downstairs with secluded seating, private vaults and a wide bottle selection
• The capacity of the new bar is 120
• 18 draught taps are available along with stock beers from world-renowned craft breweries
• BBC Masterchef winner, Tim Andersen has designed a menu to complement BrewDog’s craft beer styles
• As an extension of their crowd-funding programme, shares in BrewDog will be available for purchase over the bar – a first worldwide
• Additional bars are set to open in Leeds, Manchester and Birmingham in the first half of 2012

Quotations

James Watt commented:

“Just as our beers are an alternative to the tasteless, apathetic, fizzy mainstream lagers produced by huge global breweries, our bars provide a much needed alternative to the soulless, uninformed, profit-hungry venues that peddle them. Our manifesto is to inspire everyone to become as passionate about beer as we are, and BrewDog Camden is a landmark moment in the progress of that revolution.”

James Watt continued:

“Camden was an obvious choice for the location; it has always been a seeding ground for the bold, the new and the alternative. Punk was a reaction to the mainstream, the craft beer revolution is a reaction against a beer drinking culture defined by gulping pints of Stella with a kebab chaser. Punk is coming home.”

2011 Masterchef winner, Tim Anderson commented:

“I think of BrewDog as brothers in arms. They approach beer the same way I approach food: with boundless creativity, contempt for the bland and banal, and an unwavering pursuit of new and bold flavours. From the menu, expect food with strong yet nuanced flavours to match their incredible beer selection.”

Download the full press release and high resolution images below.

BrewDog, Scotland’s largest independent brewery has today unveiled plans to build the world’s first fan-funded brewery next year, as well as opening five new craft beer bars across the UK. Planning permission for a new £7million low carbon brewing facility in Aberdeenshire, Scotland has already been submitted, following investment of almost £2million from beer drinkers across the world through the company’s ground-breaking Equity for Punks online share offer.

• Launched in July, Equity for Punks give beer drinkers the opportunity to buy equity in the fast-growing BrewDog business for as little as £95
• In its first month, Equity for Punks had raised just over £1m from ‘fanvestors’
• With the campaign running until the end of the year, the growth of BrewDog in 2012 will be beyond the company’s original high expectations
• The new BrewDog brewery will house state-of-the-art craft brewing equipment and will create 25 new jobs immediately, rising to 75 in the next five years
• The site for the new brewery will be at Balmacassie, just outside Aberdeen
• Craft beer fans looking to invest in BrewDog can buy shares directly online at brewdog.com/equityforpunks until December 30, 2011

Quotations

James Watt, co-founder of BrewDog commented:

“BrewDog has grown by over 200 per cent in 2011, and through the investment of BrewDog fans throughout the world in Equity for Punks we are planning on exceeding that growth in 2012. The new facility will give us ten times the brewing capacity, allowing us to meet demand that is growing all the time. In addition to this, we have plans in place to open at least 5 new craft beer bars over the next 12 months.”

“Through their investment in BrewDog, craft beer fans are helping to shake the dust from the UK drinks industry and spark a craft beer revolution. Craft beer fans are not only turning their backs on the limp, pale yellow lagers mass-produced and peddled by giant global breweries, they are also becoming richer with every craft beer they drink.”

James Watt continued:

“We have also bought the land adjacent to the site of the new brewery, which will allow for further expansion in the future – all made possible by Equity for Punks. It’s an entirely new business model, but we are proving that by turning to your customers, rather than the banks or financial markets, that the future is bright.”

“We are still receiving investment from craft beer drinkers as far afield as New Zealand and South East Asia, as well as all over the UK, so there will be more than 8,000 people behind our expansion in 2012 – all of whom will literally get richer with every beer they drink. We think that’s pretty cool.”

Download the full press release and high resolution images below.

BrewDog, Scotland’s largest independent brewery has today launched Sunk Punk, a 7.1% ABV beer that has been brewed at the bottom of the North Sea in order to break an age-old curse on the Scottish shoreline. The idiosyncratic India Pale Ale is the first beer to be brewed underwater and contains a range of maritime-themed ingredients such as buckweed, distilled sea-salt and rum.

• The beer has been brewed as a solution to Scottish folklore which states that a witch’s curse on a fisherman is the cause of storms on the Scottish shoreline.
• BrewDog dropped a fermentation tank into the sea on 27th June 2011, positioning it at a selected spot which maintains a steady temperature of 10 degrees Celsius.
• A special non-return valve was attached to the tank to ensure CO2 could escape without salt entering the sealed vessel.
• The tank was fitted with a Jolly Roger flag to fly in the prevailing currents.
• The innovative label was designed by illustrator Johanna Basford who has worked with Starbucks and Absolute Vodka.
• The video explaining the story and beer can be seen here.
• Previous innovations from BrewDog include a 55% ABV beer encased in a dead squirrel and a share scheme entitled “Equity for Punks” through which fans can invest in the company.
• 960 bottles of the beer are available which can be purchased via the online shop here: www.brewdog.com/product/sunk-punk

Download the full press release and high resolution images below.

Quotations

James Watt, co-founder at BrewDog commented:

“Sunk Punk is an example of how beer can save the world. Not only does it provide an alternative to the fizzy, pathetic mainstream lagers peddled by giant monolithic breweries, it will be solely responsible for halting any superstition-related storms on our coastline. Britain, you’re welcome.”

He added:

“This is history in a glass. This is human achievement. This is science meets superstition. This is the latest marketing gimmick from BrewDog.”

BrewDog, Scotland’s largest independent brewery has today launched Ghost Deer, a 28 per cent ABV artisanal Golden Belgian Ale aged in six different oak casks and served only from a bespoke bar tap made from a real stag’s head. The new beer, designed to smash UK perceptions of beer, will only be available in the BrewDog Edinburgh bar, where the Ghost Deer tap has today been installed.

• The Ghost Deer stag’s head bar font has been constructed using a real deer’s head.
• The beer will be available from BrewDog Edinburgh for one month only.
• Just 200 litres of the beer have been produced.
• Ghost Deer beer will be available at £9.99 per glass from today.
• Venison burgers will be served during the launch event at BrewDog Edinburgh from 7.30PM.
• In 2010, BrewDog launched the world’s strongest beer, The End of History, a 55% ABV beer.
• Unlike the extreme ice distillation used to brew The End of History, Ghost Deer has been brewed using only fermentation.

Download the full press release and high resolution images below.

Quotations

James Watt, co-founder at BrewDog commented:

“Ghost Deer is designed to fuse craft beer, art and taxidermy. This is a revolution in brewing and in beer dispense. The impact is at once beautiful and disturbing – it disrupts conventions and breaks taboos, just like the beer it pours.”

He added:

“At 28 per cent, Ghost Deer the world’s strongest fermented beer, ever. It is fermented using three different yeast strains then aged in six different oak casks for over 6 months before being served from a deer’s head; it’s more complex than anything we’ve produced before.”

BrewDog, Scotland’s largest independent brewery, has today announced that its Alice Porter beer, developed with bar manager Matt Gorecki and his friends during their stag party visit to the brewer, will be available nationwide at Tesco supermarkets. The beer, a 6.2% renaissance Baltic porter, is named after Gorecki’s then fiancée (now wife) Alice Porter from Leeds, West Yorkshire.

• The beer was conceived in November 2010, when Gorecki, the manager of North Bar in Leeds and five of his best friends made the trip to Fraserburgh in Aberdeen for his stag party
• The stag party made beer with BrewDog’s help
• The original 15HL batch was only sold at North Bar and BrewDog’s own bar in Aberdeen
• Originally no plans to brew the beer again once it was finished, the public response to the vanilla infused beer with hints of chocolate and cinnamon proved very persuasive and Alice Porter has now become an international phenomenon
• As well as being stocked by Tesco, the Baltic renaissance porter has been amongst the most popular on the brewer’s online store at BrewDog.com, with customers placing orders from as far afield as Australia and New Zealand
• The beer is available now at most Tesco stores nationwide and can still be bought on draught at North Bar and the BrewDog bars in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow for a limited period

Download the full press release and high resolution images below.

Quotations

James Watt, co-founder at BrewDog commented:

“We’re pretty sure this is the first beer ever brewed at a craft beer stag party. Given Alice’s surname, it seemed obvious to our master brewers to create a porter style beer, but we combined a 300 year-old recipe with hop varieties from the UK and Japan to make sure the result was something bold and complex.”

“This beer is the opposite of the stale, fizzy yellow lagers often described as ‘wife beater’; this is a beer born from a people-powered craft-beer revolution.”

Matt Gorecki commented:

“Brewing a beer named after your fiancée seemed like a great idea, but it actually proved pretty nerve-racking. The fact it has been so popular is amazing. As far as wedding gifts go, I think having a famous beer named after you is pretty high on the list. Alice certainly seemed pretty pleased.”

• Twitter and Facebook were huge influences in Equity For Punks
• Craft beer fans  promoted the scheme widely online
• The amount of money invested has varied from the minimum quantity of £95 to individual investments of £12,000
• Equity for Punks has also had international appeal, with current investors hailing from 9 different countries, including Sweden, Italy and Germany

Download the full press release and high resolution images below.

Quotations

James Watt, cofounder of Brewdog commented:

“Reaching the million pound mark so quickly with Equity for Punks demonstrates that people are not only looking for an alternative to mass market beer; they are looking for an alternative way to invest their money, a way that bypasses banks, brokers and global mega corporations. BrewDog was always intended to spark a step-change in the evolution of the UK beer market, so we looked for a way to raise capital that looked to shake up finance in the same way.”

One investor who learned of the project via Twitter was blogger and community manager, Heather Taylor:

“I think it’s important to invest in growing UK businesses, especially one bold enough to want to change their industry,” She said. “The brand has an incredibly passionate following online, they make great beer and I can see this company expanding throughout the globe. It’s exciting to be given the opportunity to be part of that.”

Another investor, Robert Marshall from Suffolk commented:

“The main reason to invest was to be part of the craft beer revolution. It will be amazing to go to the new brewery and have the knowledge that I played my own small part in making it happen. It will also be great going into a bar I own a part of and ordering a beer that has been brewed by the same company I have shares in. I would have invested much more if I could.”

• The bar location was discovered through crowd sourcing
• BrewDog bars were a key catalyst for the huge response to the share issue launched this month  from which over £500k was raised in just 4 days
• BrewDog Glasgow has a capacity of around 120 with 14 draught taps and stock beers from a range of breweries from around the world
• Gym flooring on the walls, charity shop sourced sofas and a reclaimed brick bar all add to the BrewDog interior aesthetic
• Although the bar has no dedicated kitchen, cheese and meat plates are designed to complement specific beer styles and hop pizzas will be available.

Download the full press release and high resolution images below.

Quotations

James Watt, co-founder of BrewDog commented:

“The speed at which we have reached three BrewDog bars proves that the craft beer revolution is gathering pace. Our mission is to make people as passionate about beer as we are and our network of bars not only poses a threat to the insipid yellow mainstream lagers that populate the on trade, it provides an alternative to the drab, soulless, unimaginative bars that peddle them.”

James Watt continued:

“We always want to shorten the distance as much as possible between ourselves and the people who drink our beers, so letting them take charge of the BrewDog Glasgow location was an obvious route to take. It’s not the first time we have consulted our fans on key business decisions and it certainly won’t be the last.”

The annual beer festival is renowned for serving cask only beers, but in May this year an agreement was made between BrewDog and CAMRA to have the Scottish brewery’s kegged beers on offer. According to BrewDog, after this decision was reached and deposits were paid, CAMRA backtracked and insisted BrewDog serve cask beer at the festival, citing the 30L kegs were too small and they must change their stock to 18 gallon casks. BrewDog co-founder James Watt was sent an ultimatum outlining the order and that they must accept by 12 noon on Friday 15th July or they would be cancelling their attendance. BrewDog complied to this demand only to be told CAMRA had already cancelled their attendance on Thursday July 14th, with no further discussion to be entered into.

• BrewDog satisfied CAMRA and Ralph Warrington, Chair of the ‘Technical Advisory Group’, that their beers contained the demanded amount of yeast cells per ml
• BrewDog’s kegged and bottled beers are only lightly filtered, unpasteurized and the bulk of the carbonationisation comes from CO2 created during the initial fermentation which occurs under pressure
• Beers were still tested by a ‘onsite laboratory’ to confirm they contained the regulated cells
• CAMRA informed the brewery that if the test was negative, they would ‘not be sold, then returned as ullage, not paid for and the bar cancelled’.

Download the full press release and high resolution images below.

Quotations

James Watt, co-founder of BrewDog commented:

“We agreed to work together with CAMRA, put past differences behind us, and try and introduce something new and exciting to the Great British Beer Festival so we are extremely shocked that CAMRA unceremoniously cancelled our attendance at the festival and also by the manner in which they acted.”

“We intended to take some amazing beers and do some very exciting new beer launches. We wanted to work with CAMRA after our past difficulties and try and breathe some new life into the GBBF to get more young people excited about great craft beer. They have once again snubbed creativity and impinged our passion. If they really did care about real ale, they would move out of the 70s and encourage new breweries looking to revitalise the craft beer scene.”