Tag: BrewDogs

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BrewDog Fund

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The BrewDogs are at it again.  But this time it isn’t a beer made with the bacon and bike power.  Not.  It is EMpowering new breweries to succeed.  Here is the lowdown from the “lowdown” section of their website…..

“Our mission has always been to make other people as passionate about great craft beer as we are. Not just BrewDog beer, but all great craft beer. More people brewing, serving and drinking craft beer from a range of killer breweries can only be a good thing, and that is what we try to achieve across our entire business from our brewery to our bars and our bottle shops.

With this overarching ambition in mind, we are delighted to announce the new BrewDog Development Fund. This fund will see us allocate up to £100,000 of our profits each year as well as loads of our time to help other new craft breweries start up and get established. It was only seven years ago that Martin and myself (James) set up BrewDog with some second hand tanks, a small bank loan and a big mission, and now we want to encourage others to do the same.

As well as providing capital to our new BrewDog Development Fund partners, we will also help them grow by:

·       Showcasing their beers in our bars both domestically and internationally

·       Providing advice and ongoing support (we know a little bit about growing a brewery)

·       Helping with the sourcing of ingredients and brewing materials

·       Assisting with equipment purchases

·       Offering access to our state of the art laboratory for beer analysis

·       Helping them grow sales by introducing them to our international sales network

As part of this initiative we are insanely excited to announce that our first two official partners in the BrewDog Development Fund are the phenomenal Brew by Numbers brewery based in London and CAP,  based in Stockholm, Sweden.”

This is a logical extension of what craft breweries are already doing.   Whether it is giving free advice, helping out with supplies or letting people brew with their equipment and it is one of the reasons why I am still jazzed about this business after 5+ years of writing about it.

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BrewDogs – Season 2

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If you were a fan of Season 1 of BrewDogs then you will be quite happy with the first episode of season 2. You have a great brewery to get to know in Fullsteam. With their motto of Plow to Pint.  You have a great location craft beer in North Carolina (curiously not Asheville though). And a beer that will require working out after drinking it.

But for me, that pales in comparison to the two reasons why I enjoyed the Yahoo Sneak Peek. Bacon and Pie. Of all the segments of the show, I love the food pairing the most. And right off the bat, they mix beer with my favorite dessert, pie. Toss in that the baker at Scratch Bakery,Phoebe Lawless, is not a beer geek and the task for Martin and James becomes a challenge. And they relish a challenge. The pies looked awesome. More so than the beers. It made me wish that I was in the bakery when they were filming.

Second was the bacon. Beer brined bacon! That was then added to the beer! Fat and all. And from a local artisan no less. Again, I was suddenly hungry for bacon.  The theme of the beer was most caloric hence the bacon and the maple syrup.  A true breakfast beer.

Though I am amped for the LA episode. This was a rollicking good start.

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Review – BrewDog TV (shows 1-3)

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TV shows can take a few episodes to get on their feet.  And due to that, I will split my BrewDog TV reviews into multiple segments.

This review covers the San Diego, San Francisco and Philadelphia episodes.

I first have to address the beer of the week that they brew.  Obviously, it is a novelty brew but I am really on the fence about it.  I know it is the marquee part of the show.  The spine so to speak.  But I really don’t like the whole “Do you like it” moment at the end.  I much prefer the opinions of the people who get to drink it, since I never will and the canned applause tactic rubs me the wrong way.

But that may be because I really love the rest of the show.  Especially the food and beer pairings which were really strong in this section.  With the donuts in Philadelphia being my favorite because it was new and really well explained.  The Craft Beer Virgin bit is good too.  It could be really bad but James and Martin are just so damn lovable that it works.  The lists of breweries and bars is well done and takes the right amount of time.  The format of the show is well thought out and moves at a nice pace.

Of the beers done, I would have the fog beer.  The pepper beer is out of my league and the Declaration of Independence beer seemed a little strange to me.  Not that I wouldn’t have tried all three.