Comments on: More BrewDog Ridiculousness…

By: Alan

Alan — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 00:29:12 +0000

Don’t worry. We kick your US arses all over town with Boxing Day and Easter Monday – holidays whose only purpose is to get you over the holiday the day before.

You are probably right but (based on cousins and uncles and trips back to the old tartaned country) I just assume all Scots tuck their sweaters in their pants, love deep fried haggis and have really over the top anti-establishment senses of humour. BrewDog Nation does sell logo covered tuck-in-pants sweaters, don’t they?

By: Barry M

Barry M — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 19:20:08 +0000

The BrewDog boys mention a small German brewery that held the record previously with a 31% Eisbock, not Utopia. As it happens, that same little Franconian brewery is just about to launch a 39.44% ABV Bock. So, strongest beer, for a while

So, just wondering, is it the ABV that you find ridiculous, or the PR and hype surrounding it? What about the little guys who make something “bigger” but don’t have the voice to shout it out to the beer geekosphere? Although I’m not sure what’s driving them to make such monsters either. Probably simply a desire to have been the one to have created the strongest.

By: fixedgear

fixedgear — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 16:20:51 +0000

It’s a math problem. Not your error, but it doesn’t exactly beat Uptopias by 7%. The difference between 25 and 32 is 7, sure. It’s much more than 7% stronger.

By: Andy

Andy — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 15:38:34 +0000

Hey Alan and happy Thanksgiving to, er, um, you? I’m a big Billy Connolly fan and have spent some time in Scotland so I hope I would not be tone deaf to that particular form of silliness/playfulness. I never got that from BrewDog’s efforts but perhaps I’m missing it. And I generally agree regarding the Portman Group and its power. I’m just not seeing BrewDog’s particular angle here in anything other than a ridiculous PR stunt.

As to SA, you’ll get no arguments from me…

By: Alan

Alan — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 15:15:49 +0000

I think we have to take into account the context of Scots humour as well as Scots / UK political cultural climate to appreciate the marketing program BrewDog is rolling out. I am not suggesting we can’t “get it” or that North American views are irrelevant. But I receive these beers and their promotion, however, with an ear tuned to the early Billy Connolly comedy records obtained on my family trips. A 17 minute joke on airplane poo or Jesus being crucified in Glasgow were easily sustained due to my people’s love of “well over the top” and even cornball humour. Also, it has to be taken in the context of the lunacy of the Portman Group’s existence.

Frankly, I find Sam Adam’s Utopia marketing equally weird with its needy cloying associations with the haute combined with the false self-aggrandizement of the name. As Mr. Oliver might be paraphrased, claims to the strongest beer are about as interesting as claims to have the saltiest food. And I bet we can both find 100 beers we would each easily prefer to both these insane bombs.