[Drinking] Brewdog: hipsters”, “pretentious”, “wankers”, “********s” or simply "full of s**t"?

[schmunk]

I’m enjoying a Punk at this very moment in time ........ we’ll I’m not really, not after reading about all their shenanigans.

Drinking it quickly, to get rid of it?

Then open another couple, to get rid of them too...?

 

[Questions]

Drinking it quickly, to get rid of it?

Then open another couple, to get rid of them too...?

I put them in our kitchen fridge instead of my shed beer fridge and Mrs Q said, “move them”

I’m not going the bottom of the garden now.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Everyone’s favourite little indy hand crafted brewery has gone Willy Wonka for November.

“BrewDog to hide Willy Wonka style 24 karat gold Punk IPA cans in random 12 packs”

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/scotland-now/brewdog-hide-willy-wonka-style-22944414

 

[Biffer]

Once really good at the forefront of a growth market. Well branded and that 'punk' nonsense worked well.
Had my first Punk IPA can for years recently and it was awful. Nothing like the original recipe.
All gone very commercial at the expense of quality IMHO.

 

[vegster]

Once really good at the forefront of a growth market. Well branded and that 'punk' nonsense worked well.
Had my first Punk IPA can for years recently and it was awful. Nothing like the original recipe.
All gone very commercial at the expense of quality IMHO.

Eventually, it always comes down to money and how much can be made.

https://kmflett.wordpress.com/2020/03/13/private-eyes-analysis-of-crafty-brewers-brewdog/

 

[Questions]

Eventually, it always comes down to money and how much can be made.

https://kmflett.wordpress.com/2020/03/13/private-eyes-analysis-of-crafty-brewers-brewdog/

Im not commenting on the money or image side of things but this quote from your link is quite frankly imo balderdash.

Perhaps in the end it comes to down to whether you think the beer is any good or not. My view, hardly secret, is that this varies between types of beer. The imperial stouts are generally very good as are the stronger IPAs. The core range is perhaps less distinctive


Punk, Elvis and Dead Pony are excellent beers.
Hazy Jane and Hazy OG right up there as well.

I would add veg that I wouldn’t choose their Imperials or such over a decent Belgium quad. There are much better darker beers on offer than Brewdogs so I guess maybe the guy is right about opinions.

 

[Springal]

Eventually, it always comes down to money and how much can be made.

https://kmflett.wordpress.com/2020/03/13/private-eyes-analysis-of-crafty-brewers-brewdog/

All a bit of waffle really. A lot of that was explained - James Watt owned the freehold for a number of the pubs and offices, but has now disposed of all but 1 or 2 I think. All the rents were independently assessed at fair market rates. The reality was BrewDog did not want the investment of properties on it's book, preferring for an OpEx model. Included the new HopHub warehouse in Motherwell which it sold to CRBE to lease back. All fairly standard in business.

All in all - it is a clever marketing scheme to raise money for beer fans. The real share value probably isn't £25 per share, but when you factor in the benefits you get (discounts, free beers, events etc) it is a great way to build a loyal fan base. Even the current raise hit it's £7M target within 2 or 3 months I think

Either way, BrewDog said the current raise is the last and they are exploring an exit / IPO within next couple of years. As someone that paid £2 per share in 2012 I am looking forward to this

 

[schmunk]

Once really good at the forefront of a growth market. Well branded and that 'punk' nonsense worked well.
Had my first Punk IPA can for years recently and it was awful. Nothing like the original recipe.
All gone very commercial at the expense of quality IMHO.

They changed the recipe in 2011. It's probably time to let go now.

 

[vegster]

Im not commenting on the money or image side of things but this quote from your link is quite frankly imo balderdash.

Perhaps in the end it comes to down to whether you think the beer is any good or not. My view, hardly secret, is that this varies between types of beer. The imperial stouts are generally very good as are the stronger IPAs. The core range is perhaps less distinctive


Punk, Elvis and Dead Pony are excellent beers.
Hazy Jane and Hazy OG right up there as well.

I would add veg that I wouldn’t choose their Imperials or such over a decent Belgium quad. There are much better darker beers on offer than Brewdogs so I guess maybe the guy is right about opinions.

It IS all about opinions, one man's meat etc.....

 

[Wozza]

There was always something blatantly wrong about this company, starting with the try-hard copy writing.

 

[HantsSeagull]

Punk IPA is the dogs beard

 

[Arthur]

Seems like the (former) staff are revolting

[tweet]1402724680637747200[/tweet]

Dear BrewDog,



In the last few weeks, we have witnessed what will hopefully be the start of major change in the beer industry. This has been largely down to the brave acts of many people coming forward to tell their stories, as well as others who have not only shouldered the responsibility for amplifying these stories, but also the enormous burden of the inevitable backlash unleashed upon them for daring to raise their heads above the parapet.



BrewDog have been flagged in a significant number of these allegations. We are not writing this to level further accusations, nor to dispel existing ones; it is down to each and every one of us to decide whether we believe women, or not. Rather, the purpose of this letter is to make known the feelings of former staff regarding the atmosphere fostered at BrewDog, since its inception, in the hope that it might explain why so many allegations have come to light.



BrewDog was, and is, built on a cult of personality. Since day one, you have sought to exploit publicity, both good and bad (and usually with the faces of James and Martin front and centre) to further your own business goals. Your mission might genuinely be to make other people as passionate about craft beer as you are (and in a sense you have succeeded - your fanbase certainly has some true zealots in its ranks), but the ambitions you impressed on your team have always seemed business-led. Growth, at all costs, has always been perceived as the number one focus for the company, and the fuel you have used to achieve it is controversy.



In a post-truth world, you have allowed the ends to justify the means, time and time again. Lies, hypocrisy and deceit can be useful tools; PR campaigns repeated over and over on LinkedIn - until you actually believe them yourselves - is good for driving awareness, and if anyone questions the validity of your claims, you can simply move on to the next campaign. How many more times will we see the stories about sending protest beer to Russia (you didn’t), James and Martin changing their names to Elvis (they didn’t), awarding an Employee of the Month over a sweary can (which was not an accident and was actually approved for print by James), or offering Pawternity leave (which many staff are simply never permitted to take)? Worse, by placing personalities at the centre of your messaging, you have inflated egos and fostered a culture within craft beer that deifies founders, and gives weight to sexist and misogynistic brewers who claim to be standing up for free speech. You have become a lightning rod for some of the worst attitudes present on both the internet, and in real life.



You spent years claiming you wanted to be the best employer in the world, presumably to help you to recruit top talent, but ask former staff what they think of those claims, and you’ll most likely be laughed at. Being treated like a human being was sadly not always a given for those working at BrewDog.



These days, you claim you want to save the planet - an admirable mission, but slightly undermined when you look back over years of vanity projects. Chartering flights across the Atlantic that had to be filled with staff to justify them even going ahead? Brewing an “eco-friendly” saison with glacier water (half of which was dumped down the drain) so the proceeds could go to charity (but only after the donation was slashed because it was too much)? We hope the use of a private jet has come to an end, but it wouldn’t surprise us if it hasn’t.



Forgive us if we feel any of the claims made recently about changing the business seem insincere; for as long as any one of us can remember, we have never seen anything that has made us feel like BrewDog has lived the values it purports to uphold.



It doesn’t matter which part of the business we worked in; production, bartending, sales, operations, packaging, quality, marketing or HR, we all felt that in our day to day working lives, there were at best hurdles, and at worst genuine safety concerns. We felt that no matter how these were raised, the likelihood was we would be met with some variation on “that’s just the way things are”. Sometimes it was linked to James directly, sometimes it was because someone in a position of power felt enabled to act in such a manner. We believe these toxic attitudes towards junior staff trickled down throughout the business from day one, until they were simply an intrinsic part of the company. So many of us started our jobs there eagerly, already bought into the BrewDog ethos, only to very quickly discover that “fast-paced” meant “unmanageable”, and “challenging” meant “damaging”. Some people (no names, but as a group we know who they are) quickly discovered that this could be exploited, and allow them to treat other staff however they liked without repercussions - making them feel belittled and/or pressured into working beyond their capacity, and often eventually feeling forced out of the business - because that was perceived as the way the company operated, and if we didn’t like it, we should leave. Every single one of us worked with at least one of these people, who often quickly rose through the ranks as someone loyal to James and his preferred ways of working.



Put bluntly, the single biggest shared experience of former staff is a residual feeling of fear. Fear to speak out about the atmosphere we were immersed in, and fear of repercussions even after we have left. Hell, the company once set up a staff committee, under the guise of assembling a team of well-respected individuals to tackle cross-departmental projects, who at their first meeting discovered the actual main task of the group was to address the culture of fear in the business. Well, we can tell you now, you could have asked any single person in the company how to address it, and every one of them could have told you the answer - but you wouldn’t have liked it.



Some of us remain in the industry, some have moved on to pastures new. Some of us were made redundant, some left voluntarily because we felt it was time to get out before we could be pushed out. Regardless of where we are now, or what we are doing, there is not one amongst us who feels entirely safe signing this letter. Yet despite the power your voice carries, and the depth of your pockets when it comes to legal action, we believe it is time for us to share our experience with the world.



Many staff felt unable to sign this, despite moving into new roles in other business sectors. We do not judge them, and we ask that you - and anyone reading this - believe us when we say that the feeling of disappointment, resentment and sadness is shared by hundreds of people. As we have said, we will not make specific accusations here, because quite frankly we cannot risk the wrath of BrewDog’s notoriously trigger-happy legal team; but suffice to say that a significant number of people have admitted they have suffered mental illness as a result of working at BrewDog, and that signing this would leave them feeling extremely vulnerable.



James, this next passage is for you.



It is with you that the responsibility for this rotten culture lies. Your attitude and actions are at the heart of the way BrewDog is perceived, from both inside and out. By valuing growth, speed and action above all else, your company has achieved incredible things, but at the expense of those who delivered your dreams.



In the wake of your success are people left burnt out, afraid and miserable. The true culture of BrewDog is, and seemingly always has been, fear. You go on LinkedIn and claim the buck stops with you, but do you have the guts to look at the team you have built around you and admit that the overwhelming majority of them are quietly afraid that their next mistake could be their last at BrewDog? In the last few weeks, the silence has been deafening - this is not the time to try and quietly wait things out.



Now, for those of you still working at BrewDog.



You have a choice. The next time you are pressured into doing something against your will, or working in such a way that it will affect your mental health, push back. It is absolutely not worth it. The only reason BrewDog has become what it is, is that under immense pressure, good people have done bad things to achieve the job set before them, in such a way that benefits only the company. Being told to ignore health and safety guidelines? Don’t. Someone’s demanding you send beer to an event in the USA by bypassing customs? Nope. We know sometimes it feels as though you are part of something bigger, something special and unique - but ask yourself, is that worth the shit you have to deal with?



BrewDog - we’re sorry, but you don’t get to spend fourteen years exploiting social media’s lack of interest in nuance or truth, and then shit the bed when it comes back around on you. Now is the time for genuine, meaningful change at BrewDog - and we mean more than starting the search for a Mental Health ambassador (who’ll likely last less than a year after none of their plans are taken seriously) or pointing staff to an HR team who are often perceived to be there solely to protect the company. We mean starting with a genuine apology from anyone and everyone who has worked for BrewDog and treated people like objects; harassing, assaulting, belittling, insulting or gaslighting them. It’s the absolute minimum we should expect from you, and yet we still don’t actually expect to see one. We hope we’re wrong.





Signed, the following former BrewDog team members:



JA

GA

Jaye Arbuckle

Maria Aurora

Christopher Baria-Lewis

David Beattie

Louise Burgess

EC

Kirsty Cameron

Calum Carmichael

Emily Jane

Bryony Coates

Charlotte Cook

Graeme Davidson

Andy Davies

Ben Duckworth

Meg Eli

Dawn Farmer

Leigh Fitzgerald

Becky Flockhart

Beth Fraser

Michael Gee

Darren Gordon

Megan Grant

Kirsty G

RH

Andrew Hamilton

Alice Hayward

Rachel Hendry

Dan Hocking

Claire Ingram

VJ

Rachel Jack

Sean Joseph

Rob Laws

Joe Lindsay

Rob Mackay

Alex Mair

Andrew Marshall

Craig McCafferty

Douglas McRae

Rowan Molyneux

Scott Murray

SO

Erica O’Neill

Sophie Pickle

Tom Plant

Edward Pountney

Thom Rewcastle

Kat Riddell

Polly Robinson

Mark S

Jean-Baptiste Souvestre

Jacek Sukiennik

M Thompson

Dulcie Thomson

Helen Claire Walkinshaw

Lolly Watkins

Grace Whitby

Nathaniel Williams

Elsie White





plus forty-five (and counting) former staff who did not feel safe to include either their names or initials. Make of that what you will.

 

[beorhthelm]

suppose the problem with projecting a ethos around small, alternative business, is it doesnt align with building a big corporation. there doesnt seem to be any substantive claim made in the letter, maybe its just too much hard work for some?

 

[Monkey Man]

All the "punk" posturing is a massive cringe for me. As is the self-conscious swearing, the smug marketing, and this sense that the company is in some way sticking it to complacent, out of touch and inferior rivals. (The truth is that hundreds of tiny breweries are making beer that makes Brewdog look very ordinary – and they're doing it without the bombast and bloated PR hyperbole.)

Brewdog has made plenty of enemies in the brewing world, but not always for the reasons it likes to think it has. And now, seemingly, among its own staff too.

 

[Springal]

It is difficult. I do think there are some fundamental issues with the culture at BrewDog, and I do think it stems from James Watt being involved in everything and not very trusting. The amount of CFO's they have had that left within a year (who joined from big companies) because they 'don't fit the culture' is disappointing. Same in all areas. Also a couple of people who signed that letter I have dealt with or met personally and they are decent people so there has to be something in it.

I also think it depends how the culture is applied. For example, if you are in the sales team responsible for Tesco, then you would expect a high level of pressure on that kind of job. But if we apply the same expectations / behavior to Janet in accounts, then that is wrong.

 

[Springal]

All the "punk" posturing is a massive cringe for me. As is the self-conscious swearing, the smug marketing, and this sense that the company is in some way sticking it to complacent, out of touch and inferior rivals. (The truth is that hundreds of tiny breweries are making beer that makes Brewdog look very ordinary – and they're doing it without the bombast and bloated PR hyperbole.)

Brewdog has made plenty of enemies in the brewing world, but not always for the reasons it likes to think it has. And now, seemingly, among its own staff too.

To be fair BrewDog are very clear that they are not competing against the small breweries, with small output of very high quality and expensive beers. What they are aiming for is taking market share from the big beer co's masquerading as craft beer. The latest trade reports reflect some success so far in this so they are doing something right in that regard

 

[e77]

Sounds like a fairly typical start up that got big and hasn't changed it's culture. I have contracted in London Digital Media agencies and they push the staff until they can't take anymore.

 

[Springal]

I do think the investment they took from TSG and the expected return, which looks like BrewDog will struggle to hit the targets for has also put unncessecary strain at the top which then filters down

 

[beorhthelm]

...What they are aiming for is taking market share from the big beer co's masquerading as craft beer. The latest trade reports reflect some success so far in this so they are doing something right in that regard

true they have successfully become a big beer co masquerading as craft beer.

 

[Springal]

true they have successfully become a big beer co masquerading as craft beer.

Depends how you define craft. But they are still 100x smaller than 'big beer'