Pathetic
National stereotyping? "Sink the Bismarck"? In the twenty-first century? Is that the best they can do? Really?
You expect racist crap like this from Shepherd Neame, but I thought BrewDog were above that. Lame.
There is a slightly tenous link to strong beer: Winston Churchill, who gave the order to sink the Bismarck, was the person for whom Carlsberg Special Brew was first made. It's not recorded whether there was enough alcohol in it for him.
I have to admit I really like and admire the boys at Brewdog for what they've achieved, and Im not paticularly concerned at the name they've given to this beer. Its politically incorrect sure, but its meant as a joke, and if we can't make jokes about things that happened over 60 years ago we're in a bad way.
ReplyDeleteThat said, who cares about this new beer? TNP was great publicity, quite clever in the brewing technique, amusing Penguin outfits and just generally a bit of a giggle. This is an ego trip, and a relatively pointless one at that. They make some truly fantastic beers, which you can actually drink. I don't want to sip my beer in a spirit sized measure, if I want a spirit sized measure, I'll drink a spirit.
They are on the verge of going just a little too far. I hope the next headline I see from them is 'Brewdog make worlds best tasting beer, its 5.5%'
Oi! What's wrong with Shep Neame! :P
ReplyDeletebeerbirrabier.blogspot.com
Ok, I am officially confused.
ReplyDeleteIs BrewDog still a brewery or is it just a ego trip these days?
At first I thought about buying a share, but yes you are right, I am glad I didn't bother.
ReplyDeleteWill still buy the occasional BrewDog beer, but to be honest there are plenty of better AIPAs and imperial stouts over here, making much of the product line redundant.
Chunk, I am thinking of the embarrassing ad campaign that Shep's advertising agency came up with for Spitfire: "No Fokker comes close", etc.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous - am not sure that there is an appropriate time to make the deaths of 1995 men, who probably didn't know why they were there, a joke. If it is then I'm happy to have no sense of humour.
ReplyDeleteBy the same token just how much are we supposed to forgive Brewdog as long as they claim it's "tongue in cheek" - will enough time have lapsed to see it as funny when they launch their Hindley & Brady limited edition in another 15 years??
Tandleman - best response I've seen on the matter all day!!
it is getting to the point where you have to say they are either entirely clueless or calculatingly annoying.
ReplyDeleteI wanted to post my own thoughts on my own blog before I read anyone else's. Hopefully you'll see I agree with you all
ReplyDeleteI hope they change the name and issue a strong apology.
Given this piece on BeerAdvocate, I somewhat doubt it Dave:
ReplyDeletehttp://beeradvocate.com/forum/read/2590028
I wonder though if "self-depreciating" is a Freudian slip?
Following your link, I quite liked this rant from a Swedish guy.
ReplyDelete"I have had your punk IPA for example both on draft, bottle and cask and I think it's medioacre either way.. I just bought a bottle of the penguin and now the penguin is dead? Why did you make it in the first place? I honestly think you seem to be great guys and I like your sense of homour but your talk about "quality craft beer" seems to be pure bullshit. Only 2 years old? Try fixing a good pale ale recipe and stop putting a "thin as a brown ale" imperial stout on barrrels and sell them for $8+ a bottle, make a decent imperial stout to begin with and then you can start experimenting.. Jesus christ this really raises my respect for breweries like AleSmith or even Stone, sure they experiment but at least they have a good foundation before the start wanking out whatever seems to tease the crowd.."
The word verification for the above was "cringe".
ReplyDeleteDo you mean you liked it because you were laughing at the Swedish guy, or because you agreed with him?
ReplyDeleteSwedes are tragic rather than funny. So the latter really.
ReplyDeleteI like the part where he's kissing the picture of the queen with tongue.
ReplyDeleteI'm from Portland, Oregon. Just wanted to say thank you for the write-up about this. A lot of people in the US don't get to hear any of the news about the beer being a controversial release, or that their marketing for this particular beer is a swipe at typical German-bashing marketing in the UK. We just see them as an experimental brewery putting out beer that we want to try. Your thoughts are welcomed. You (you and your readers) should comment more on some of the US blogs out there as well.
ReplyDeleteIn Oregon there has been a backlash against Rogue regarding some of their marketing and pricing. The rest of the US just sees them as a great brewery but in Oregon many people think they charge too much for a middle of the road beer and that they also have some business practices that we aren't too keen about. There's an intervew about this here:
Part 1: http://thenewschoolbrewblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/going-rogue-interview-with-brett-joyce.html
Part 2: http://thenewschoolbrewblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/going-rogue-part-2-interview-with-brett.html
Also, the same blog just released a post about Russian River's Pliny the Younger beer and the hype created around this beer. It's a great short read and the comments are good too. The blog is really starting to address some of the marketing trends of beer and asking if this is a good thing or not:
http://thenewschoolbrewblog.blogspot.com/2010/02/pliny-younger-worth-hype.html
ps - Hey ANGELO!!! Represent Oregon!!!
pss - If anyone is a homebrewer in Scotland, get in touch with me! I'm visiting Scotland soon and want to create a pub for homebrewed beer.
Eric, I've been meaning to bung something up on here about your project. I will get around to it soon.
ReplyDelete