BrewDog was founded in Scotland in 2007 by two friends, Martin Dickie and James Watt. From the beginning their “punk” attitude has had an impact on the company, their beers, and their followers, us included.
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Our BrewDog Story
Our BrewDog story started with the advent of the Brew Dogs TV show first airing on Esquire TV in 2013. Two friends, who were brewers from Scotland, James Watt and Martin Dickie (most people in the U.S. at that time wouldn’t know them from a Tom, Dick, or a Harry), somehow landed a U.S. TV show all about brewing beer…in the strangest of places with the strangest of ingredients.
Ken was hooked. Fast forward a few years to a vacation that we embarked upon to England, Scotland, and Ireland. Of course, we managed to find a BrewDog pub. Our enjoyment of BrewDog’s unique and off-the-wall beers continued to grow.
First U.S. Based BrewDog
Fast forward a few more years, and BrewDog opened its doors as a brewery in the U.S. for the first time in 2017 in a suburb of Columbus, Ohio – Canal Winchester. It was 2018 when we moved into our RV and headed east for the first time ever. Coincidence? We think not.
EFP and AGM – An Excuse to Party!
As Equity for Punk (EFP) members – meaning we own a bit of stock in BrewDog – we were invited to an exclusive (not really) party. Meant to be their official stockholders meeting, Annual General Mayhem (AGM) is exactly what one would expect from BrewDog – a party!
And when we could make it back to AGM again, we did just that. But this time, we took it one step further. We managed to hook Martin Dickie for our podcast. We’ve heard the story behind BrewDog, but we wanted the story from the horse’s mouth.
Meet Martin Dickie, Co-Founder of BrewDog
Growing up in a fishing village – or was it farming – we think it was fishing – or was it farming? You’ll have to tune in to understand. At any rate, Martin grew up in Scotland and knew from a young age he wanted to be a distiller. Obviously that changed.
Once he embraced his brewing calling, he had dreams “of an incredible looking brewery that was semi-automated.” Yeah, that dream has become a reality. Today there are more than 100 BrewDog locations around the world including pubs, breweries, hotels, and more. Producing close to one million hectoliters of beer per year (about 839,000 barrels), BrewDog is no small pup.
From Distiller to Brewer
Anybody can look up the facts and figures surrounding BrewDog, so we delved deeper into Martin’s life. How he knew he wanted to be a distiller. and why he changed his career path, which seemed like it was to be his destiny. We wanted to know more about the punk attitude and why BrewDog had this desire to brew the biggest beers on the planet. BrewDog has laid claim to the world’s highest ABV at one time or another.
We got to sit back in a suite in the Doghouse – the world’s first brewery hotel (Click here to learn a bit more about BrewDog’s DogTap Columbus, home to the Doghouse.), beer in hand, AGM raging just outside, and chat with Martin about life and beer.
“Why can’t beer be whatever your imagination wants it to be?”
Martin Dickie, Co-founder BrewDog
Connect with BrewDog
With locations all around the world, your best bet to stay connected with BrewDog, besides paying them a visit, is online. We’ve been to BrewDog’s DogTap in Columbus and BrewDog Cowgate in Edinburgh. Las Vegas is one of the newest BrewDog locations.
BrewDog DogTap Columbus
96 Gender Rd.
Canal Winchester, OH
BrewDog Edinburgh Cowgate
143 Cowgate
Edinburgh EH1 1JS, Scotland
BrewDog Las Vegas
3767 Las Vegas Blvd S.
Las Vegas, NV
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Big Winter Warmers and Christmas Beers
Since this podcast episode went live right before Christmas, we’d like to share some Christmas beer ideas with you. Here’s to getting all the beers you’ve ever dreamed of under your tree.
More Big Beers and Big Attitudes!
BrewDog is known for its attitude and big beers. We’ve got two more breweries known for some of the same. Be sure to listen to our podcast episodes with River North and Burns Family.
For about the price of a beer, your virtual beer purchase will help keep us on the road bringing you the stories behind the beer.
Let us know you did just that, and we’ll put together a virtual happy hour with you. We’d love to see your smiling faces.
“We appreciate you highlighting our brewery on your podcast, your enthusiasm for craft breweries, travel and adventure and the patronage of not only you, but the friends you bring into Tres Litros.”
Jason at Tres Litros Beer Co
“Ken and April do a fantastic job of mixing the culture of beer and adventure into something akin to a fine barrel-aged sour. They are wise beyond their years. Loving this podcast and it will be on our weekly playlist for SURE!”
The Dog In Us
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Shout Outs:
To all the peeps at BrewDog, especially Jason, who helped put this interview together on a wild and crazy day – AGM Day, that is!
And of course, to Martin! Thank you for stepping away from the party for just a moment to hang out with us and just chat. We’ve been fans since long before BrewDog opened in the U.S., and the chance to talk with you on our podcast was, like, well…we were a bit star struck. Sitting in one of your DogHouse hotel rooms was the perfect place to host the podcast. We loved the ambiance, the vibe, and your sense of humor when asked to take a photo in the shower. I mean, you have shower beer in a beer hotel. It had to be done! Thank you!
