One of the most interesting last week news concerned the steeply rising of one of Europe’s most popular breweries at the time. Needless to say, I’m talking about the Scottish Brewdog that in the first quarter of 2010 saw an incredible +250% in sales volume. Very impressive, especially when you consider that at the same time the brewing industry showed a decline in sales of 5.1%. Brewdog currently produces over 400,000 bottles per month and exports in 17 different nations.
Jul
9
'10In spite of the crisis: Brewdog scores a +250% of sales in Q1
May
6
'10Of breweries and their local
Maybe you know, or maybe not, but I still write it. Danes are enthusiast, because this week finally opened the first Mikkeller Bar in Copenhagen. As you can imagine, this is a premises owned by the Danish brewer, which will offer house beers both on tap (15-way system) and bottled. Will also host many productions from America and the rest of Europe, among which is easy to imagine the Italian Revelation Cat (Alex Liberati, the founder and brewer, and Mikkel, are great friends). Besides being a new address to be reported in the Danish capital, the Mikkeller Bar also offers the opportunity to reflect on the new trend of pubs owned by brewers.
Feb
18
'10The penguins, Otto Von Bismarck and the regressive beer
The BBC web-site has published the news that the Scottish brewer Brewdog has brewed the most alcoholic beer in the world.”What’s new?!” you would think, since the Tactical Nuclear Penguin project become public several weeks ago. Right? Wrong, because the beer we’re talking about is not the penguin’s, but a new production, brewed to allow Brewdog to reclaim the title of most alcoholic brewery in the universe. What has happened? Let’s try to sum up this depressing story…
Feb
16
'10Introducing Matteo Milan, Brewdog Italian former brewer
Everyone knows Brewdog, the Scottish brewer that in a few years come into the limelight of the international brewing scene, becoming one of the best known brands in the circle thanks to an aggressive communication strategy and innovative productions. Perhaps not everyone knows that a small slice of the incredible success of Brewdog is due to a young Italian, Matteo Milan, who until a few months ago worked in a permanent position at the Scottish plant. After this experience, lasted a year and a half, now Matteo is back in Italy to become part of the staff of Birrificio del Ducato. I asked him some questions about his Scot adventure, trying to discover the secrets of Brewdog from an insider.
Jan
16
'10New international beers
As happens from time to time we take a look at the new beers that will soon invade (or have recently invaded) the international market. Let’s start with one of the latest news, which comes directly from the blog Thirsty Pilgrim. It seems that the Belgian Dupont will introduce, in the next April, a special dry-hopped version of its renowned Saison. In broad outline dry-hopping technique is to add fresh hops directly during fermentation. Will be produced once a year and the availability will be quite limited: they will produce only about 250 kegs and 300 to 500 magnum size bottles. Sounds like an interesting variation on the theme for all those who love this beer. But it will takes a lot of luck to have the chance to sample it.
Oct
22
'09Own your part of Brewdog
Another brilliant idea from those crazy guys at Brewdog brewery. Not another weird beer but a no precedent venture for a European micro-brewery. As you may read on their official blog, and on the Lorenzo Fortini’s Ales&Co. Society web-site as well, the brewery decided to sell 10.000 participating shares (the 9% of the whole) to anyone interested in purchasing them. Target of this venture the finance of an energy-saving self-sufficient brand new brewery.
Sep
22
'09Low-alcohol beers: Camra takes the field
Pride'n'Joy from Welton's, one of the "light" beers that Camra is promoting
Recently we noticed that some microbreweries are launching low-alcohol beers. The causes are many: the desire to reach a new market, the need to survive the growing avalanche of neo-prohibitionists decisions and also the challenge to brew lighter but tasty beers.
In the past we wrote about the rediscovery of a “light” style such as the Mild, the launch of How to Disappear Completely from the Scottish brewery Brewdog or the Italian experiences of Pause Cafe (with its Dui e mes) and Birrificio Italiano (the technique used to brew the Muse also helps to reduce the alcohol content).
