The 'Dog's bollocks

A couple of months ago, while writing about the craft beer boom, I worried that BrewDog may be "in danger of getting a bit too big for their boots", "on the verge of becoming just another corporate bully". That worry is all the greater following the news of the company's latest plans: a huge new brewery, up to 20 new bars (doubling the number they currently have around the UK) and a hotel with beer on tap in the rooms which founders James Watt and Martin Dickie hope will turn Ellon in Scotland into a "tourist destination" (stag do honeypot, more like).

Watt and Dickie may continue to see themselves as punks, as the "renegade craft brewer" of the article, but as their empire, their turnover and their ambition continue to grow, talk of "burning the established system" starts to sound increasingly empty. After all, when it comes to craft beer, BrewDog are themselves already the establishment.

Perhaps it's uncharitable of me (I'm a fan of BrewDog's general ethos and products), but the way they're continuing to claim to be outsiders taking on the big boys when actually they're increasingly big boys themselves is not dissimilar to Nigel Farage's schtick...

(Thanks to Mhairi for the link.)