About Us

2007

MARTIN AND I (JAMES) WERE BORED OF THE INDUSTRIALLY BREWED LAGERS AND STUFFY ALES THAT DOMINATED THE UK BEER MARKET

We decided the best way to fix this undesirable predicament was to brew our own. Consequently in April 2007 BrewDog was born.

Both only 24 at the time, we leased a building in Fraserburgh, got some scary bank loans, spent all our money on stainless steel and started making some hardcore craft beers.

We brewed tiny batches, filled bottles by hand and sold our beers at local markets and out of the back of our beat up old van.

Our biggest mission when we set up BrewDog was to make other people as passionate about great craft beer as we are. And that is still our biggest mission today.

2008

THINGS STARTED GETTING CRAZY FOR US IN 2008. THEY HAVE STAYED CRAZY, OR PERHAPS GOT EVEN CRAZIER, EVER SINCE

We somehow persuaded the banks to give us money to buy loads more tanks and a proper bottling machine.

We masterminded the UK's strongest ever beer, Tokyo. This resulted in a huge media storm, and if you believed the headlines, the downfall of Western civilisation.

2009

BY THIS POINT, BREWDOG HAD BECOME THE UK'S FASTEST-GROWING ALTERNATIVE BEER BRAND, AND PUNK IPA BECAME THE TOP-SELLING IPA IN SCANDINAVIA

To keep up with the sheer demand for our beers we needed more huge tanks, but had no room inside our Fraserburgh brewery to put them. So when they arrived, outside they went.

We also launched Equity for Punks. In a ground-breaking first, we offered people the opportunity to buy shares in our company online. Over 1,300 invested and our anti-business business model was born.

We continued to push boundaries and smash people's perceptions of what beer can be by brewing the world's strongest ever beer, Tactical Nuclear Penguin at 32%.

2010

2010 WAS A VERITABLE ROLLER COASTER FOR US AS WE CONTINUED OUR MISSION TO SPREAD THE CRAFT BEER GOSPEL

Opening our first craft beer bar in our home town of Aberdeen was a dream come true, and we were blown away by the response from customers.

We picked up the Gold Medal for Hardcore IPA at the World Beer Cup and James became Scotland's youngest ever Entrepreneur of the Year.

We brewed a 55% abv beer and packed it into roadkill, making it the world's most expensive beer ever as we fused the seldom-colliding worlds of art, craft beer and taxidermy.

We managed to find space for even more fermentation tanks in our increasingly cramped brewery and we also held our first ever AGM for our Equity Punk shareholders in a very snowy Aberdeen in December.

2011

DUE TO THE RUN-AWAY SUCCESS OF BREWDOG ABERDEEN WE WERE ABLE TO OPEN BARS IN EDINBURGH, GLASGOW, AND A FLAGSHIP LONDON VENUE IN CAMDEN

In true BrewDog style we announced our arrival in the capital by driving down Camden High Street in a BrewDog tank.

We also brewed a beer at the bottom of the ocean (seriously), dispensed a 28% beer from a modified deer's head and grew our business over 200% (again!) as we started building our new brewery with demand for our beers reaching scary new levels.

Most significantly we also launched Equity for Punks II, raising over £2.2m to help us grow and welcoming over 5,000 new shareholders.

2012

2012 WAS ONE HELL OF A YEAR FOR BREWDOG. WE MOVED FROM OUR COBBLED-TOGETHER BREWERY IN FRASERBURGH TO A STATE OF THE ART BREWERY IN ELLON

What started out as a dream five years earlier had become our new reality. The world-class HQ enabled us to tighten every aspect of production, whilst making even more amazing craft beer than ever before.

We were able to grow revenues by 95%, and were awarded the Fastest Growing Company in Scotland and also listed in The Sunday Times Fast Track 100 as the fastest growing food and drink company in the UK.

Six new BrewDog bars opened across the UK, with a new London flagship in Shoreditch as Diageo infamously cheated us from an award for our bars which resulted in another global media storm.

We also projected ourselves naked onto the houses of parliament, made a special beer for the Olympics, launched the phenomenal Dead Pony Club and hosted 2,000 Equity Punks in Aberdeen for our 'n roll AGM.

2013

2013 WAS PRETTY EPIC. WE RAISED £4.25M THROUGH EQUITY FOR PUNKS III, SMASHING CROWD-FUNDING RECORD ALONG THE WAY, WELCOME ALMOST 10,000 NEW INVESTORS FROM 22 DIFFERENT COUNTRIES

We recorded the first season of our own BrewDogs TV show in the US, brewing amazing beers with some of America's best craft brewers.

We opened our first ever international bar in Stockholm, holding a funeral for generic beer in the centre of the Swedish capital. We were also flattered and bemused in equal measure when a fake BrewDog bar opened in China.

In beer terms, we launched the insanely popular Jack Hammer, doubled the size of our brand new brewery and held mandatory company yoga sessions for all our team in the carpark. (One of these is a lie).

2014

2014 WAS A WHIRLWIND AS WE CONTINUED TO MAKE OTHER PEOPLE AS PASSIONATE ABOUT GREAT BEER AS WE ARE BY ADDING MORE BEERS, MORE BARS, MORE CUSTOMERS AND MORE TEAM MEMBERS TO OUR BUSINESS

Our assault on humanity continued with the opening of 12 new BrewDog bars as far afield as Brazil and Japan, as well as our first BottleDog and the awesome DogTap at BrewDog HQ.

We also updated our branding and hit the headlines for sticking it to The Portman Group as well as Russian premier, Vladimir Putin.

We released 36 different BrewDog beers, unleashed Truck Norris on the world, hit the screens with a second season of BrewDogs and shipped our beers to 55 different countries. We did not sleep much.

2015

IN 2015 WE LAUNCHED THE LARGEST EQUITY CROWDFUNDING SCHEME IN HUMAN HISTORY - EQUITY FOR PUNKS IV - BREAKING WORLD RECORDS IN THE PROCESS

We opened 17 new bars, including an epic new location in our home city of Aberdeen as well as the triple threat of awesome beer, food and BottleDog in the form of DogHouse in Glasgow. We also launched our first ShuffleDog (Leeds), Dog Eat Dog (Angel) and reclaimed central London for craft beer (BrewDog Soho).

We also installed a kick-ass canning line at our Ellon brewery, swept the nation with the long-awaited canned Jack Hammer, and released the strongest canned ale in the world; Black Eyed King Imp.

Our most amazing year yet saw us brew 65 different beers, hit the screens for a third season of Brew Dogs and debut plans for the largest venture in BrewDog history - taking on the USA with BrewDog Columbus.

2016

IN 2016 WE SET TWO WORLD RECORDS; ONE FOR THE HIGHEST EVER EQUITY CROWDFUNDING RAISE AND ANOTHER FOR THE MOST CONSECUTIVE YEARS IN THE SUNDAY TIMES FAST TRACK 100

But we were only just getting started. Over the course of the year our incredible brewing team dialled in 82 different beers - including launching into the world Elvis Juice, Albino Squid Assassin, Jet Black Heart and (for a few weeks at least) Born to Die.

We also opened a brand new 300HL brewhouse in Ellon, began construction of BrewDog Columbus and announced a stand-alone sour facility in Aberdeenshire. Plus we opened nine new bars from Berlin to York, welcomed 6,000 Equity Punks to our AGM and turned the world of spirits upside down with the announcement of LoneWolf.

Oh, and we gave away the detailed recipes to each and every BrewDog beer we ever made.

2017

IN 2017 WE CELEBRATED THE DECADE OF DOG; TEN YEARS SINCE BREWDOG CAME HOWLING INTO THE WORLD. TO MARK THIS, WE MADE A COMMITMENT TO CHANGE THE WAY WE DO BUSINESS

The Unicorn Fund was our pledge to give away 20% of our profits every single year, with 10% shared between our awesome crew and 10% donated to charity. This is a new blueprint for 21st Century business.

We also launched Equity for Punks V taking our global community to over 70,000, began brewing both in Columbus and our standalone OverWorks beers in Ellon - and announced our plan to build a BrewDog brewery in Brisbane, Australia. We rocked two AGMs, one 34-beer #CollabFest and a hell of a lot of amazing releases like Hazy Jane, Jet Black Heart Nitro and Make Earth Great Again!

(and we also hit the Sunday Times Fast Track 100 for a record sixth year in a row)

2018

IN 2018, WE OPENED THE WORLD'S FIRST CRAFT BEER HOTEL - THE DOGHOUSE - RIGHT NEXT TO OUR COLUMBUS BREWERY, AS WELL AS OUR VERY OWN BEER MUSEUM

We broke the world record for Equity Crowd Funding as Equity for Punks V closed at over £126m. And we launched the BrewDog Blueprint - a manifesto for the future, laying out our focus for beer, quality and people; our mission laid out in black and white.

2019

OUR NEW-LOOK PACKAGING WAS REVEALED TO THE WORLD AS WE SET OUR SIGHTS ON MAKING CRAFT BEER MORE ACCESSIBLE. WITH IT CAME A RENEWEDPURPOSE AND BREWDOG TOMORROW WAS ANNOUNCED: A COMMITMENT TO SUSTAINABILITY BUILT TO ENSURE WE HAVE A PLANET TO BREW BEER ON

With our sights set firmly on international expansion, 2019 was a year that saw BrewDog open two new breweries around the world. Berlin and Brisbane joined our Ellon and Columbus sites to take us to four amazing breweries worldwide.

Time Magazine voted the Doghouse Hotel as one of the top 100 places to stay in the world. Our British Airways collaboration was also unleashed, with Speedbird 100 taking flight. Four new bars including the Dublin Outpost also opened their doors for the first time, alongside another innovation: our alcohol-free bar in the heart of Old Street.

2020

THIS WAS A CHALLENGING YEAR FOR BUSINESSES AROUND THE WORLD. BUT THANKS TO THE COMMITMENT AND DEDICATION OF OUR TEAM, BREWDOG NAVIGATED THE CHOPPY SEAS TO SHOW THAT BUSINESS CAN BE A FORCE FOR GOOD DURING A GLOBAL PANDEMIC

Our distillers also paused on making delicious spirits to produce hand sanitiser, donating over 500,000 bottles to the NHS and local key workers. We also produced some new beer too, including the iconic Barnard Castle, and a collaboration exclusively for ALDI - ALD IPA.

2021

SUSTAINABILITY RULES

Our focus on planet comes to the fore, as we start work on our anaerobic digestion plant and launch BrewDog & Friends, the world’s most sustainable beer club. Two new hotels open. We announce plans for a Las Vegas brewery and our biggest ever venue, at London Waterloo. Equity for Punks Tomorrow raises an eye-watering £30.2m… oh, and we collaborate on beers with a Trappist brewery (yes, monks) and Parma Violets (yes, the sweets).

2022

BIGGEST BARS YET

We open our two biggest and most iconic sites - the bars in Waterloo Station and on the Las Vegas strip – and HQ gets bigger (again) with a new brewhouse and a state of the art distillery. We also celebrate the 15th birthday of the beer that started it all (Punk IPA, as if you didn’t know) and cause QUITE a stir by naming ourselves anti-sponsors of the World F**k Up in Qatar.

2023

YEAR OF NEW BEER

A tough year for the industry; but a great year for BrewDog beer. Black Heart, Shore Leave and Wingman are all released to the world and make a massive splash. We also launch Nanodog, to ensure we keep producing the innovative and exciting new beers we’re known for. Best of all (for us), we win not one but two big ‘top employer’ awards – which (momentarily) leaves our haters with not a lot to say…