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The BBC has released a podcast series, The Good Ship BrewDog, which over the course of six episodes tackles everything from the bro culture at HQ to allegations of bullying and harassment.
This got us talking about BrewDog – what’s their status in the beer world in 2022? And why haven’t we felt moved to boycott them, or remove their bar from our Bristol pub guide?
It turns out we don’t have a neat party line on this and so, for the first time in a while, we thought we’d share something like the raw text of our debate.
Jess
My first question is why exactly the BBC is going into this level of detail about the running of one particular business. There’s some shocking stuff in the podcast but lots of it also just sounds like how a lot of businesses are run.
Ray
I guess it’s partly that it’s a BBC Scotland production. BrewDog is prominent in the UK and worldwide but in Scotland it’s a really significant business. But, yes, I agree that this does feel a bit unusual. Especially when you get five minutes dedicated to James Watts’s annoying ‘Imperial March’ door jingle.
Jess
Yeah, what’s the point there?
Ray
That he’s an autocrat who imposes his will, not a cool team player, I think. The serious stuff is serious, though. The story about the employee being refused a promotion because they thought she might be planning to have a baby–
Jess
Terrible. As in, the very basics of running a proper, compliant business. Amateurish.
Ray
But they’d say – the documentary says this – that it’s just part of “cutting through the red tape”.
Jess
That’s where that whole anti-red-tape populism gets you: discrimination against women and minorities in the name of “just getting it done”.
Ray
So, why don’t we boycott them? I know a lot of our peers are of the view that enough is enough, cut off the supply of cash, stop buying their stuff.
Jess
I definitely think it’s time for the supply of free PR to be cut off, but that’s kind of happened, hasn’t it? When we wrote our chapter on BrewDog in Brew Britannia we felt quite out of step because it was pretty negative.
Ray
It was objective! But it probably did tell a more negative, questioning version of their origin story than was usual at that time. A lot of the same themes as in the documentary: they weren’t poor, they weren’t original, and they lied all the time. Some people were a bit irritated at us for being critical of BrewDog at all.
Jess
Until a couple of years later when, suddenly, we weren’t critical enough! The thing is, I would still rather have more BrewDogs than Heinekens in the market.
Ray
That’s a thing that comes across well in the podcast. There’s a clip of Pete Brown talking about how well the beers did in a blind-tasting back in 2007 or 2009 or whenever it was and it really reminded me how exciting Punk IPA tasted.
Jess
Still does. I’ll die on this hill. It’s a good beer, and consistently good. I’m always happy to drink it.
Ray
So, we don’t boycott them because, first, their influence has been, on balance, positive; and secondly, because the beer is good. Doesn’t sound super convincing.
Jess
In my day job [charity finance] I spend a lot of time thinking about environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing and reporting and it’s always a bit more complicated than “just divest”. You look at a range of things a business does. And individual things that they do badly might not be enough to make you withdraw support. Without in any way condoning James Watts’s behaviour, if BrewDog is genuinely doing the right things on the environment, you might say that gives them credit in the bank. I’m fascinated by their B Corp status.
Ray
Do you think B Corp might be forced to withdraw their endorsement of BrewDog?
Jess
I doubt it. They must have this with a lot of the businesses they work with. It’s about points and thresholds. And it’s been a standard line of attack from the right, and from lobby groups, to try to discredit things like Fair Trade.
Ray
We’ve found one exception, or one bad actor, so the whole thing is pointless!
Jess
Exactly. I’d rather have a system that’s imperfect but moves things forward, or shifts the window, than nothing at all.
One of the first cracks in BrewDogs moral armour was its partnership with Tesco more than a decade ago. This is a dedicated, permanent display in a branch of Sainsbury’s in June 2022.Ray
I do struggle with the hypocrisy issue. I don’t really care about companies selling out or selling up – we sort of know that’s the plan, or at least an option, for any serious growth-focused business. But BrewDog has been so insistent on the importance of independence, even after, it turns out, they were actively trying to arrange a sale to Heineken. That is a recurring theme of the podcast: that James Watt will say or do anything to move the business forward.
Jess
The podcast makes it sound as if he’s entered into a Faustian pact with the venture capitalists which is driving a lot of that.
Ray
Back to boycotting, though–
Jess
Who else do we boycott? I try to buy from businesses I think are good, and making a positive contribution. I said I’d rather have more BrewDogs than Heinekens but I’d also rather have more Good Chemistrys than BrewDogs. But we live in the world we live in. We still use Amazon occasionally despite my best efforts. We still shop in the supermarket.
Ray
As it happens, we’ve haven’t been to BrewDog’s bar in Bristol for ages because–
Jess
Partly because we’re trying to support more local companies that we think are making a more positive contribution. But also – It’s always too busy!
Ray
This was a point Martyn Cornell made on Twitter…
The people of Dublin are taking the allegations against BrewDog very seriously … pic.twitter.com/lX1OY3OJCA
— Martyn Cornell (@zythophiliac) June 20, 2022
…and despite the BBC coverage, despite the total disdain among beer geeks, the shine has not gone off the brand out in the real world.
Jess
Bloody hell, people love BrewDog on LinkedIn. I see James Watt is going to be on Steven Bartlett’s podcast soon.
Ray
He’ll have anyone on – Jordan Peterson!
Jess
Yeah, that bro-y capitalism thing still seems, unfortunately, to have further to run and that’s what puts me off BrewDog the most. That said, I just can’t see a positive in BrewDog crashing and burning. It’s not just about the loss of jobs. It’s the fact that the company is still doing some things that are positive. In particular, the environmental thing. Yes, it’s true to point to flights to Las Vegas as a problem, that hypocrisy again, but if you manage to create an enormous manufacturing plant that is genuinely carbon neutral, that is an impressive feat.
Ray
I guess you might say the important thing is to keep talking critically about BrewDog in particular, and ethics across the industry as whole.
Jess
Especially with people who aren’t totally immersed in the beer world, but are interested.
Ray
Blimey, like religious obsessives, knocking on people’s doors: “Can I share the bad news with you today?”
Jess
Ha ha, no, but just maybe gently correcting the narrative when you see it on social media or it comes up in conversation. BrewDog should not be a go-to example of how to run a business. James Watt should not be an aspirational business-bro pinup.
Ray
And there’s a lesson for drinkers, too – don’t hero worship these people. Don’t be a ‘fan’. You’re just setting yourself up to be let down.
Jess
But having said all that, I’m going to reserve the right to pop into a BrewDog bar every now and then if I feel like it, and to buy a can of Punk if it’s the best option available.
The Good Ship BrewDog is available on all major podcasting platforms and via BBC Sounds in the UK.
BrewDog in 2022: tarnished but complicated originally posted at Boak & Bailey's Beer Blog


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