Pssst, Hey Do You Want To Make Your Own BrewDog?

 The Ellon-based company Brew Dog announced its DIY Dog initiative today.
More than 200 complete recipes are available and can be downloaded here Brew Dog recipes.
 BD website  Martin and I (James) started home-brewing back in 2005. We could not find any beers we wanted to drink in the UK, so decided the best thing to do was to brew our own. Armed with some very old Cascade hops and a desire to recreate Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, our brewing adventure started.

 In 2007, we got a bank loan, bought some second hand equipment and turned our home-brewing hobby into our job as BrewDog officially came howling into the world. Our original brewery in Fraserburgh was basically just a giant home-brewing set up with plastic water tanks and completely manual controls.
Many of the classic BrewDog beers were developed during our home-brewing days, and we still use a 50L system to develop new beers and new recipes here at BrewDog. Home-brewing is very much ingrained in our DNA at BrewDog as so many of the world’s great craft breweries can trace their origins back to home-brewing.
 With DIY Dog we wanted to do something that has never been done before as well as paying tribute to our home-brewing roots. We wanted to take all of our recipes, every single last one, and give them all away for free, to the amazing global home-brewing community.
 We have always loved the sharing of knowledge, expertise and passion in the craft beer community and we wanted to take that spirit of collaboration to the next level.
 So here it is. The keys to our kingdom. Every single BrewDog recipe, ever. So copy them, tear them to pieces, bastardise them, adapt them, but most of all, enjoy them. They are well travelled but with plenty of miles still left on the clock. Just remember to share your brews, and share your results. Sharing is caring.
 Oh, and if you are from one of the global beer mega corporations and you are reading this, your computer will spontaneously combust, James Bond style, any second now. So leave the building immediately and seriously consider your life choices.
You can find out more about investing in BrewDog at www.brewdog.com/equityforpunks.

Brewed The Hard Way??

by GaryGlass, AHA Director  On Sunday, some 120 million viewers across the United States tuned in to this year’s Super Bowl pitting the Denver Broncos against the Carolina Panthers. During the game, the world’s largest brewer, Anheuser Busch Inbev (ABI), the Belgian-based makers of Budweiser, ran an ad called Not Backing Down, in which they asserted that making Budweiser is “NOT A HOBBY.” I’m sure the nation’s million-plus homebrewers were shocked!
 Well, no, not really. The hobby of making beer is usually done in small batches at home by passionate beer lovers. Budweiser is made in massive automated factories (not what I would consider “brewed the hard way,” as suggested by a Budweiser ad aired during last year’s Super Bowl)—it’s actually about as far from a hobby as you can get. As homebrewers, we brew beer because we love beer with full flavor and by brewing beer ourselves we can hone in on the flavors we like most. And beyond that we can experiment and create new beer flavors that no one has tried before. Budweiser is the antithesis of homebrew: beer that’s made to be as light in flavor as possible and to never change.
 So if you are someone who wants to experience the diverse array of flavors and aromas beer has to offer, try homebrewing! If you’re interested but not quite ready to make the leap to homebrewing, try something from one of more than 4,000 small and independent American craft brewers, many of which started as homebrewers. And, if you are already a homebrewer, keep doing what you’re doing, and cheers!

Upcoming Beer Events

North American Belgian Beer Festival - Feb 13 Westland MI  http://www.nabbf.org/
Gilmore Car Museum’s annual beer-tasting - Feb 13 https://www.facebook.com/events/926013224161278/
Traverse City Microbrew & Music Festival - Feb 13 http://microbrewandmusic.com/
T.C. Suds & Snow at Timber Ridge Resort - March 5 http://sudsandsnowtc.com/
Brew-Ski Festival at Boyne Highlands - Mar 12 http://www.boyne.com/boynehighlands/events/brewski-festival
Southern Michigan Winter Beer Festival - March 12th http://www.jacksoncountyfair.net/beerfest/