Brew Dog
SCOTCH SINGLE MALT WHISKIES > B
INTRODUCING OUR CRAFT DISTILLERY
24.06.2015
Expansion Plans HQ News BrewDog Distillery
At our #PunkAGM two weeks ago, one of the largest collective intakes of breath from our assembled Equity Punks was the point at which James and Martin revealed our venture into spirits, during their on-stage presentation. Aside from maybe the Habanero Sculpin, that was the single greatest cause of sudden gasping throughout the entire day. So, a couple of weeks on, we figured that we should maybe add a little meat to the bones and reveal some of the intentions of our brand new distillation and spirits division.
The link between craft beer and distilling is closer and more intrinsic than you might think. As both typically begin with the same process – the mashing of grain to release fermentable sugars – the building blocks for one also exist more often than not at the home of the other. In the US, innovative breweries such as Dogfish Head, Ballast Point and Anchor have been producing spirits for years – the latter as far back as 1993, becoming at the time the only pot-distilled rye whiskey producer in the United States.
The UK has such a storied history of spirit-making that is has long been something we have wanted to adopt. With our recently-announced brewery expansion, we finally have the capacity to make this happen, and we have earmarked a dedicated area in our Ellon HQ to be converted into a BrewDog craft distillery. Headed up by Steven Kersley, this is a team that is going to shape a very exciting future for BrewDog – and it all starts with some artisan German coppersmiths near the Swiss border.
From their workshop on the shores of Lake Constance, the master craftsmen at Arnold Holstein GmbH are set to construct two 3,000 litre copper pot stills, an additional 600 litre copper gin still and a 20m tall copper column still (allowing the production of neutral spirit for vodka and gin). From these hand-made stills, we intend to produce a home-grown vodka that will really make the big players sit up and take notice, as well as a BrewDog gin for which we have already begun trials on a number of different botanicals.
The four stills are all designed specifically for our needs and on them we will be able to produce pretty much any spirit known to man. But our first goal is to focus on the triumvirate of whisky, gin and vodka (we wouldn’t be a true Scottish company if we didn’t stay close to our roots and produce the first of these). Our spirits will be made in the BrewDog way; pushing the definitions and boundaries at every stage, revolutionising the craft distilling scene in the UK.
Flexibility is very important for us, and the design of our stills will allow for that. Experimentation is also key – with raw materials, with expressions, and with casks. It’s going to be a fantastic project; our intention is nothing short of going from grain to glass – and our incredible team of brewers will be central to this. They will supply the wash that we will use as the base for our spirits – the most important step of all, that initial building block.
Distillation is the natural progression for us; the logical next step for BrewDog. As we grow as a company, we can use the knowledge and resources of our amazing brewteam to add another string to our bow – and not just in a specified part of the alcohol spectrum; across the whole category. There are a lot of people in our team that love Scotch whisky, that love rum, gin, tequila or vodka. With that groundswell of enthusiasm and the skill of Steven and his distillation team, we have every opportunity to make as big an impact on the spirits industry as we did on the beer industry.
Capacity 450.000 Ltrs. Vodka, Rum and Gin were released in Spring 2017,
01 December, 2022
BrewDog Distilling Co, Scotland’s only carbon negative distillery, has announced its first ever whisky cask sale.
Going live this month, 50 casks will be part of an exclusive collection, the first to be filled from the distillery’s new still house in Ellon, Scotland, giving fans a chance to own a cask of the inaugural single malt and single grain whisky.
Steven Kersley, managing director of BrewDog Distilling Co adds: “This whisky has been the natural progression for BrewDog Distilling Co. for some time now, it’s something we’re incredibly excited about, if not a little daunted. We want to challenge the way Scotch whisky is viewed, consumed and valued. We’ve put everything into this, dissecting the entire process, focusing on the flavour and creating the best liquid possible.”
Bidders will be in the running to purchase a choice of 3 different 200L casks from:
30 ex-Oloroso sherry cask matured, filled with flavour-focused new make spirit, made from golden promise barley
15 first fill ex-bourbon cask matured, filled with flavour-focused new make spirit, made from golden promise barley
5 exclusive ex-bourbon cask matured, filled with a rye-forward single grain whisky made with an 80% rye malt bill
The casks will launch at auction at 1900 on December 7 2022, in partnership with whisky auction house, Whisky Hammer, ending on December 11, with the casks being filled early 2023.
Starting from £5,000 (excluding commission, VAT and duty) winning bidders will have their casks held in BrewDog Distilling Co’s bonded warehouse, based on the Balmacassie Estate in Ellon, adjacent to the distillery, where it will lie until the owner feels it is ready to bottle.
Each investor will also be granted complimentary access to BrewDog Distilling Co’s Whisky Founder’s Club, launching in May 2023. As part of their investment, BrewDog will bottle and brand their whisky at a minimum of four years old.
BrewDog Distilling Co's first whisky cask sale breaks records on Whisky Hammer
December, 2022
On Sunday, BrewDog Distilling Co’s first ever cask sale closed after four days, hosted by Whisky Hammer, which comes as the best performing whisky cask auction to date for a new distillery start-up.
All 50 casks were sold, upping the starting cask price of £5,000 to an average sale price of £7,546, with a total sale value of over £377,000.
Bidders selected their choice of three different 200 litre casks, from 30 ex-Oloroso sherry, 15 ex-bourbon and five single grain ex-bourbon casks. The casks will be filled from BrewDog Distilling Co’s brand new distillery in Ellon, Aberdeen in early 2023.
Steven Kersley, managing director of BrewDog Distilling Co., said: "In the last two weeks since announcing our first cask auction, we’ve been blown away by the support, enthusiasm and the amount of interest in our whisky programme. We’re now looking ahead to 2023, where our focus, as always, will be instilling great flavour into our whiskies and taking as many people on our whisky journey as possible – we might even auction a few more casks.”