News brewed on 02 // 09 // 14

Lager is dead. Long live lager.BrewDog plots end to ‘lager lout’ culture with launch of This. Is. Lager. craft beerCraft brewery says redefining Britain’s most popular beer style can end binge drink culture for good

Scotland’s largest independent brewery, BrewDog has set its sights on obliterating the ‘insidious culture around lager drinking’ cultivated by decades of mass marketing by launching a beer that takes the lager style back to its roots. Launching tomorrow, This. Is. Lager. will be a 4.7% ABV pilsner designed to offer lager drinkers a craft beer alternative to the mass-produced lagers that still dominate the UK market.

This. Is. Lager. is brewed with 100% malt and ten times the hops of most industrial lagers.To demonstrate the difference to those still unfamiliar or resistant to the craft beer revolution, BrewDog is offering free 1/3 pint tasters of This. Is. Lager. at all of its UK bars from 12 noon – 12 midnight tomorrow, Wednesday 3rd September.

James Watt, cofounder at BrewDog commented:“This. Is. Lager. redefines a beer style that has for so long been defined by shallow, listless beers undeserving of the name.”

“For years, global breweries have spent millions convincing the British public that lager is a beer style best served as fizzy, tasteless liquid cardboard propped up by snappy straplines, glamorous advertising or counterfeit stories of foreign provenance. We hope to perpetuate a movement of craft breweries blazing a new trail for lager, proving it’s a misunderstood, neglected beer style.”

Craft beer is the star ascendant in the drinks market, with BrewDog named the fastest growing drinks brand in the UK within a context of declining beer sales for mainstream, mass-production breweries.1 The artisan brewer is immediately making This. Is. Lager. part of its headliners range to ‘convert’ those still unfamiliar with craft beer as it plots destroying the binge drink culture that has long overshadowed the industry.

“Lager is often demonised or derided as the choice drink of chavs and louts, which is the result of laddish marketing that diverts attention away from taste and enjoyment and undermines the potential of lager as a creative and artisanal beer style.”

The death of binge-drinking

“If we can redefine lager in the UK, we will redefine our relationship with alcohol. We can actually start to reverse binge-drinking trends currently being tackled by toothless and misguided legislative proposals unlikely to ever see the light of day anyway. With the volume-driven industry leaders trying to pull the wool over drinkers’ eyes and the government trying to legislate their way out of a

1 http://www.fasttrack.co.uk/fasttrack/leagues/dbfastDetails.asp?siteID=1&compID=3540&yr=2013

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media-disaster cul-de-sac, it’s time we treated drinkers like adults and gave them an alternative to stack ‘em high sell ‘em cheap beers with no soul or taste.”

“Gone are the days of lager being synonymous with extra-cold taps, lads on tour, fake Aussie accents, Burberry baseball caps and pot bellies. That is not lager. This. Is. Lager.” he added.

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What is BrewDog?We were bored of the industrially brewed lagers and stuffy ales that dominate the UK market. We decided the best way to fix this undesirable predicament was to brew our own beers. Consequently in April 2007 BrewDog was born. Both only 24 at the time, we leased a building, got some scary bank loans, spent all our money on stainless steel and started making some hardcore beers.

We are dedicated to making cool, contemporary and progressive beers showcasing some of the world’s classic beer styles. All with an innovative twist and customary BrewDog bite.

James Watt and Martin Dickie.

For more information please contact:

Manifest London BrewDogAli Maynard & Helen Kennyt. 0203 137 9270m. 07712 877 972e. BrewDog@manifestlondon.co.uk

James Wattt. 01358 724 924e. james@brewdog.com

All BrewDog news can be found at our Digital Newsroom