RESPONSE TO BREWDOG TOKYO* STORY, by Richard Dinwoodie
RESPONSE TO BREWDOG TOKYO* STORY, 28 JULY, 2009
Richard Dinwoodie of Borough Market's Utobeer & co-owner of the multi award-winning Rake bar says:
"As the only London stockist of BrewDog's Tokyo we would like to refute the claims made about BrewDog's Tokyo beer in the article dated July 28, 2009.
"As a responsible drinks retailer we are not focusing on the alcoholic strength of the beer but the artisan nature and quality of the product.
"For a third of a pint of Tokyo we will be charging in excess of £6 and there is no way that this encourages binge drinking, particularly when you can currently purchase a 100ml of 7.5%ABV White Lightning at Sainsbury's for 15.4p yet we are charging £3.17 for the same quantity of Tokyo beer at 18.5%, you do the maths!"
"The customers in our bar and at our market stall often buy one of these beers to treat it like a fine cognac or whisky and to put into brandy balloons to share, not to down in one.
"The focus on this one special beer is utterly spurious, BrewDog offers a range of beers starting 2.4%ABV, so to single this particular beer out is just a case of pandering to binge drinking mania.You don't ever see a story about ‘well done BrewDog for producing a great tasting low ABV beer', this is just sensationalism and scaremongering of the worst kind."
And in response to the comments that it exceeds the daily allowance for women, leading female beer writer Melissa Cole says: "This is not a beer to drink alone, it is to share as the ideal digestif to a good dinner; claims that this encourages binge drinking are nonsense, if nothing else the price point is utterly prohibitive."
You can buy some here: https://www.brewdog.com/uk/shop/beer
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Comments (13)
Congratulations Brewdog!!
Ive yet to try it but if its anything like the bottle of Hardcore IPA I just finished (in an hour and a half) then it has a flavour you want to savour, rather than some bland lager that you just knock back.
Also in simple maths terms - an average bottle of wine costs about £3-4 for 750ml at 13%. That comes to 9.75 alcoholic units. One bottle of tokyo costs over twice the price and is 330ml at 18.2% gravity. This comes to 6.006 alcoholic units. Which would you choose for a cheap binge?
BrewDog sells to a specialised, beersavvy audience. Most alcoholics have never even heard of BrewDog and would not drink their stuff even if they did.
24 cans of Stella or whatever for not much more than a tenner or one bottle of BrewDog Tokyo? For the average alcoholic its a nobrainer. They want their alcohol as cheap and as strong as possible.
i have read atrticles about how the 2 boys started off and well done for taking a big gamble on on starting the company on the 1st place. i will be purchasing some ot their beers and will be requesting a tokyo beer for Santa claus on christmas eve to go along with the shortbread and the carrot for the reindeier which will make a great reward for santa delivering the presents. i do not think it will be iresponsible drinking to consume one of these after a good nights work once a year.
an alcoholic will always consume alcohol no matter what price it is whether it is 50pence per unit of alcohol or 10 pence per unit and certainly wont purchase a tokyo beer the only way an alcoholic will consume a tokyo beer is if he robs me on the way out the shop which is likeley too happen if alcohol is capped at 50pence per unit in scotland.
a work with people with alcohol addiction and nothing will stop them drinking if the dont want to not even the price
Still, you have got to laugh. Im sure this is great free publicity for you all! Keep fighting the good fight, I will crack open a bottle of punk in salute.