The Artist formerly known as Speedball.....

The Artist formerly known as Speedball.....

A death in the BrewDog family, one of our star pups impounded, a killer beer vanishing like a glorious martyr. The kaleidoscope of beer purchasing contingencies just became a little more jaded in a Portman Group induced totalitarian utopia.

David Poley (Chief Executive of the Portman Group) said:

"BrewDog is profiteering from the scourge of illegal drugs, mocking the misery caused by misuse"

Presumably in exactly the same way which McDonalds are ‘profiteering from the scourge of illegal drugs' by selling Hash Browns.  At no point have we attempted to ‘profiteer from the scourge of illegal drugs'; the name merely hints at the mixture of unusual ingredients the beer has and is an edgy and provocative reference to its inspiration. To date we have sold 1184 bottles of Speedball in the UK, the vast majority of these over our website. Society and language in general is littered with references to various activities and this is not concrete enough to prevent the terms from being used. Perhaps it might even highlight these issues and prevent them.  If people are going to abuse drugs or alcohol the causes are far deeper rooted and not nearly as superficial as product names.

Alcohol is also a drug, and it is a drug which causes far more problems in our society than the illegal drugs which Mr Portman talks so provocatively of. The ridiculous pricing of mass produced beers causes far more misery and leads to far more misuse in this country than any illegal drug. This is an area where the Portman Group should be focussing its attention if it wants to make a genuine difference.

Interestingly in my last correspondence to the Portman Group I enquired as to how the Carling advertising campaign ‘Belong' did not breach article 3.2e of the code "suggest that consumption will lead to increased popularity'. David Poley responded by saying "Advertising on TV, press and poster is regulated not by us but by the Adverting Standards Authority. You should therefore address your complaint to them."

However on their website it states: "Our role is to encourage and challenge producers to promote their products responsibly."

Even their code is entitled : "Code of practise on the naming, packaging and promotion of alcoholic drinks".  Furthermore 1.1 of the code states "The code seeks to ensure alcohol is promoted in a socially responsible manner"

Speedball is not a cool beer, it is a dead beer.  You may think it is cool but this is merely a beautiful lie fabricated by clowns and gypsies.

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Ljunkan 05.02.2009 @ 11:48am
I just tasted this beer a couple of weeks ago here in Sweden. It was really tasty, probably the second best of the BrewDog beers I have tasted and definitely the most interesting
magic_dave6 27.01.2009 @ 4:11pm
Man thats fuckin rubbsih! That was one of my favourate beers uz do, infact if you mix it with the punk ipa its one of the best bruitish inventions ever. Fuckin portman group, fuckin!
Dan Dare 24.01.2009 @ 10:59pm
HAHAHA DISREGARD THAT, I SUCK COCKS.
david davies 24.01.2009 @ 10:02pm
No such thing as bad publicity!
I hadnt heard of brewdog before,but now am enjoying punk Ipa. Totally recommended lol.
andy mogg 24.01.2009 @ 11:17am
This is crazy, where are they going to stop? does it mean that the bottle of skull splitter i have in the garage is now going to be killed of by its creators too?

There are far worse things in the world than great beer with good names no matter how strong it is.

maybe you should go for more religious or saintly names like the durham brewery! or maybe just peel the labels off lol
concerned by the portman group 24.01.2009 @ 6:49am
what about the name WKD!!!!,oh sorry they contribute to much to the portman group!!!!
Simon Egan-Payne 23.01.2009 @ 11:24pm
The Portman Group are a self appointed group of know-nothing toad buckets. Curse them and their families.
Steev 23.01.2009 @ 8:25pm
My god, this is yet another underline to the reason Im leaving this screwed up country. I hope your beer does well, I really liked your Punk IPA, a nice brew, but I guess that will be next.
dan dare 23.01.2009 @ 7:15pm
If this beer was as poor as the rest of their crude attempts at brewing it is no great loss.Naming it Speedball was nothing more than a self promoting fantasy. These guys should grow up and let the beer rather than their delusions do the talking.
Dubbel 23.01.2009 @ 5:51pm
Noooo :-(
Frank McDonald 23.01.2009 @ 5:45pm
Perhaps you could change the name to Speedster. Hmmmm no. Thats what killed James Dean. How about Need for Speed? No. I guess thats an R rated video game. Speepy Gonzalez? No. Theres all that nasty cartoon violence. I would suggest renaming the beer The Portman group are a bunch Twats.
G Dunbar 23.01.2009 @ 1:08pm
To quote my girlfriend 5 minutes ago, “Oh no, I love that stuff!” RIP Speedball. We salute thee...and I wish I had kept a couple.
John Harkins 23.01.2009 @ 12:12pm
Sorry to see Speedball go.

Keep fighting the good fight!