Say Hi to Roy

Meet BrewDog's flavour wizard...

You may have noticed that here at BrewDog we only employ people who are a) passionate about craft beer and b) considered to be ‘characters’. We don’t have a tendency to hire people who are, to put it bluntly, boring.

Roy – our kindly counsellor of cocktails at UnderDog – is one such character. A hair model, a European movie maker, an internet game show host, a DJ and an award-winning bartender; Roy owns the bragging rights to saying “been there, done it” to pretty much any hair brained scenario you can throw at him.

Today, you’ll find Roy at the helm of UnderDog; our New Orleans inspired craft beer speakeasy tucked away beneath BrewDog Shoreditch.

Sounds like we need to say hit to Roy:

“Howdy folks, I’m Roy, top dog here at UnderDog. You may, however, know me as the gentleman bastard or even the flavour wizard. But if it pleases your ears, just call me Roy.

“I started working for BrewDog back in October when Mark, the manager at BrewDog Newcastle, asked me to join him for a jolly jaunt to London where he was opening a new craft beer cocktail bar in Shoreditch. Being totally obsessed with cocktails and loving craft beer, the offer was way too much for me to refuse, so here I am for your eyes and your drinking pleasure.”

When it comes to craft beer cocktails, you may be familiar with our #MixDog competition – our quest to find the best craft beer cocktail combinations created by you, the drinkers of BrewDog. Craft beer cocktails are another way to challenge perceptions towards how beer should be consumed, so much so, we opened a bar to do just that.

“UnderDog is a brand new concept since craft beer cocktails are a relatively new idea. We wanted to do things in an entirely different and new way, inventing flavours using craft beer that simply had never been tasted before.

“At the same time, we like to think that UnderDog offers way more than just craft beer cocktails. We also like to make sure that the bar itself has something different to bring to a somewhat saturated London scene. Take a seat at one of our tables, or pull up a seat and become a barfly; we will keep the speakeasy ethos to a maximum, ensuring the conversation is flowing whenever required. We are here to keep your palette, eyes, ears and mind satisfied.”

So despite the sheer volume of different beers to magic up into incredible cocktails, how does this flavour wizard actually go about creating tastes you will never, ever have experienced before?

“The different types of beers we see here at BrewDog are massively tempting to someone like myself. It’s the flavours within lambics, barley wines and coffee stouts that are just the tip of the iceberg to what we can do with drinks here at UnderDog.

“We also take the time to craft new and exciting ingredients for our cocktails such as homemade beer vermouths, craft beer reductions and amazing, unique syrups for your imbibing pleasure.

“All this makes it incredibly difficult for me to pick a favourite tipple. Just like beer, it depends on my mood, time of day and who I am with. I love our craft beer vermouth that we use in our boiler maker cocktail. I’m also crazy for the classic gin cocktail the Negroni and our Dead Pony Club vermouth works wonderfully too. I’m also a fan of coffee which is why I’m big into our Toussaints tipple which features Cocoa Pyscho – if you like coffee cocktails, this drink is right up your street!”

Need any more inspiration or encouragement to check out UnderDog for yourself? We think not and neither does Roy:

“See you soon. I’m the one wearing the moustache.”