Say Hi To Darren

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If you’re a regular visitor to our blog, our Facebook or even our bars, you just may have noticed a growing legion of BrewDog fans; BrewDog fans of a Swedish persuasion to be exact. Sweden was admittedly one of the first nations to welcome us with open arms and empty pint glasses and now tops the list of countries we export to. 

In fact, the demand for BrewDog in the Nordics has gotten so great that we've now reached a point where we’re able to hire our very own Scandinavian Top Dog, who also goes by the name of Darren.

If the job title didn’t give it away, Darren’s role is to promote all things BrewDog in Scandinavia which – as he explains – is pretty much second nature:

“Hi, my name’s Darren and I’ve worked in the international beer industry for over 16 years and have promoted beer in over 25 different countries which means lots of travel and lots of missed hotel breakfasts!

“When it comes to working with BrewDog, it was the chance of having ‘Scandinavian Top Dog’ printed on business cards that sealed the deal. Ultimately though, I got involved with BrewDog by drinking their beers! I am a former journalist and write and run Sweden’s most popular beer blog. This means I get to try hundreds of different beers a year and the first time I tried Punk IPA it was a standout moment for me. I’ve tried practically every BrewDog beer since.

“Of course then there’s ‘Hello, My Name is Ingrid’ – a cloudberry DIPA that I together with followers of my blog helped create together with the BrewDog team. It’s a beer that’s gone on to become pretty famous over here in Sweden.”

Darren certainly seems like a perfect fit for representing BrewDog just across the sea from our Fraserburgh HQ and the slightly chaotic yet 100% beer filled way in which his days run goes further in proving this:

“When it comes to an average day in the life of Darren, no two days are ever the same and it’s fair to say my work is…unconventional. I pretty much blog about beer at least once a day, scan the beer scene in Scandinavia for news and trends, arrange beer talks all over the country and do whatever I can to shout about craft beer to as many people as possible.”

Thanks to Darren and our awesome importer Cask Sweden we’ve managed to continue to grow our presence in Sweden in a totally kick-ass fashion, ensuring more of our beers are available in more outlets, more of the time. For Darren, BrewDog’s growing market presence and recognition is down to a number of things:

“BrewDog’s reputation for stretching the definition of what beer can be is recognized all over the world, but I believe you can’t afford to be outrageous and unconventional without backing it up with consistently high quality beers. Swedish beer drinkers know they get both with BrewDog.

“BrewDog beers perfectly compliment the Swedish beer market. Swedish beer drinkers are not afraid of bold flavours and like breweries that are prepared to take risks. The fact that BrewDog’s number one export market (by a long way) is Sweden pretty much says it all. We literally can’t get enough of BrewDog’s beers!”

And BrewDog isn’t the only brewery making waves in the Swedish craft beer scene as more and more drinkers decide to kick the mainstream to the curb in favour of drinks brewed with passion and back story to boot:

“The mood in Sweden towards craft beer is the best it’s ever been. In Sweden people are really beginning to wake up to the advantages of craft beer. In just the past five years the beer scene here has changed almost beyond recognition, with the state alcohol monopoly bringing in more and more craft beers from around the world. In fact despite our monopoly system the range of beers available in Sweden would make most of you very jealous!

So with Darren painting Sweden as something of a modern craft beer paradise, do we need to tell you which BrewDog beers are available before you book yourself a ticket and hop on over to have a look for yourself?: 

“People can experience lots of different types of BrewDog beers at the moment. The new Punk IPA has really taken off, as well as Hardcore IPA, ‘Hello, My Name is Ingrid’, 5AM Saint, Zeitgeist, 77 Lager, Trashy Blonde, and Tokyo. We also get limited releases of the Abtrakts too.”

Tickets to Sweden booked? Check. Space in luggage for bringing back beer haul? Check. CV printed off to snare a job like Darren’s? Check. If you fancy getting your mitts on a dream craft beer number like Darren’s, here’s some wise words from the man himself:

“For anyone wanting to do a similar craft beer-based job, you have to have passion, passion and passion. You’ve really got to believe in the message of craft beer in order to pass it on to others. You’ve also got to like people, be a good communicator and be prepared to travel – a lot! But most of all you’ve got to love craft beer because people can sense that and will get infected by it.

“Take the time to understand the craft behind every beer you drink. Every great beer has a story and the passion of people to create it. Get to know more about these people, their breweries and the ingredients they use and you will get far more out of your next beer.

“For now, ‘Skål’ (that’s cheers in Swedish by the way!).”

Invest in BrewDog at www.brewdog.com/equityforpunks