TOP DOGS

Many strange, beautiful things take place at January’s annual BrewDog Christmas Party. Roaringly impromptu bus-based singing, for example. Bottles of Paradox being wheeled out before the starters. And later, interpretive dance that wouldn’t look out of place in a Côte d’Azur nightclub in the 1950s. (If you know our brewing team, you can probably guess who was responsible for the sharpness of those particular moves).

One other thing that occurs at our yearly knees-up is the presentation of the Top Dog Awards. These honour the staff members who have raised their games over the previous twelve months; pushing themselves and their teams to truly set us apart from other craft breweries. Sure, beer is important. But our people are the difference-makers. Here’s to our Top Dogs for 2014…

Finance & People – Rona Cook

Rona is truly vital to our way of working. Having been the second addition to our relatively new People Team, she fills so many roles she’s like an entire car-load of Ghostbusters rolled into one. Like Egon, she’s our knowledge-heavy ambassador, calmly using intel to promote our work to the legions of unbelievers. At the same time, she maintains that approachability and sense of irony that Winston Zeddemore brought to the party. Rona also has that infectious Stantz-esque enthusiasm for running inductions and helping draft our Employee Handbook. Oh, but don’t ever, ever sit across from her in an electrified ESP test…

Projects, International Bars, Bar Operations – Neil Taylor

It’s always the same scenario for Neil. He blinks into existence in an abandoned bank, or a failed karaoke and kebab bar, and has to get to work supervising local tradesmen and dealing with legal quirks to convert it into the latest BrewDog bar. Patched into HQ via a companion only he can see – which sure explains a lot of the hand-waving – Neil doggedly gets on with the seemingly insurmountable task at hand. Only three weeks to convert this backstreet salami-curing warehouse into BrewDog Zagreb? With only one draught line installed, which was previously used to transport boar blood? This time, it really will take a Quantum Leap. Oh boy.

Brewing – Russell Erskine

Continuing the theme of tales and legends, we have Senior Brewer Russell – a man who manages to combine almost un-human levels of hard graft with quick-fire sass that would put a saloon-girl to shame. Since joining BrewDog, Russell has hauled his way to becoming a cornerstone of the brewing department; no matter what the situation, we know he’ll have it covered. Russell is our equivalent of the guy on the mule with the faded poncho. As you underestimate him and pass by, he’ll nudge the tip of his sombrero with a six-shooter and will languidly step into the road behind. Then you’ll be in trouble. Particularly if you’re John Allen.

Logistics, Ops & Warehouse – Jacek Sukennik

As Russell is Old West, Jacek is Deep Space. He’s the BrewDog equivalent of that scene of one-upmanship on the cargo deck of the USS Sulaco, as it slips through the void on the way to what turns out to be just another bug hunt. Yes, Jacek can drive that loader. Yes, he has a Class-2 rating; he’s our warehouse supervisor coming off a challenging year with a record amount of shipments. He’s not as deliciously hirsute as Ellen Ripley, but if an Alien Queen rampaged through our loading bay, as the rest of us made like Jones and quivered in the air conditioning ducts, Jacek would be there, stoically embracing yet another test by grappling the Alien towards the nearest airlock.

Maintenance, Senior Brewers, Lab, EH&S/Compliance – Niall Murphie

As tempting as the Bob the Builder analogy is here, Niall is much more to BrewDog than a tool-wielding foam-dome voiced by Neil Morrissey. He’s more our Sarah Connor. Having left his job waitressing in a diner to join BrewDog, Niall has become amazingly toned and focused as an engineer, and is dedicated to searching for improvements and better utilisation of our equipment. It doesn’t matter which Terminator is on his tail; if Niall has a task, he’ll deliver even more than expected, before calmly tossing grenades to cover his retreat so he can check the whiteboard for what needs his attention next.

Sales & Marketing – Josie Ludford

Put. That. Coffee. Down. Coffee’s for closers only. Josie is our closer – and those testosterone-filled swearfiends from Glengarry Glen Ross have got nothing on her. Focusing on our national on-premise customers, Josie is more determined and focused than Blake on the scent of a new Cadillac. She closed more phenomenal high level deals last year than any of those schmucks ever did. There are two types in this world of sales – those that sit around, listing in their swivel chairs and repeatedly missing the boat, and those that get up, get out there and with hard work and determination get it done like Josie.

Packaging – Aurimas Bobrovas

Being in possession of a name that sounds like a character from Dungeons and Dragons, if Aurimas was cast in that particular cartoon it wouldn’t be as a questing knight, dashing through trap-filled lairs whilst treasure-heavy ceilings crumble around his broad shoulders. No; Aurimas would be the Dungeon Master. Last year, heading up the kegging side of Packaging, he Levelled Up yet again, and is now a constantly-reassuring font of knowledge. Whether it’s a question relating to keg handling, hygiene or quality control, Aurimas appears, guiding the newer members of the kegging team in the right direction before vanishing behind a boulder (or forklift).

Bars North – Andy Davies

Andy may look like every inch the smooth Cruise-type, but in reality he’s more akin to Doug Coughlin, our Tom’s mentor and bar Sensei from Cocktail. After four promotions in three years, last year Andy took a remarkable eight prospective BrewDog bar managers under his wing in that most New York-like of cities; Glasgow. Teaching all the fundamental aspects of running one of our bars – the flairing, the inner workings of a stocklist spreadsheet, his depth of knowledge and passion for BrewDog – he’s made an outstanding contribution to the ongoing success of our bars nationwide.

Bars South – Lucy Clarke

Lucy’s story begins every day before dawn, when she rises and heads out to run up the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Her ‘burning heart’ was slightly extinguished when the role of GM at BrewDog Bristol went elsewhere – but she kept on, jumping rope and cracking raw eggs into the hopinator, showing determination and consistently outstanding performance. Rightly, she was eventually awarded that GM position, throwing her arms aloft in triumph, making our Bristol bar a beacon for customer service and going on to spawn a number of lucrative sequels.

Alpha Dog – Sarah Warman

Maverick? Iceman? No; Alpha Dog. Proudly wearing this most-hallowed of handles emblazoned on the back of her helmet for the entirety of 2015 is Sarah Warman. Following a year where she rose from single-handedly telling the whole internet about BrewDog to managing an entire new team responsible for BrewDogs voice, Sarah’s feats of navigation, organisation and creative flying have earned her the highest accolade that BrewDog can bestow.

As a result, for twelve months she’ll have full clearance to perform 4G inverted dives at will, and every tower flyby request will be approved by HQ, no matter how full the pattern. She’s also taken one some top secret projects within BrewDog, which you can all look forward to hearing about pretty soon; at the moment she’s skillfully flying under the radar (breaking cover only to demonstrate the joy of craft beer as resident expert on Channel 4’s Sunday Brunch).

Go Sarah! BrewDog’s 2014 Top Alpha Dog.

Last year was an enormous twelve months for BrewDog, and these are just some of the people who will ensure we’ll have an even more ground-breaking year in 2015. Congratulations to them all!

If you think you’ve got what it takes to join our ever-growing ramshackle team, check out the latest BrewDog vacancies. Could you be one of our next Top Dogs – or even our highest-flying Alpha Dog?