Dog-Gate

Edinburgh’s Cowgate gets inked

Up until recently, BrewDog Edinburgh might have been considered one of the Cowgate’s best kept secrets. Tucked away under arches in Edinburgh’s most rock’n’roll street, our patch was once occupied by a karaoke bar; the kind with sticky, lager soaked carpets and Celine Dion blaring at ear drum shattering levels. All in all, a destination probably best avoided.

Then we arrived. Out came the carpets, the karaoke and Celine Dion. In came the craft beer and cheese platters.  One problem though – it would seem our craft beer oasis was proving a little tricky to spot; for some people at least.

So how do you solve a problem like this?

With the help of Fisher – our resident artist and the new general manager of BrewDog Edinburgh – we’ve spruced up the exterior in the only way we know how – spray painting a massive 7ft dog.
Fresh from creating some awesome animal-inspired artwork on our Ellon tanks and at our Shoreditch bar, Fisher explained what inspired his latest masterpiece:

“Looking at the exterior of the bar and the way it’s positioned under the arches it could be tricky to spot; blink and you miss it.

“Starting as general manager I wanted to put my mark on the bar as well as make it way more noticeable; shall we say, unmissable!

“Painting a weird looking dog over the entrance was in keeping with the kind of stuff I did at Shoreditch. It’s incredible the effect it’s had. Within a week of being completed, footfall to the bar noticeably increased. I think people see the dog and think ‘what the hell is going on in there?’, come in to check it out, then stay for a few beers.

“Every day we have people stopping to have their photo taken with the dog. It’s mad.”

Not one to let his spray cans take a breather, Fisher is already planning his next art attack; this time in collaboration with co-Brewpup Lynn:

“I’m pretty stoked about the upcoming collab with Lynn. Lynn’s art rocks – she did the hop girl that’s inked on the wall of BrewDog Manchester.

“We’re currently planning a squirrel with a top hat nibbling on a hop cone which will be added to the exterior of the bar above the dog. I’ll kick start proceedings by doing some pretty rough and dirty looking spray painting and Lynn will then make it look pretty – her style is more precise than mine so it should be interesting to see how our styles blend together.”

So, if you haven’t done so already come and check out the only 7ft spray painted dog in the Cowgate. While you’re at it you can also check out our new beer garden too. Here’s Lynn admiring her handy work…unconventional, but a beer garden nonetheless.