Craft beers with a difference: BrewDog open their latest bar on Peter Street, Manchester
Craft beer producers BrewDog have opened their first Manchester bar on Peter Street.
The unique beer-makers insist that going for a pint should be a unique and individual experience, with their bar offering plenty of alternatives to substandard fizzy yellow lager.
BrewDog held an open day today where the public and press alike were welcomed to visit their new opening, as their brand grows rapidly across the UK.
“We are nearly five years old as a company, having started brewing in 2007,” BrewDog's Max Chater told MM. “Our intention was and is to produce beers we wanted to drink ourselves.”
It was a bold but beautiful strategy that founders James Watt and Martin Dickie outlined at the beginning of their project, having decided while at University that something had to be done to revolutionise the UK craft beer scene.
IN HOPS WE TRUST: Inside BrewDog's Peter Street bar, Manchester
The answer was to create their own brewery, to rival industrially produced 'taste-less' lager makers and set up their own bars in which to sell their beers and inform drinkers of the delights they were sampling.
“Our beers come from all over,” continued Max. “From east and west coast America to Norway, our range is multi-national.
“The way we make our beer is very different to elsewhere, as it takes around a month for each one. And some of the beers we have took years to make!”
BrewDog's brewery process is a case study in care and attention. Firstly the mashing part takes two hours to compact the barley. Then it takes another three hours to boil, as hops are added to the mix.
FOR CUSTOMERS TO ENJOY: The fermentation process
The process then turns from hours to days, as fermentation of the beers can take over a week, and finally conditioning occurs for 15 days before you are swigging from the glass.
BrewDog also like to try new ways of surprising their customers, including producing a beer which at the time, was the bitterest in English brewing history.
They also make some seriously strong beers, such as the 32% 'Tactical Nuclear Penguin' and the 41% 'Sink The Bismark.' These are not for the faint hearted, but give an impressive after-taste.
Max offers an insight into the level of detail BrewDog instils in all aspects of their production when he discusses how these super-strong beers are made.
“We make the beers at such a high alcoholic percentage by a quite unusual method. We start by freezing the beer mix and taking the distillation to an ice cream factory. We then wait until it turns into a block of ice and thaws.
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“That's when we remove a big chunk of water from the mix to simply increase the strength of alcohol within the beer.”
There is certainly method in the madness, and BrewDog's unique focus on breaking new ground in beer production and refusing to lose sight of their aim to satisfy drinkers is a recipe that is set to succeed in Manchester.
Among the most popular beers offered to MM were the darker malt 'Iconoclastic amber ale', the fruity 'Post modern classic pale ale', and the double malts and hops 'Explicit imperial ale'.
And as if to serve a testament to BrewDog's commitment to the craft beer cause, Max even has a tattoo of the IBU unit equation. To the rest of us that's the International Bitter Units formula.
BEER IN THE BLOOD: The IBU unit equation tattooed on Max's arm
These game-changing brewers are certainly passionate about their products, and with their latest bar open for business in central Manchester, Mancunians will not go wanting for tasty beers in a unique atmosphere.
Customers at the 35 Peter Street bar told MM:
Jermaine: “I really like their ideas, and we have had such a warm welcome today.”
David: “This bar will really fit into Manchester's drinking scene.”
Clare: “I don't usually go for beer, but the bar-man gave me a real insight into the ales they had on offer and I found one I actually liked!”
Lucinda: “It does make a nice change from the normal bar chains you see in the city.”
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