BrewDog's Qatar hypocrisy exposed

The truth about breastfeeding and drinking. Altitude Brewing's 5 minutes of fame. Brewery's decision to "grow down". America's great IPA convergence. Huge investment in US non-alc market.

Friday is here beer fans and with it your round-up of beer news and views from here and abroad.

Before we start, a reminder to those in the 09 and adjacent: Auckland Beer Week starts tomorrow.

By now, if you’ve been paying attention, you’ll know there’s problems at BrewDog, the Scottish “punk” brewery that’s gone global corporate and has been accused of having a toxic work culture.

Their latest bit of grandstanding backfired in spectacular fashion when they took a swipe at the upcoming FIFA World Cup starting November 20 in Qatar, a place long-criticised for its abuse of human rights in the process of building all the venues required for the quadrennial global showpiece.

This is what BrewDog posted this week:

BrewDog @BrewDog

We're donating all profits made from Lost Lager sold during the World Cup to causes fighting human rights abuses.

Of course, the first counter-punches came in quick and easy:

DavidJesudason #he/him @DavidJesudason

Good of Brewdog to school us about workers’ rights

BrewDog @BrewDog

We're donating all profits made from Lost Lager sold during the World Cup to causes fighting human rights abuses. https://t.co/5OTA9Gn71G

But the knock-out blow was a day down the line:

James Beeson @BeesonOnBeer

CONFIRMED: @BrewDog continues to profit from the sale of its beer in Qatar via an arrangement with a third party distributor connected to the Qatari government. Read the story (free-to-air) on @just_drinks.

just-drinks.comBrewDog beer on sale in Qatar despite brewer’s anti-World Cup protest campaignBrewDog has defended the sale of its beer in Qatar, despite having launching a vocal protest campaign against the World Cup in the country.

In a widely-shared image on social media, BrewDog beers were seen on sale in Qatari riyal currency (QAR), accompanied by a poster bearing the logo of the Qatar Distribution Company (QDC). The company is the sole authority in the state of Qatar for importing, distributing and retail selling alcohol and is a subsidiary of the Qatari government.

In a statement to Just Drinks, BrewDog confirmed its beers were available for sale in Qatar but argued this “doesn’t mean it endorses human rights abuses” in the country.

“You sell beer via distro to the Qatari government,” wrote Craft Beer Channel founder Jonny Garrett. “You literally help fund the regime you are calling out. Stop sales to Qatar, then you can claim some moral high ground.”

Dan Barker tweeted: “BrewDog accused Qatar of various atrocities yesterday, using massively exaggerated numbers, in order to promote watching the Qatar World Cup in their own bars… It turns out they sell their drinks in Qatar anyway.”

BrewDog later said all profits from the beer sold in Qatar would go to a human rights charity.

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Festival postponed

If you were planning to go to the Hawke’s Bay Craft Beer & Food Festival tomorrow… find something else to do.

The inaugural event, originally planned for Saturday, has been postponed due to forecasted heavy rain over the weekend. The event was to take place at Tremain Field, Park Island, Napier.

A statement from organisers they had made the “difficult decision” to reschedule the festival to “ensure the safety of all patrons/attendees”.

A new date has yet to be set. Ticket holders who cannot make the new date can get a refund from their point of purchase. And here’s a story about the impact on locals Brave Brewing.

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Altitude’s five minutes of reality TV fame

I’ll finish this week with a wee snippet from the reality TV Nadia’s Farm that focuses on Nadia Lim’s partner Carlos Bagrie creating the Royalburn Italian Pilsner from grain grown on the couple’s farm. It’s a cool slot. Plus there’s some of the beer available on Altitude’s webstore if you want to be a small part of history.

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A great regional idea

Kudos to a group of breweries in the Bay of Plenty and Wanaka for creating a regional Christmas/Advent boxes of beers. Advent boxes are all the rage these days but I like the spirit of co-operation that’s gone into these ones. In the BoP — Mata, Rocky Knob, Slab, Mount Brewing, Lumberjack and Croucher are combining to deliver you 24 beers — four from each brewery — in single case. Down south, Rhyme X Reason, Ground Up, b effect and Wanaka Beerworks are doing much the same thing with all profits going to Wanaka Search & Rescue.

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Beer of the week No 1

First up with this beer I’d like to thoroughly commend Hop Federation for tweaking their branding, using the well-known hop motif but making it do different tricks with the lovely (I’m guessing Abel Tasman) beach scene. Second, I love the name. Server Not Found. It implies holidays, no computers, switching off and chilling (I wrote this before seeing the back of the can which said roughly the same thing!) Third, good on them for doing an XPA (it’s back!). It’s a term that remains ill-defined but looks good on a label — you could call this a golden ale (on the hoppy edge of the style) and you wouldn’t be wrong. Fourth, the beer itself goes down quicker than a Brazilian footballer in the penalty area. Sprightly, bursting with flavour and with a pleasant swat of bitterness. And as a bonus: here’s Tim Newman’s review of it, which captures the essence of a clever summer beer.

Just a reminder for free subscribers that there’s heaps more content if you’re happy to spend just over $1 a week to have someone trawl the vast spaces of the interwebs to bring you (hopefully) interesting and entertaining beer news. If I wasn’t already doing, I’d pay for it. Plus you get a free magazine!