BrewDog going down under with Brisbane expansion

BrewDog, the independent brewery founded by Young Guns James Watt and Martin Dickie, has announced plans to expand to Australia.

The Aberdeenshire-based company – which also featured in the Startups 100 – claims to have found a “kick-ass” location in Brisbane, Queensland in order to get closer to its significant base of Australian fans.

As well as brewing its core range in its new location, BrewDog will use local ingredients to create a number of small-batch brews.

BrewDog will also look to form relationships with as many Australian independent craft breweries as possible in order to grow their market share.

The new brewhouse will feature a state-of-the-art brewery, canning line, taproom and restaurant.

BrewDog: The unicorn brewery

These latest expansion plans were enabled by a £100m investment from US-based private equity firm TSG Consumer Partners in April 2017. The funding was enough to push BrewDog over the line to become the latest UK unicorn start-up.

BrewDog’s phenomenal growth has been partly fuelled by its notorious marketing strategies – including dropping taxidermy cats from a helicopter over London and frolicking in the ocean in a horse costume – and continuous innovation.

In summer 2016, the company partnered with Deliveroo – another UK unicorn – to launch an alcohol-only delivery service in London, shortly after starting its own spirits arm Lone Wolf, which produces a range of whiskies, gins and vodkas.

The BrewDog website states: “Australia is as dynamic a place as exists on earth at the moment when it comes to beer, and we are pitching up in the capital of Queensland with a mission.

“Firstly – to supply our BrewDog community here with super-fresh craft beer, proudly brewed in the Sunshine State. And secondly, to collaborate with as many Australian craft brewers as we can. We want to share what we know and learn as much as we can along the way. It’s going to be quite a ride.”