Brewdog to launch ‘beer hotel’ with booze on draught in bedrooms
The Scottish craft brewery is raising £25m from fans to expand its factory, create a sour beer brewery, and launch its own ‘beer hotel’ where the craft brew will never stop flowing
Source: The Telegraph
By Rebecca Burn-Callander
22 Apr 2015
Renegade craft brewer Brewdog is launching an ambitious new crowdfunding project to raise £25m from its international fanbase.
It is bringing back its hugely successful Equity for Punks scheme, which has already helped the company to raise £7m from Brewdog drinkers. “We’ve been oversubscribed in the last three rounds so it’s time to go big or go home,” said co-founder Martin Dickie.
Brewdog will use some of the cash to launch a Brewdog Hotel near its brewery in Ellon, Scotland, which it hopes will turn the spot into a tourist destination and help to further boost the local economy.
“We’re going to have draught Brewdog on tap in the bedrooms,” said Mr. Dickie. “We would love to have somewhere for people who visit us to stay, as we’re quite out of the way up here.
“This is something we’ve been thinking about for a while,” he added.
The company is planning to build a 300-hectolitre brewery next to its original brewery to help it meet global demand. A distillery will also be installed on the site, creating craft spirits.
Around £7m will be spent on launching between 15 and 20 Brewdog bars across the UK, which would double the size of its current portfolio.
Brewdog’s bar in Shepherd’s Bush, London: Brewdog will be opening more UK bars with the funds raised
The company has also earmarked £2m to grow its international bar division. Berlin will be the next target for a Brewdog bar, Mr. Dickie revealed. “Germany is a really exciting market for craft beer.”
Mr. Dickie said that he and co-founder James Watt were “burning the established system” for fundraising with this crowdfunding round, spurning bank finance and the lure of corporate cash to go it alone.
“The worst thing that is happening to the craft beer industry is when a big pub company comes along and takes a controlling stake in a small brewery to allow it to expand, or even buys it completely,” said Mr. Dickie, citing the example of AB InBev’s recent acquisition of Seattle-based craft brewery Elysian.
“That finance model is the destruction of the craft beer industry. We’ve purposefully spread equity so widely that we’re no longer a target for these companies. Having more than 15,000 shareholders makes it almost impossible for anyone to buy us.”
In this latest fundraising round, Brewdog is making 526,316 shares available with a minimum investment of £95 for two shares.
Equity Punks – Brewdog’s name for its investors – will own 23pc of the company if the whole round is subscribed.
The round will close on April 20, 2016. “As of this morning, we already have £1m invested,” said Mr. Dickie. “We’re hoping to blow the £25m target out of the water.”