BrewDog’s ever-expanding bar business has brought the “craft beer revolution” to Liverpool
With nearly 20 bars around the UK – and more overseas – BrewDog is bringing what it calls “craft beer enlightenment” to an ever-growing number of people. Last year saw the Scottish brewer open BrewDog bars in Dundee, Cardiff, Sheffield, Liverpool and Battersea in south London, with more due this year including Glasgow’s Merchant City, Brighton, Norwich and Dalston in north-east London. The most recent opening was in Liverpool in Colquitt Street in the city centre, with a 300-capacity bar featuring 30 beers on tap from not only BrewDog in Aberdeenshire but breweries around the world, including Mikkeller, Flying Dog, Evil Twin, Mad Hatter and Stone.
In their trademark self-effacing style, owners James Watt and Martin Dickie promise that the bar will “change the face of beer in the region”. However, it is more of a “craft beer homecoming”, James points out. “Liverpool has an awesome heritage of carving its own path, disregarding the homogeny of the mainstream, as well as an historic connection to beer. Some of the earliest IPAs bound for India departed British shores from the ports of Merseyside.”
The bar hosts regular events for customers to meet the most creative brewers from around the world and employs highly trained Cicerone Beer Servers who run beer schools and other sessions on brewing.
The interior has been designed by hospitality specialist Michaelis Boyd, which has worked on other BrewDog bars such as Battersea’s. The design was inspired by the city’s history of heavy industry and shipbuilding and integrates authentic steel shipping containers and a cast-concrete bar with mesh screens and striking neon signage.
The back bar and cellar are formed of two shipping containers, next to large booths and a tasting area designed to give a warm customer experience. Each booth has its own “press for beer” button to alert bar staff when they are thirsty. Furniture specialist UHS Group supplied its Tagg bar stools which have a seat and back made of wood, painted yellow and finished in a dark wood stain, set on a metal frame.
The informal front area is a continuation of the outside space, like an “internal beer garden”, with York stone paving continuing throughout the main part of the venue. The buzzing focal point is the centrally clustered drinking areas, with scaffold screens and a dividing wall made of old kegs, splitting up the space in a characterful way. The façade opens up across the full width of the site to the street outside, while festoon lighting illuminates the dark ceiling inside.
James describes the Liverpool bar as a “key bolt hole” for the craft beer revolution. “There is a craft beer enlightenment taking place across the UK, and far from simply selling beer to those looking for it, we see our bars as the frontline in making everyone as passionate about craft beer as we are.”
BrewDog, Manolis Yard, 8 Colquitt Street, Liverpool L1 4DE
Tel: 0151 707 6559
www.brewdog.com
Behind the scenes
Design: Michaelis Boyd
Furniture: UHS Group
Beer dispense: Atlantic, Beer Piper
Fridges: Capital Cooling
