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Brewdog Portman Group

BrewDog marketing stunt faces wrath of animal lovers

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By The Drum Team, Editorial

July 22, 2010 | 3 min read

Aberdeenshire-based brewer BrewDog has produced 12 bottles of its 55% The End Of History ale packaged inside the bodies of dead animals.

Bottles of the super-strong ale will retail for £500 through the brewer’s website, and are placed inside seven dead stoats, four dead squirrels and one dead hare.

Some of the animals containing the world’s strongest beer will be dressed in outfits including kilts and top hats.

BrewDog founder James Watt said: ''In true BrewDog fashion, we've torn up convention, blurred distinctions and pushed brewing and beer packaging to its absolute limits.

''This is the beer to end all beers. It's an audacious blend of eccentricity, artistry and rebellion; changing the general perception of beer, one stuffed animal at a time.”

A Doncaster-based taxidermist worked on the animals and has insisted that the animals were not killed for bottling, with some having been killed on roads. Despite this, animal rights groups have condemned the stunt as “cheap marketing tactics”.

This has not prevented animal campaigners hitting out at BrewDog, with Advocates for Animals’ campaigns director Ross Minett claiming: "Using shock tactics to get attention is terribly out of date, especially when this involves exploiting or degrading animals.

"The modern approach is to celebrate the wonders of animals and respect them as individual sentient creatures. I'm sure this would have much greater appeal with the animal-loving public.

"We will be getting in touch with BrewDog to advise them on what people today really think about animals and how a positive caring approach and appreciating live animals is the best way forward."

BrewDog has previously attracted criticism from the Portman Group around its 41% Sink The Bismarck! Ale, its 32% Tactical Nuclear Penguin beer, and its 18.2 per cent Tokyo beer, all of which are seen to promote excess.

The brewer recommends, however, that such beers should be served in a shot or whisky glass ''to be enjoyed like a fine whisky''.

James Watt retorted to condemnation of the beer's strength: "This artisan beer should be consumed in small servings whilst exuding an endearing pseudo vigilance and reverence for Mr Stoat.

"The real catalysts for a binge-drinking culture are not well-crafted beers but the monolithic corporate machines that have cultivated a culture of quantity rather than quality amongst UK beer drinkers."

He also added that it is better for the animals to be: “celebrated and valued than left to rot."

Brewdog Portman Group

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