Fair play BrewDog. They’ve just shaken up the beer world, again. Last week, the Aberdeenshire brewery published the recipes for more than 200 of their beers.

Recipes for classics such as Punk IPA, 5am Saint and Hello My Name is … are now freely available for download from the BrewDog website, all of them tailored for 20-litre batches. Their DIY Dog publication is an incredible gift to the legions of home-brewers around the world.

BrewDog’s success has been built upon some cracking marketing as well as a relentlessly strong series of beers. They have, more than pretty much any other brewery in Scotland, got people talking and trying craft beer.

DIY Dog has also won over a fair few critics, perhaps those put off by BrewDog’s marketing swagger. Presenting a £500 bottle of 55% beer inside a stuffed stoat made plenty of noise, but it also noised plenty of folk up (the recipe for The End of History is included in DIY Dog). A recent advert poking fun at homeless and transgender folk had a similar effect.

But the only people likely to be concerned about BrewDog’s latest move are the big international breweries and intellectual property lawyers. In giving away their recipes, BrewDog are challenging notions of copyright and ownership; and that might just be the most punk thing they’ve ever done.

BrewDog are remaining tight-lipped how many people downloaded DIY Dog, but the brewery’s Sarah Warman admits the website saw a “huge spike in traffic on the day of launch and the following few days”; a fair few folk no doubt visiting the shop for inspiration on what to brew …

Sarah also notes that BrewDog has “long been a champion of independent companies” adding: “We wanted to pay homage to our home brewing roots with DIY Dog. Craft beer is an incredibly collaborative sector, so sharing our recipes for other people to have a go at was a no-brainer.” 

 

Six great BrewDog beers to make at home:  

 

5am Saint (5%)

Made with five types of malt, including Dark Crystal, and six different hops, this rich red beer has heaps of hop character and an enjoyably sweet caramel backbone. Bittering is pronounced, with flavours of berries, spices and a wee touch of chocolate.

Punk IPA (5.6%)

BrewDog’s flagship beer, and the beer that introduced thousands of people to the so-called craft beer revolution. An abundance of hops (five varieties) are used, both to give it its strong bitter character, as well as a pungent aroma of tropical fruits that works beautifully against Punk’s sweet caramel base.

Alice Porter (5.2%)

A dark beer with big coffee and chocolate flavours, it’s grain bill is fairly ambitious with seven different malts going in, including carafe, oats and wheat. The recipe’s been tweaked a few times over the years but this version should bring you dark berries, brown sugar and caramel.

Libertine Black Ale (7.2%)

Black, strong and pungent, Libertine is a superb example of a black IPA, a style that can be tricky to find the correct balance between dark, roasted malts and the aromatic and bittering hops. This one requires a mighty dose of Simcoe, Mosaic and Cascade hops, bringing out intense grapefruit and resin flavours as well as a tongue-curling bitterness.

Cocoa Psycho (10%)

A Russian Imperial Stout made with a substantial amount of malt – about 12kg for a 20-litre brew, which is more than double a normal type of beer. The recipe also calls for the addition of vanilla pods, toasted oak chips, coffee beans and cocoa nibs, making for a big, complex and balanced beer with a big chocolate sweetness and robust bitterness.

Mashtag 2013 (7.5%)

Made a few years ago, the recipe for this was developed using Twitter, with users voting on the different characteristics of the beer, among them styles, hops, strength and so on. This one’s a nutty brown ale with sweet fruits and chocolate set against a big bitter finish.