Bottle failure at BrewDog Overworks costs brewer 'hundreds of thousands'
The Scottish taproom aims to be a bespoke facility to do justice to the characteristics of sour and wild ales.
BrewDog posted on its blog: “We have a painful setback to report. It was discovered that about one in 10 of the bottles has a catastrophic manufacturing defect compromising their structural integrity.
“The bespoke 500ml Champagne-style bottles look incredible, feel substantial but warning signs were raised when routine handling lead to numerous breakages.
“Further inspection from our quality team and our manufacturer’s quality engineers have determined the bottles are not fit for release. This means none of the bottles can be allowed out into the wild.”
Quality and safety
The Scottish brewer and operator said it had made a change in its bottling, in order to keep drinkers safe.
The post added: “We have made the call to dump all the OverWorks bottles filled to this point and have asked the manufacturer to recommission new glass for us. We are dedicated to our quality and your safety.
“This decision has not only cost us hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of stock and six months’ worth of production time, but also caused heartbreak and genuine disappointment for those who have worked so hard to get these beers ready for you.”
It then went on to outline how BrewDog has found an alternative mode of packaging in which to bottle the beer.
Replacement bottle
The post said: “We have sourced an interim replacement 500ml Champagne-style bottle and have begun to fill these with our awesome mixed fermentation beers.
“They are not the super-slick embossed and branded OverWorks bottles we were planning to release but you guys have waited long enough to get your hands on bottled BrewDog sour and wild ales.
“In the meantime, we will be rolling out OverWorks kegs to our network of UK BrewDog bars (with international bars to follow) as the beers are tasting incredible.
“They are ready to roll and we don’t want to keep you waiting more than you already have done. The bottles? Well the bottles will come [as] soon as we can get them out to you. We hope you understand.”
