Read BrewDog bosses’ eye-opening first interview with P&J 15 years ago

By Keith Findlay

August 13 2022, 6:00 am

Fifteen years ago BrewDog boss James Watt told The Press and Journal Darth Vader was the fictional character he identified with most.

Back in 2007, BrewDog was an ambitious small business which had launched just four beers.

Now, it’s hard to imagine such humble beginnings from a firm which currently operates four breweries and more than 100 bars worldwide.

As BrewDog’s in-person AGM returns to Aberdeen after two years online, we’ve taken a look back at The P&J’s first-ever interview with founders Martin Dickie and James Watt – who told us the fictional character he identified with most was Darth Vader.

Brewery venture is maturing nicely

Students are well known for their keen interest in beer, but few of them go on to make a career out of it. Martin Dickie did just that and recently teamed up with an old school pal, James Watt, to set up a brewery in the north-east.

The pair, who both attended Peterhead Academy and studied in Edinburgh before going their separate ways for a couple of years, have already launched four beers – all fermented and bottled at their BrewDog brewery at the Kessock Industrial Estate in Fraserburgh.

The venture could hardly have got off to a better start.

BrewDog’s beers have already attracted considerable interest from Japan, Denmark and North America and the firm’s Paradox ale, a dark, whisky-flavoured stout, won the fledgling company the top prize at the Grampian Food Forum Innovation Awards earlier this month.

High Hopes

Mr Dickie and Mr Watt, both 24, have high hopes for the beers taking off in a big way and have invested their life savings in getting their new business up and running.

But the pair took very different paths to becoming brewing entrepreneurs.

Mr Dickie is the one with the background in beer, having studied brewing and distilling at Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh, for four years.

He hails from Crimond, but has only just returned to the north-east after his studies and a two-year spell as head brewer for the award-winning Thornbridge Brewery in Derbyshire.

Martin Dickie and James Watt sampling beer in their Fraserburgh brewery.

His interest in the whole fermentation process stems from early attempts at making his own home brew and a fascination with the large copper stills he saw during visits to various distilleries around the country.

When he got to university, he realised that brewing rather than distillation was definitely where he wanted to be.

Mr Dickie, now BrewDog’s head of brewing, said: “With distillation, you have to wait a very long time before you can actually sample the product. With brewing, you don’t have to wait so long.”

Hatching a plan

He joined Thornbridge soon after it was set up in October 2004 and contributed to a string of awards for the brewery, including a silver medal for strong ale at the Great British Beer Festival last August.

Throughout his spell at university and then in England, he kept in touch with Mr Watt and the pair of them soon hatched plans for a business of their own.

“We had been working on the idea for about a year and spent the last four or five months looking for suitable premises and equipment,” said Mr Dickie.

A young James Watt, left, and Martin Dickie.

Mr Watt, BrewDog’s managing director, has just recently come into the brewing industry.

After leaving school he studied law and economics at Edinburgh University, but turned down the chance of working in the legal profession to join the crew of the Banff-registered Ocean Trust fishing vessel, skippered by his father, Jim Watt.

“I didn’t really fancy working in an office all day,” said James, who is originally from Gardenstown, near Banff.

Instead, he has spent the last couple of years catching herring and mackerel in the seas around Scotland.

Aiming to produce 7,000 pints of beer a week

Although the new beer venture is largely self-financed, the young entrepreneurs have had some financial assistance – loans totalling £22,000 from Aberdeenshire Council’s Support for Aberdeenshire Business scheme.

The first brew came off the production line just a few weeks ago and, with the help of Huntly-based whisky distributor and independent bottler Duncan Taylor and Co, samples were quickly sent overseas.

BrewDog is currently negotiating a deal with Sainsbury’s and the company will soon start on a hard-sell for its cask beers in hotels and pubs.

The Paradox 1968 Islay Cask was released to celebrate BrewDog’s first birthday. Photo: BrewDog

Paradox is the strongest of BrewDog’s beers at 10.5% proof. It comes in two varieties – a peaty-flavoured brew finished in Islay whisky casks and a citrus-flavoured beer which goes into Speyside whisky casks for the final stage of maturation. The three other beers are a 5% amber brew called The Physics, 6% ale Punk IPA, and 5.5% lager Hopp Rocker.

Mr Dickie and Mr Watt aim to produce more than 7,000 pints of beer a week in all, mostly in bottles and about 20% in casks. They hope to grow the business by promoting their beers as natural products.

A major breakthrough in the Japanese market would see them reinforce Fraserburgh’s links with the Far East country – in the late 19th century the Broch’s most famous son, Thomas Blake Glover, launched a brewery in Japan which later became the Kirin Brewery Company.

A Q&A with James Watt

James Watt in his office at BrewDog’s Ellon brewery. Photo: Paul Glendell

What car do you drive?

It’s red and quite fast, where the law permits of course.

What gadget would you never leave home without?

Are sandwiches gadgets?

What’s your favourite restaurant?

Cafe 52 in Aberdeen.

Have you ever broken the law?

I am the law.

What or who makes you laugh?

Ricky Gervais; or Martin Dickie playing badminton in what could only be described as pretentious 1950s pyjamas.

What’s your most interesting habit?

I always get out of bed before 9.30am.

What’s your favourite book?

An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, by John Locke.

What’s your favourite film?

Good Will Hunting or Anchorman.

Matt Damon and Robin Williams in Good Will Hunting. Photo: Miramax

What’s your favourite singer/band?

The Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

What’s the best piece of business advice you have ever received?

Always believe 100% in yourself and your ideas. If you don’t, no one else will. You need a level of almost unrealistic confidence in yourself and your own ability.

Worst business advice?

a) Have a mission statement. Mission statements are for companies who don’t know what they are doing.

b) To use an excessively manufactured acronym for a business name.

With which historical or fictional character do you most identify?

Darth Vader from Star Wars.

Brewdog boss James Watt told The Press and Journal Darth Vader was the fictional character he identified with most.

What do you drink?

I prefer a flan 60% of the time. Hopp Rocker is apparently pretty good too.

How much was your first pay packet and what was it for?

Skeletor (from He-man and the Masters of the Universe). I spent a week on my dad’s fishing boat when I was seven for this most extravagant of remunerations. I could have happily retired that very day.

What’s your ideal job, other than this one?

A circus boy.

What’s your biggest extravagance?

It’s all about moderation. Everything in moderation, including moderation itself. What logically follows is that you must, from time to time have excess.

How do you keep fit?

By smoking and eating as many cheeseburgers as I can. I try to go to the gym three times a week, but unfortunately I have missed the last 317 times.

How would you like to be remembered?

As the prime minister who rid the country of the red tape plague and restored the vaguest hint of reason and morality to the justice system. I could solve the world’s problems if I had a bit more free time.