Irwin Mitchell: BrewDog’s recipe for success

What herbs and spices did Colonel Sanders use to create KFC? Will we ever learn the secret recipe of Coca-Cola? How did Barr develop the unmistakable flavour behind Irn-Bru?

Protecting IP

Some of the recipes developed by the world’s biggest corporations, for example, Coca-Cola and KFC, and the intellectual property (IP) protecting them, are among the most heavily guarded and valuable assets in the food and drink industry. It is this mystery, and the inability of the public to recreate these recipes, that draws consumers in and ensures continual customer loyalty. It is without a doubt that for these companies, the importance and value in protecting the IP in these recipes is essential to their continued success.

So why in 2016 did one of the most successful brewers in the UK decide to release the IP behind each and every single beer that they have brewed on an annual basis?

Giving it away

We are of course talking about BrewDog. The company has released the DIY Dog, a comprehensive list of all of the recipes for every single BrewDog beer that its ever made. As CEO and co-founder, James Watt, recently suggested: “This is the information that normal companies would guard with their lives.”

It is, quite simply, as if the keys to the BrewDog kingdom are being handed over.

BrewDog was founded in 2007 by Watt and Martin Dickie, two beer fanatics and home-brewers who, like many other beer drinkers, had become bored of the beers and ales brewed by large corporations. Their mission was to make people as passionate about craft beer as they were.

Equity for Punks

In 2009, BrewDog launched Equity for Punks. This offered the opportunity for the average, craft beer-loving individual to purchase shares in BrewDog online. BrewDog became not just a brewery, but a brewery for the people, owned by the people, and challenged the industrial large-scale brewers by developing craft ales for a new generation of ale drinkers. As BrewDog grew, so did the Equity for Punks initiative, ensuring that BrewDog was owned by those shareholders who truly had great beer at the forefront of their investment.

It is clear that BrewDog values its consumers beyond all else and that they are the driving force behind BrewDog’s ethos and culture, which is ingrained in everything that the company does, from its Equity for Punks scheme to the donation of 20% of its profits to charity every year. However, this is most evident in the release of DIY Dog in 2016. DIY Dog contains the detailed recipes to every BrewDog beer and is updated on a yearly basis. This allows those shareholders and beer lovers, who have invested not only in the company but also in its ethos, to recreate their favourite craft ales at home. BrewDog has its roots firmly in home brewing and those roots have not been forgotten.

Most companies rely on their secret recipes to keep customers coming back for more. The allure of not being able to obtain that same flavour anywhere else keeps demand for their products high. However, for BrewDog, without its customers and crowdfunding investors, there would no BrewDog. The recipes are seen as the property of all those who truly love BrewDog’s craft beers. BrewDog has positioned itself as a company that places an inclusive culture at the heart of the business.

Only time will tell if giving away its valuable intellectual property will negatively affect BrewDog, but until then, the 'punk ale for all' ethos continues.

• For more information about how Irwin Mitchell's intellectual property team can help you, visit the dedicated section of our website here.