These Scottish beer aficionados really love craft beer. James Watt and Martin Dickie founded BrewDog in 2007 and they've just embarked on Season 2 of their show Brew Dogs on the Esquire Network. James and Martin tour US cities, visiting breweries and conducting experiments to make their own unique beer inspired by the city they are visiting, all the while the show claims that they are “the rock stars of craft beer.” Although they may not "rock stars" in the truest sense of the term, if you love good beer, this pair definitely rocks.
Why are James and Martin so awesome? Well first off, I’m a sucker for Scottish accents. (I think it has to do with my love of Braveheart from a young age.) And as seen in the show, a lot of other Americans also can't say no to a Scottish accent. Second, I can't resist delicious craft beer. I mean, a Miller Lite every now and then is a necessity, but I’d prefer a craft IPA or sour beer any day.
Part Travel Channel show, part MythBusters, part Dirty Jobs, Brew Dogs has an interesting formula. Martin and James go to a city and meet with a renowned local craft beer owner. There, they try the local beer and come up with the theme of the beer that they will be making for the show. Their themes always have some sort of gimmick — the fastest beer, the greenest beer, the most expensive beer.
To make their specialty beer, the pair chooses local ingredients. Then James and Martin meet with their chief engineer to come up with an innovative way to make their beer. Whether it be a bike-powered beer trolley or a raceway-ready beer truck, their engineer creates it. Once they've put their engineer to work, James and Martin take to the streets. They are ambassadors of the craft beer movement and they will go anywhere to spread the word — even a spin class.
They also choose the best breweries and craft beer bars in the area, do local beer pairings with local foods, and — once their innovative beer has been created — they present their beer to a large group who congregates at the original craft beer bar from the beginning of the episode.
The duo is charming and I think their accents allow them to get away with some non-PC comments that might not fly otherwise. And since it's on the Esquire Network, there is a manly-man's vibe. The Esquire Network is relatively new since it was formerly the Style Network. If you've been lamenting the loss of the "women's" channel to a "men's" channel, don't fret — Style will be coming back this fall.
If you can get over the fact that networks generalize that men love beer and machines and women love shoes and purses, Brew Dogs is a great show for a beer lover — whether you're a woman or a man. And Martin and James know that you don't have to be a man to love craft beer as they invite all types of people to do beer tastings. Drunks of all genders unite!
As for James and Martin's own brewery, BrewDog has no-nonsense pubs throughout the UK, and some in Sweden, Japan, Brazil, and Italy. They are basically the Gordon Ramsays of beer.
If you want a BrewDog bar near you, you can even submit a proposal of a location and BrewDog will give you discounted beer at that location for life. Who can resist that? I’m considering submitting a proposal myself if James, Martin, and their Scottish accents would be interested in opening one in America.
But in the meantime, these cool dudes will continue to travel through the US. This season they've already journeyed to North Carolina, Illinois, Nevada, Delaware, and Colorado — with the sixth episode taking place in Northern California. And I probably wouldn't mind if they rolled in to a town near me.
Images: Joe Pugliese/Esquire Network (2); Getty Images (2)
