Overworks - Ellon, Scotland

I have had the pleasure of attending the Brewdog AGM in each of the past two years.

For Brewdog, the need to hold an AGM for their crowdfunding shareholders is seen as a good excuse to hold an epic party for 8,000 people in the Aberdeen Exhibition Centre, with live bands all day long and guest bars featuring many of the World's leading craft breweries.

It would seem to be a shame to travel all the way to Aberdeen, and then not journey a few miles to the North to make a pilgrimage to Ellon, which is where it all started for Brewdog.

There has been a brewery tap at Ellon for a number of years known as the DogTap (and I will take some suitable pictures, the next time I am in town, so that I can review it here!)

This year's AGM was planned to coincide with the opening of a second taproom next door to the DogTap, which is attached to the new barrel-aging facility known as Overworks.

The Overworks facility is extremely shiny and new, and features an upstairs taproom seating around 70, with a stunning view over the barrel store. (definitely barrel-porn, if you are into that sort of thing!

We called in there the morning after the AGM-night-before, so the lunchtime session was starting slowly for most of the clientele.

The bar features mainly beers from the Overworks plant, including blended sours and interesting barrel-aged concoctions, as well as most of the core Brewdog beer range.

Staff, as is almost always the case with Brewdog, were excellent.

There can't be too many craft breweries in the World who have opened two large taprooms literally in adjacent buildings. This goes to illustrate the confidence and ambition of Brewdog.