BrewDog Aberdeen, Aberdeen

This is quite a compact bar compared to the nearby Castlegate Brewdog branch, with more of an industrial feel to it and doing a booming trade with a predominantly young crowd on this midweek evening visit. The pub has a simple rectangular room with a concrete floor and a row of the same banquette booths as seen in Castlegate down either side with a few high tables and stools running through the centre. The left hand wall has been decorated with some mirrors and various bits of cut-out art depicting a cartoonish sharks and an anchor with the word ‘Flagship’ on it, whilst over to the right there is and exposed brick and stone wall covered with a few modern art prints. A granite topped bar counter can be found to the rear with the classic cinema-style Brewdog beer board high up on the bar back – the only one of these I saw in the five Scottish Brewdogs I visited. A lone woman was making tonnes of pizzas for a seemingly never ending queue of hungry customers, leaving an affable chap to run the bar, who was a good fit for the company’s policy of hiring enthusiastic and knowledgeable staff. A good indie and Britpop soundtrack played away in the background and there was a nice buzz from the lively crowd, which included the odd punter turning up to get take-out growlers re-filled. There were thirteen Brewdog beers listed on the board plus five guests which happened to all be from Stillwater, suggesting some sort of tap takeover on their part. I tried the Punk IPA, which is normally a great go-to beer, but I think I was getting pretty jaded from too much keg beer by this point in the evening, so I didn’t really enjoy it. This is a decent enough branch of Brewdog – better than some of their more rushed feeling branches but not really standing out either and arguably not even the best Brewdog bar in Aberdeen. I think the buzzy vibe in here might encourage me to call in again, but perhaps only for a swift half before moving on elsewhere.