Group calls time on Speedball beer

drink watchdog accuses north-east firm of profiteering from Scotland’s drugs problem

By Ryan Crighton

Published:

PROVOCATIVE: Brewdog director Martin Dickie with the Speedball ale at the centre of the dispute. Colin Rennie

A controversial north-east brewery was last night accused of profiteering from the country’s drug problem as a powerful alcohol watchdog moved to ban one of its beers.

The Portman Group has upheld complaints against Fraserburgh-based BrewDog regarding its Speedball beer, which is named after the heroin-cocaine cocktail which killed Hollywood stars John Belushi and River Phoenix.

The beer will now be removed from shelves around the UK “to protect the public” after the group’s independent complaints panel decided the marketing of the beer promoted illegal drugs.

Speedball is the name given to the potentially lethal practice of combining heroin and crack cocaine to give both sedative and stimulant effects.

The drink is marketed by BrewDog as a “class A ale” containing “a vicious cocktail of active ingredients” which creates a “happy-sad” effect.

Portman Group chief executive David Poley said the drink’s marketing is grossly irresponsible. “The blurring of alcohol and illicit drugs fosters unhealthy attitudes to drinking and trivialises drug misuse,” he said.

“BrewDog is profiteering from the scourge of illegal drugs, mocking the misery caused by misuse.

“The company is seriously misguided in its claim to be educating and preventing people from misusing drugs. We are taking urgent action to protect the public from exposure to such negligent marketing.”

BrewDog director Martin Dickie described the criticism as idiotic, saying the firm only produced 5,000 bottles of the beer to hit back at the Portman Group over its threat to ban three other BrewDog beers, which were later cleared.

Mr Dickie said: “The Portman Group were picking on us for no reason and we were fed up. It was deliberately slightly provocative to give them something to complain about so they can justify their existence in what they were doing to us and wasting everybody’s time and effort.

“This is a drink which, in the UK, had a release of 1,184 bottles and cost £3 a bottle, so Speedball is for those who enjoy a quality beer responsibly and enjoy a premium drink at a premium price. You can still buy 24 cans of strong lager for less than £10. That is the real problem here, not a small brewery producing a run of 5,000 beers which will mostly be sold in specialist beer shops.

“The beer is called ‘Dogma’ in America and that was what we always intended to call Speedball here after its first run had finished,” added Mr Dickie.

In a major U-turn last year, the Portman Group threw out claims that three other BrewDog beers could encourage antisocial behaviour.

Portman provisionally upheld complaints of aggressive marketing made against Punk IPA, Hop Rocker and Rip Tide, but backed down in December.