The premises vacated by Mason & Taylor are now home to the second branch of the Aberdeenshire brewery of the same name, after the original in Camden. You can buy Brewdog beers in Tesco and Asda now, and it has bars in almost every major British city, but it still somehow maintains independence and an air of rebelliousness.
Brewdog Shoreditch looks bit like a foundry (bare lights, bits of iron, moulded aggregate). It's not as sterile as it sounds, and there are wooden booths for a bit of privacy from the crowds. As with Camden, it’s often rammed with hopheads male and female – it's all about the craft beers here. There isn't a single sop for Carling or Krony lovers in sight. Everything on offer is a celebration of the endless drinking possibilities that arise when malt, water, yeast and hops come into contact, from the dark and spicy Alice Porter to the sharp and fruity Raspberry Revolver. The most popular brew, Punk IPA, has enough hops packed into it to dispel all memories of any brackish brown beer you might have tried and hated. Average beer strength must be about 6.5 per cent, and none of it's cheap, so best stick to half-pints.
Brewdog Camden sells good pizzas and burgers; here it’s 'Japanese street food'. In a Scottish brewery's craft beer bar in London. Why this is so isn't clear. But it's not bad – a ‘gyudon roll’ was stuffed with slow-cooked, salty sweet beef, and ‘katsu skewers’ were deep-fried morsels of lotus root and okra on sticks with dipping sauce. I'm not sure what they'd make of it in Fraserburgh, or Fukuoka for that matter.
There's now a third branch in Shepherd's Bush.