"No soul and no morals, with the integrity of a rabid dog and the style of a wart hog."

-BrewDog

We're late on this but we find this story emblematic and it still pisses us off....You may have read about the BrewDog award scandal that took place a few weeks back. Seems our friends from Scotland were swindled out of an honor by corporate beer giant Diageo at the British Institute of Innkeeping's (BII) awards. Diageo operates several major global brands; including Guinness, Johnnie Walker, Captain Morgan, Bailey's and Red Stripe -and they showed their ugly side!

Here's how The Huffington Post explains what went down:

BrewDog, a small craft brewery based in Scotland, was told it would receive an honor for Bar Operator of the Year, but things went awry when mega company Diageo, which happened to be the awards' main sponsor, found out just before the ceremony and demanded it be given the award instead. After its staff allegedly made a scene, Diageo was handed the award trophy with BrewDog's name clearly engraved on it.

According to the Huff Post, BII's Chairman, Kenny Mitchell explained that he was confronted by Diageo's representatives (the event's main sponsor) who threatened to pull all future support of the awards ceremony and said that their reps would not assist with the evening's presentations.

Long story short- the BII folded and gave the award to Diageo and a Twitter storm erupted on both sides of the Atlantic! Mr. Mitchell regretted his actions (as he should!) and personally called BrewDog two days later to apologize. 

Diego has also apologized for its staff's actions citing serious misjudgment on their part.... (You Think?) But if Diageo thinks that the apology they issued will make this all disappear for them they are sorely mistaken. BrewDog is legendary for their self-promotion and this may never go away. There will be a beer commemorating this debacle-the press is going to run with it- and Diageo's not going to like it.

We at American Craft Beer.com don't really care that Diageo apologized-nor should BrewDog for that matter. BECAUSE THEIR ACTIONS AND THEIR ARRROGANCE SPEAK VOLUMES! If you ever thought that corporate beer remains unthreatened by craft beer's growing popularity-you'd best think again.

And finally, unless we're mistaken, the award that rightfully belongs to BrewDog has yet to be returned. Again their actions speak volumes....