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BrewDog rectifies trademark row with collaborative gin
BrewDog’s spirits arm Lone Wolf has “resolved its differences” with an independent Birmingham pub over a trademark dispute by partnering with the owners to create a new gin.
Wolf Pack gin was developed in collaboration with Lone Wolf’s distillers and The Wolf team
Pub owners Joshua and Sallie McFadyen changed the name of the venue to The Wolf after the Scottish brewer threatened the pub with legal action to drop the name Lone Wolf in March.
Members of the public and fellow brewers took to social media in anger at BrewDog’s actions, slamming the independent company for its “corporate attitude”.
In response, BrewDog co-founder James Watt claimed its lawyers got “a bit trigger-happy” and offered to send the bar free cases of Lone Wolf vodka and gin.
However, earlier this month The Wolf team were invited to the distillery in Ellon, Scotland, to collaborate on a new gin called Wolf Pack.
The new expression is made from 50% malted barley, 50% malted wheat spirit and is made with “botanicals never before seen in Lone Wolf spirits”.
It contains hibiscus flower, grains of paradise, cassia bark, juniper, coriander, wolfberries, fresh lime peel, fresh grapefruit peel, angelica root and green cardamom.
All profits from the online sales of Wolf Pack will go to the UK Wolf Conservation Trust.
“At Lone Wolf we’re rewriting the rule book of distilling, so it felt right to do the same when it came to resolving our differences,” said head distiller Steven Kersley.
“Wolf Pack gin is built on strong foundations, and is full of uncompromising flavour. Bottled at 48% ABV, it is strong like the pack and has a unique flavour profile, unlike anything we’ve produced before.”
“It just goes to show that good can be born from rocky beginnings. Wolf Pack gin is a union of ideas that carries all the hallmarks of openness, and collaboration.”
The Wolf team said of the collaboration: ”Making gin has been such a fantastic experience! The guys from LoneWolf Spirits welcomed us, shared their knowledge and hopefully it has resulted in something we will all enjoy. As we have all discovered, it’s better when us wolves stick together. So when Lone Wolf asked us which charity we’d like to support The UK Wolf Conservation Trust seemed like the perfect choice.”
A statement on the Lone Wolf website reads: “We support those who fiercely defend their independence and what they stand for. Making a unique gin to honour that with The Wolf was the natural thing to do.”
Limited to 70 bottles, Wolf Pack is available online on BrewDog’s website and from The Wolf pub in Birmingham.