In a final more tense than the women’s fencing individual sabre face off for Gold between Korea’s Kim Ji Yeon and Russia’s Sophia Velikaia in this year’s Olympiad, Flying Dog Brewery emerged victorious over BrewDog in the UK International Arms Race.

International Arms Race – a Zero IBU IPA – was put to the test on a five-day tour of BrewDog bars.

Also put to the test? Fying Dog's Brewmaster Matt Brophy and VP of Marketing Ben Savage’s livers, ability to cope with men in skirts, inability to use their personal hairdryers, and forced adaptability to the fact that everything is on the wrong side.

In this epic combative collaboration, hops were banned from the battlefield. Instead varying amounts of spearmint, bay leaves, rosemary, juniper berries, and elderflower were used to impart bitterness.

At each event, customers were encouraged to purchase a flight of both Zero IBU IPAs and blindly vote on their favorite. Savage also distributed Flying Dog-branded sunglasses to the crowd, a generous and fitting gift.

Then, at the end of each night, votes for each version of the beer were tallied.

BrewDog came out of the gate strong: winning the ‘Hulk Hands’ in Aberdeen, & then Glasgow the following night. However, Savage & Brophy had a few tricks up their sleeve and took BrewDog from behind: winning the coveted “Quack the Ripper” in Newcastle, Arms Race ‘Championship Belt’ in Manchester, and some ‘flag looking thing’ at final showdown in Camden.

It seemed as though the Flying Dog boys were not phased by the tactical strategies of BrewDog : mis-informative sat nav, driving on the correct side of the road, an engine that cut out every time you stop (in an attempt to slow them down), as well as overly complicated showerheads & light switches.

Oh, and because we do quite like them, we decided to brew an actual collaboration when the Flying Dog guys were over too.

We brewed a Rye IPA - loaded with American hops. Some of which came from Matt Brophy's garden. More details on this beer will be released in a few weeks time.