A BREWERY which claims to make the strongest beer in Britain is under renewed attack for creating a drink called Speedball — the name of the notorious heroin-cocaine cocktail which claimed the lives of the actors John Belushi and River Phoenix.

Health campaigners have previously criticised the company, BrewDog, after it launched Tokyo, a stout with an alcohol content of 12%, twice that of the strongest mainstream beers and stronger than the average wine.

Speedball, by comparison, is less strong, with an alcohol by volume content of 8%, but its name angered politicians and health campaigners.

Fraserburgh, the Aberdeenshire port where the company is based, is known as the “smack” capital of Britain. In the past two years 30 babies in the town have been born dependent on heroin or crack cocaine and police have estimated that one in five adults is involved in drugs.

“Cocaine and heroin mixed is dangerous. To use that name, associated as it is with the cocktail that killed River Phoenix, is grossly irresponsible,” said Dr Richard Simpson MSP, Labour’s public health spokesman.

“Quite a number of people with addiction problems are addicted to both drugs and alcohol, and those that do have the greatest problems. If this drink encourages the mixing of alcohol and drugs then that is very dangerous.”

Jack Law, chief executive of Alcohol Focus Scotland, said it was worrying that the marketing of these beers appeared to be targeting younger people.

“To produce products like these, of very high strength, aimed at a younger market, flies in the face of good corporate social responsibility,” he said. “The industry is very aware of the problems associated with Scotland’s drinking culture and many producers are trying to find ways of selling their products in a more responsible way, and producing more socially responsible products.”

Last night James Watt, the managing director of BrewDog, said the name was simply a marketing tool designed to challenge the traditional folksy image of beer brewed in small breweries.

He added that the beer has been designed for connoisseurs and will not be sold in pubs. “Sure, calling a beer Speedball is provocative but the public health campaigners, as they did with Tokyo, will generate hysteria to conceal their own shortfalls in falling to educate drinkers properly,” he said. “I agree with what these campaigners are doing, but what we’re about is getting drinkers to enjoy \ of a quality drink.

“The industry continually has a go at us, but they’re too short-sighted to see that we are the one company with precisely the same objectives.”

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