James Watt

Watt said he would restore the equity of previous retail investors in BrewDog, provided they signed up for his new beer brand Second Best

BrewDog founder and former CEO James Watt has launched a new bid to seize back control of the Scottish beer business.

Writing on LinkedIn, Watt said his new beer business, Second Best, had submitted a formal offer to BrewDog owner Tilray Brands to buy back the business he founded alongside Martin Dickie in 2007.

Watt claimed that, if successful, he would restore the equity stakes of the 43,000 former ‘Equity Punks’ that had so far registered to be part of Second Best.

He also pledged to restore the real living wage across the BrewDog business, a move he said would “put the community back at the heart of the business”.

“We have formally submitted our offer to buy BrewDog,” Watt said. “The offer was made by Second Best and sent to Tilray Brands. 43,000 Equity Punks have already joined the bid.

“If we succeed, every registered punk gets their BrewDog equity back, for free. We’d also restore the real living wage, bring back the team’s equity, and put the community back at the heart of the business.

“The punks and the crew built this company and BrewDog deserves to belong to them once more.”

Terms of the deal submitted to Tilray for the business have not been disclosed, although a report in The Times said the offer was in excess of £30m.

Tilray paid an initial £33m to acquire the global IP and UK arm of BrewDog out of administration in March of this year, before subsequently striking deals for parts of BrewDog’s operations in the US and Australia. 

Watt was unsuccessful in a previous attempt to buy back BrewDog prior to its pre-pack sale to Tilray, later describing himself as “heartbroken” by the loss of nearly 500 jobs of former BrewDog staff. 

He stepped down as CEO of BrewDog in 2024 but remained a director until earlier this year.

He has since launched Second Best, pledging to give away around 20% of the shares in the new business to retail investors wiped out by BrewDog’s collapse.

A Tilray spokesperson said: “We do not comment on speculation. We’re very happy and excited about BrewDog’s business worldwide.” 

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