BrewDog co-founder James Watt bids £30 mln to buy back UK assets from Tilray

Chris Price Wed, July 15, 2026 at 7:35 AM PDT | 3 min read

James Watt James Watt said the proposal for BrewDog's UK assets would be worth a total of £30m — Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg

The founder of BrewDog has launched an attempt to buy back the craft beer company, months after it was rescued from administration by a US cannabis producer.

James Watt is seeking to reclaim some of the Scottish brewer's assets that were acquired for £33m in March by Tilray Brands, which manufactures medicinal marijuana.

The bid is his second attempt this year to regain control of the company, in a deal he said would restore the ownership stakes of so-called "equity punk" retail investors. These backers had their investments wiped out after BrewDog entered administration.

In a LinkedIn post on Wednesday, Mr Watt said: "If we succeed, every registered punk [gets their BrewDog equity back], for free."

Mr Watt, who is married to Georgia Toffolo, a Made in Chelsea star, revealed in May that he was planning a return to the beer industry through a new brewery called Second Best, which made the formal offer to Tilray. He previously attempted to rescue BrewDog when the business was on the brink of administration.

The latest bid does not include BrewDog's US business, which was acquired by Tilray in a separate transaction in March.

Mr Watt, 44, said the proposal for the UK assets would be worth a total of £30m, including planned investments. The bid includes its flagship brewery and taproom in Ellon, Aberdeenshire.

He told The Telegraph: "With everything outside of the US, we've got so much to focus on. So the proposal that I've put on the table would be that we do the whole business but we'd be leaving the US with them."

'Business environment is tough'

BrewDog's US operations had "grown significantly", Mr Watt said, adding that the decision to exclude the overseas business from the takeover offer was not a reflection on the decision to expand into the US before its collapse.

Mr Watt said: "The US element maybe makes sense left with them in terms of the other assets they've got. So hopefully that's something that might appeal to them."

The entrepreneur also pledged to pay the real living wage in his new venture and to "put the community back at the heart of the business".

Nearly 500 jobs were lost when BrewDog collapsed earlier this year, and 38 of its venues were closed. A takeover would involve employing BrewDog's more than 1,000 staff, even as pubs and restaurants grapple with rising wage bills and tax increases.

Mr Watt said: "The business environment is tough for sure – one of the toughest environments we've seen to operate these types of businesses in the UK. But I think there's still opportunities to innovate. There's opportunities to drive the future of beer."

Mr Watt said Tilray had received his bid but declined to comment on whether it had been acknowledged by the company.

Irwin Simon, Tilray's chief executive, said last month that he was still "really happy" with the acquisition.

Founded by Mr Watt and Martin Dickie in Aberdeenshire in 2007, BrewDog rode the craft beer boom to become one of the industry's biggest success stories. At its peak, BrewDog operated more than 120 bars across 57 countries and attracted thousands of small investors through its "equity punks" crowdfunding scheme.

The company was valued at around £2bn in 2021. However, the business's fortunes deteriorated in the years that followed. BrewDog recorded five consecutive annual losses from 2019 onwards, while debts linked to its private-equity backer, TSG Consumer Partners, mounted. By the time of its collapse, those liabilities had swollen to more than £800m.

Tilray was contacted for comment.