BrewDog creditors owed £190m will not be repaid in full, administrators said

BrewDog’s new owner, US cannabis and drinks company Tilray, has pledged more than £50m to improve the company’s beers, pubs and working conditions while asking drinkers to give the brand “a second chance.” Tilray’s chief executive, Irwin Simon, made the appeal Tuesday at a brand relaunch at BrewDog’s flagship Waterloo bar in central London, six months after completing a £33m takeover of the collapsed Scottish brewer.

The £50m investment follows Tilray’s March takeover of BrewDog, which had collapsed into administration after five years of losses and worker-treatment controversies under founder James Watt. Administrators said earlier this month that creditors owed about £190m would not be paid back in full. More than 200,000 crowdfunding investors, known as “equity punks,” saw their shares rendered worthless by the deal, though Tilray has picked up the bill on some key suppliers to ensure continuity on items such as ingredients. Simon said Tilray was listening to BrewDog’s customers and staff and had increased pay this year.

Simon said Tilray was investing in BrewDog’s brewery in Aberdeenshire to improve the quality and reliability of existing lines while working on the launch of new beers. More than £1m of beer that did not meet quality standards had been thrown away, he said.

Speaking from BrewDog’s giant bar in Waterloo, central London, with music blaring in the background, Simon said: “We are different. We are not a big company like [Budweiser maker] Anheuser-Busch. We are entrepreneurial, nimble and want to connect to consumers.” He said Tilray was also considering buying additional British craft beers for its portfolio and could revive BrewDog’s closed distillery business if it saw sufficient UK market demand.

When an equity punk asked why BrewDog beers could not be priced as cheaply as a £2 Bud Light sold in Wetherspoons pubs, Simon said its craft beers would never match that price but added: “We deserve a second chance.”

“The name of the brand is BrewDog; it is not anyone’s name,” Simon said. “It is not about one person; it is about a team.”

March’s deal only included 11 of BrewDog’s chain of bars, with 38 closing and 440 staff losing their jobs. Tilray has since reopened five of those bars and is looking to open more, but Simon said he would do so only in what he called “A locations,” rather than the “BCD locations” that BrewDog’s previous owners had favored.

He said BrewDog could bounce back from the negative publicity it suffered under Watt’s leadership and return to annual sales of £350m a year, up from about £225m at present, and become profitable again with the right support. Simon said he believed BrewDog could one day be worth as much as £2bn.

Before a new ad campaign launching next week around the slogan “choose craft,” Simon said: “What we have to do is perform. What we have to do is what we’re doing here today. Bringing people together and launching campaigns and doing what we say we’re going to do.”

Last week Tilray launched an ad campaign that appeared to take a shot at Watt, with lines including “No More Cunning Stunts. Just Great Beer” alongside an image of its Punk IPA, and “A Little Less Allegation” alongside its Elvis Juice.

Tilray also published a letter outlining its commitment to BrewDog’s future, saying that under its ownership the brewer would have “sensible working practices, community initiatives and a people-first approach.” The letter added: “We’re going to take good care of this beloved Scottish craft beer business.”

Watt had apologized for some of his conduct after staff in 2021 accused him of fostering a “toxic work culture.” He left the company in 2024.

The company has introduced 24 Tilray-owned American craft beers into BrewDog bars and is planning to produce some of those at BrewDog’s Scottish brewery.

Equity punks continue to receive benefits, including discounted beer, and some were invited to the relaunch to ask questions of the new owners.