Sharing the news on LinkedIn, Watt said the bid had been submitted by his new beer venture Second Best, launched earlier this year with the aim of reviving and rebuilding established drinks brands.
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He said that, if successful, he would reinstate the Real Living Wage at BrewDog and return equity to former Equity Punks “for free” and “put the community back at the heart of the business”.
“We have formally submitted our offer to buy BrewDog,” Watt wrote on the social media platform.
New offer
“The offer was made by Second Best and sent to Tilray Brands. 43,000 Equity Punks have already joined the bid.”
The move follows Tilray’s £33m rescue deal for BrewDog earlier this year, which saw the US-based cannabis and consumer goods group acquire the brewer’s global brand, intellectual property and UK brewing operations out of administration.
It later made a deal for parts of BrewDog’s operations in American and Australia.
Watt founded BrewDog with Martin Dickie in 2007, taking the company from a small Scottish brewery to one of the UK’s best-known craft beer brands before leaving his CEO role in 2024.
He had previously attempted to buy the business before Tilray’s takeover, but his offer was not accepted.
Following the pre-pack sale to Tilray and subsequent loss of almost 500 jobs across the business, Watt said he was left “heartbroken”.
Bring BrewDog home
The sum for his latest bid has not been disclosed, however, a report in The Times estimated it was “in excess of £30m".
He urged Equity Punks looking to back the bid to register for free on the Second Best website.
Watt’s post continued: “The punks and the crew built this company and BrewDog deserves to belong to them once more.
“Equity Punks, you backed me once. This time, I’m backing you. Hopefully, we can bring BrewDog home.”
