Brewdog founder James Watt is a ‘charlatan’ say ‘punk’ small traders who’ll lose fortune if beer firm is damaged up and offered off

Brewdog founder Hames Watt has been called a ‘charlatan’ by the firm’s ‘punk’ small investors who fear they will lose out if the company is sold and broken up.

Last week the firm appointed restructuring experts AlixPartners after amassing a cumulative £148 million in pre-tax losses over five consecutive years of decline.

Mr Watt, who ironically calls himself the ‘world’s worst boss’ and is married to reality TV star Georgia Toffolo, is said to be mulling a buyout. 

He stepped down as CEO in May 2024 following a series of allegations about the work culture and his behaviour in the role, but retains a 22 per cent stake in the business.

He is now facing calls to reimburse smaller investors who got involved through Brewdog’s ‘Equity For Punks’ scheme, which enabled beer lovers to own a tiny slice of the brewery.

It was lauded as an idea that ‘flipped the script on traditional crowd funding’, and those who took part received perks including discounts and free beer on their birthday. 

But should Brewdog be broken up, as is currently being suggested, it’s feared its 200,000 investors will not see any return on the money they ploughed into the business. 

Angry punters are demanding they are reimbursed for the money they put into Brewdog, which was set up in 2007 by Mr Watt, who now holds the role of ‘captain and co-founder’ and Martin Dickie.

Jean-Marc Hodgkin, 59, told the Telegraph he considers Mr Watt a ‘charlatan’, adding: ‘I think he believed in it at the start – but he’s turned into the kind of corporate figure he used to criticise.

‘It’s been a complete volte-face in how shareholders have been treated. It was supposed to be a cool company with cool shareholders and a sense that we were all in it together.’

Ed Doljanin, 21, added: ‘When I saw the most recent reports about a potential sale, I started wondering whether I’d get anything back.

‘Even if James Watt were to include equity punks in the outcome of the sale, he still would receive a decent payday himself.

‘But as it stands, it feels like a money grab. He should share the proceeds of any sale amongst the investors who had faith in the business.’

John Robertson said: ‘Unfortunately I have punk equity that will now be money down the drain.

‘They used to make brilliant beers, fruit beers as well but when the founders moved away from brewing the rest was lost.’

Another investor added that the possible sale of the firm ‘made a mug out of all [its] loyal supporters’.

And Richard Fisher, 58, from Suffolk previously told how he invested £12,000 in the beer brand and is now concerned he will lose it all. 

‘I genuinely thought Brewdog would go public, be listed on the stock market with the freedom to buy and sell shares and there was potential to make a bit of profit,’ he told the BBC.

‘My shares have effectively been worthless for the last two or three years,’ he added. 

For many, the sale is the last straw in what Brewdog’s previously loyal fanbase say is a departure from its ‘authentic’ routes.

Mr Watt and Mr Dickie once blew up cans of Heineken in a self-confessed middle finger to faceless beer corporations – by 2022, the CEO had approached the same firm about a partial sale.

And now the firm’s brewery sites are said to once again be attracting interest from Heineken, as well as Carlsberg and AB InBev. 

In Brewdog’s early years, the pair focussed on the relatively new world of ‘craft’ beer, relying on bank loans to grow the business while using a range of PR stunts to garner headlines – such as creating what was then the UK’s strongest beer at 18.2 per cent.

By 2012, BrewDog had a new permanent home in Ellon, Aberdeenshire, 140 employees, 10 bars and 6,500 shareholders in its Equity for Punks (EFP) scheme.

This allowed fans to buy ordinary shares in the company in exchange for discounts, invites to AGMs (or ‘annual general mayhem’, as the company so foppishly put it) and the potential for a big financial payout in the event the company was sold off.

And when it emerged that drinks giant Diageo had intervened to stop BrewDog winning an industry award, Dickie and Watt felt nothing short of vindicated that they were the plucky underdogs scaring the big breweries senseless.

Fast forward several more years and Brewdog operates 72 bars around the world and four of its own breweries.

Meanwhile its flagship Equity For Punks scheme eventually earned it £75 million. 

But by 2017, BrewDog sold a 23 per cent stake in the company to US private equity firm TSG for £213 million, earning its founders a reported £100 million, while also stating for the first time that private investors would take priority over the equity scheme investors in any eventual sale.

Mr Watt stood down as BrewDog’s CEO seven years later – under a dark cloud of allegations that dealt huge damage to the company’s reputation.

In June 2021, a group of 300 former BrewDog employees calling themselves Punks With Purpose published an open letter, alleging that the company’s DIY ethos was a front, and that behind it sat a work environment built on fear and toxicity.

They claimed staff were overworked, told to ignore health and safety guidelines and assaulted or harassed by senior staff – and that many PR stunts, including Elvis name changes, sending beer to Putin and pawternity leave, were essentially myths.

‘BrewDog was, and is, built on a cult of personality,’ the group said, claiming the responsibility for the company’s ‘rotten culture’ rested with Watt.

Six months later, the BBC broadcast a documentary in which several former workers from across the world made serious allegations about Mr Watt’s behaviour.

Among the allegations were that he kissed a drunk customer, that female staff were given advice on how to avoid unwelcome attention from him, and that some were even scheduled to be off when he was expected to visit their venues.

One bar worker in Ohio, Katelynn Ising, said she recalled telling new female members of staff: ‘Hey, just so you know, James Watt’s coming to town. Don’t always do your hair and makeup that day, like don’t catch his attention.’

He was also accused of taking female patrons on private tours of BrewDog facilities, some of whom, it was claimed, were intoxicated. Staff at an Ohio bar claimed to have seen him kissing a drunk customer.

Watt denied any allegations of being inappropriate, but later said he would sometimes go on ‘dates’ in America and apologised for making anyone ‘uncomfortable’.

‘I hugely regret anyone feeling in any way uncomfortable around me, as the programme set out,’ he later wrote on the Equity for Punks forum.

However, he hit out at what he called ‘false rumours and misinformation’, and complained to broadcast regulator Ofcom about the BBC’s film. Ofcom upheld none of his claims.

The documentary also revealed Watt had purchased some £500,000 of shares in Heineken and invested £2 million in a hedge fund in the Cayman Islands, flying in the face of the punk ethos on which his company had been built.

And last year Mr Watt started an online row after saying work-life balance is for ‘people who hate the work that they do’.

Mr Watt stood beside Ms Toffolo, as they encouraged everyone to aim for ‘work-life integration’ – the act of combining your job and your personal life.

The video was met with furious social media users who slammed the couple’s lack of ‘self awareness’ as not everyone is a successful business owner.

In the clip, posted on LinkedIn, Mr Watt says: ‘I just think the whole concept of work-life balance was invented by people who hate the work that they do.

‘So if you love what you do, you don’t need work-life balance, you need work-life integration.’

By 2023, there was a cloud over BrewDog, even as it unveiled plans to triple the size of its bars and hotel estate to 300 venues by 2030. 

The foundations made shaky by the open letter were weakened further by the BBC’s revelations – and by 2024 Watt had stood down as CEO, staying on as the ambiguously titled Captain. 

In July last year ten BrewDog bars were closed across the UK – including its first pub in Gallowgate, Aberdeen, not far from its Ellon HQ.

The fate of the rest of its sites currently remains uncertain, but government ministers in Scotland are said to be concerned that there could be hundreds of job losses.

Richard Lochhead, the Scottish business minister, said: ‘I recognise that this will be an unsettling time for the workforce.

‘We hope that jobs will be protected but the Scottish government stands ready to provide employment support if required.’

A spokesperson for Brewdog said: ‘As with many businesses operating in a challenging economic climate and facing sustained macro headwinds, we regularly review our options with a focus on the long-term strength and sustainability of the company. 

‘Following a year of decisive action in 2025, which saw a focus on costs and operating efficiencies, we have appointed AlixPartners to support a structured and competitive process to evaluate the next phase of investment for the business. 

‘This is a deliberate and disciplined step with a focus on strengthening the long-term future of the BrewDog brand and its operations. BrewDog remains a global pioneer in craft beer: a world-class consumer brand, the No.1 independent brewer in the UK and with a highly engaged global community. 

‘We believe that this combination will attract substantial interest, though no final decisions have been made. Our breweries, bars, and venues continue to operate as normal. We will not comment on any further speculation.’