James Watt returns with Second Best, offers equity to BrewDog backers

James Watt is trying to reopen his beer story by giving BrewDog’s burned backers a piece of the next one. The co-founder of BrewDog said he plans to allocate up to 19.3% of his new venture, Second Best, to former Equity for Punks investors, with some coverage saying those backers could claim the same stake they once held for free.

That pitch lands after a brutal end to the old model. BrewDog entered pre-pack administration in March 2026, and administrators said there would be no return to equity holders, including the 200,000-plus public investors who had bought into Equity for Punks. Tilray Brands later bought BrewDog’s global brand, intellectual property, UK brewing operations and 11 pubs in a £33 million deal that was followed by the closure of 38 bars and the loss of 484 jobs.

For many in British craft beer, the backstory matters as much as the new company name. Equity for Punks ran from 2009 to 2021 and raised about £75 million from more than 200,000 small investors, making it one of the best-known consumer-crowdfunding schemes in UK beer. Watt’s new offer is being framed as a direct answer to the people who backed BrewDog financially and emotionally and came away with little, or nothing, when the business unraveled.

Watt has described former backers as “Second Founders,” a deliberate attempt to recast disappointed investors as co-builders of the next brewery instead of casualties of the last one. He also said he was “not done with that obligation,” language that makes Second Best look like more than a standard startup launch. It reads like an apology wrapped inside an equity pitch.

The beer itself is still taking shape. Early reports suggest Second Best may launch with three beers, including two pale ales and a lager, and that production could happen in Germany and other European locations. Brewing details remain sparse, but the intent is clear: a smaller, more focused, quality-driven operation with a community ownership angle at its core.

BrewDog was founded in 2007 by Watt and Martin Dickie in Aberdeenshire, and the brand that grew into one of the UK’s most visible craft names is now part of a much harsher lesson in fan finance. Second Best is Watt’s attempt to show that lesson was learned, and the industry will be watching to see whether former Equity Punks get a genuine second bite or just another polished pitch.