Millionaire BrewDog co-founder James Watt launches new beer brand after collapse of his craft brewery chain

Published: 23:25, 22 May 2026 | Updated: 23:48, 22 May 2026 Millionaire BrewDog co-founder James Watt has launched a new beer brand after the collapse of his craft brewery chain.  Despite BrewDog going into administration in March this year, leading to 38 bar closures and 484 job losses, its co-founder is now starting a new beer brand - choicely named Second Best. The 44-year-old Scottish businessman said he was hoping to give the former investors of BrewDog nearly 20 per cent of his new company's shares to 'make good' on what he felt was an 'obligation'.  Watt said: 'Hopefully the second time around, I can build something stronger, better, more valuable... and provide a return for their investment.'  The new venture will start with the production of three beers - two pale ales and a lager.  Though Watt said there was no fixed timeline for the launch, production is expected in breweries in Germany and other locations in Europe.  Watt said earlier this year that he was 'heartbroken' after the collapse of BrewDog, the company he co-founded in 2007 aged 24.  Second Best will be a new venture into the drinks industry, specialising in selling canned beer.   The co-founder of BrewDog James Watt has launched a new beer venture - named Second Best  Watt's wife Georgia Toffolo (pictured left) has spoken about the personal stress the company's collapse has had on their relationship  To avoid the heat degradation common in supermarket supply chains, the beers will leave the canning line at zero degrees and be shipped to customers in insulated boxes, ensuring it never warms over 5C, the Times reported.  Watt, who married Made in Chelsea star Georgia Toffolo, 31, in March 2025, suffered a string of controversies while in the top pub job, including accusations that he created a 'toxic workplace'.  It was revealed that Brewdog was £500million in debt when it collapsed into administration, leaving shareholders empty-handed as its Equity Punk shares were worthless.  The once high-flying craft beer firm owed creditors £553.8million at the point of its sale, leaving an estimated £480million black hole after its pre-pack rescue deal. The figures laid bare the scale of the company's dramatic downfall, which saw its brewery and 11 bars snapped up by US firm Tilray for just £33million - alongside the closure of 38 pubs and 484 redundancies.  The Scottish brewery, which was speculatively valued at £2billion just a few years ago, was sold to US cannabis and drinks firm Tilray for a fraction of that earlier this month. A total of 38 UK bars were closed, when CEO James Taylor told 484 staff in an all-hands conference call that they were no longer employed.  Mr Watt - who stepped back from the role of CEO in 2024 amid allegations of a toxic culture within BrewDog - said he would have 'loved to save every single job and every single equity punk investment' but 'couldn't', adding: 'That will stay with me.'  James Watt got engaged to Georgia Toffolo in 2024, shortly after he stepped away from BrewDog amid allegations of inappropriate behaviour At the start of this month Watt's wife, Georgia Toffolo, spoke on social media about the impact of the stress of Brewdog's collapse on the couple's relationship.  The reality TV star said the stress of her husband's company's collapse contributed to her five-month struggle to get pregnant.  Addressing the fallout, Georgia said: 'I'm sitting here thinking about the year. We've had so much stress. I'm sure you guys have seen it all, public stuff like the BrewDog stuff has been really difficult to navigate...'  Georgia continued: 'And every single family across the world there's always stuff going on.  'I just think that coinciding with starting to try for a baby it's been a lot for us and we're both very tough and very strong and struggled to acknowledge that it's been a tricky year.   'On top of my naivety I really did just think that if you're super fit and healthy like us you get pregnant really quickly, but it isn't always the case.  'Sometimes there's just a lot of stuff going up that's biological - but I think all of it coinciding...'  Toff and James, 44, tied the knot in Scotland in March 2025, onboard a fishing boat just off the coast of the picturesque town of Gardenstown in Aberdeenshire.  The millionaire had popped the question to the star the previous October with an eight carat triple-diamond studded band estimated to be worth £200,000, while on holiday in Greece for Georgia's 30th birthday.  The comments below have not been moderated. 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