BrewDog has sold its Kinrara Estate to natural capital asset manager Oxygen Conservation after only buying the site five years ago.
Financial terms of the deal were undisclosed.
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The Hazy Jane brewer bought the estate, also known as the ‘Lost Forest’ in 2020. It was reportedly bought for £8.8m (now $11.8m).
Situated in Cairngorms national park, Kinrara is made up of 10,000 acres and has “ambitious woodland creation and peatland restoration projects” ongoing on the site, a joint statement from both companies said.
“Since we became custodians of this magical slice of the Scottish Highlands, we have worked with partners to restore 745 hectares of peatland and planted over 375 hectares of new woodland. We’re proud of all that has been achieved and of the legacy we leave, but the time is right to hand over the reins to an organisation that specialises in protecting and investing in natural capital” said Lauren Carrol, chief operating officer, BrewDog.
“Oxygen Conservation will be fantastic stewards of the Kinrara Estate. Their experience in scaling up impact through innovation and community engagement is second to none.”
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By GlobalDataBrewDog launched its Lost Forest tree-planting project at Kinrara in 2022, and had received a grant of £1.2m ($1.6m) by the Scottish government to support it.
Lost Forest had been a core part of the group’s ESG strategy.
In July 2024, BrewDog withdrew its carbon-negative claim and admitted the achievement was unsustainable without offsetting its emissions.
At the time, the business said it planned to instead focus on reducing its own emissions and investing in Lost Forest.
“We have decided to step away from buying carbon credits and double down on our emissions reduction strategy and investment in the Lost Forest. This way, we can be certain about what we’re investing in, and what the carbon benefit is,” it then said.
But the project at Kinrara has been a challenge for the business, with the site seeing thousands of plantings die.
In April last year, ex-CEO James Watt admitted the saplings had faced a “higher-than-expected failure rate”.
Posting on LinkedIn at the time, Watt said: “Last year we planted 500,000 trees in partnership with our friends at Scottish Woodlands. But then came the fifth-hottest Scottish summer on record. An incredibly hot and dry summer was followed by a harsh winter as savage gales and sweeping frosts hammered the Scottish Highlands.
“It’s disappointing. Our partners have estimated that around 50% of the 500,000 saplings planted did not survive their first 12 months.”
Reports from 2021 on the launch of BrewDog’s Lost Lager suggested the company originally pledged to plant a tree for every multipack of the brand it sold.
According to The Guardian a year later, the Scottish brewer has since denied that it intended to claim a tree would be planted on the estate for every sale of Lost Lager.
Commenting on the latest acquisition of Kinrara, Rich Stockdale, CEO of Oxygen Conservation said: “We’re delighted to be taking forward the next chapter of Kinrara Estate, following BrewDog’s work on ‘The Lost Forest’ – one of Scotland’s most ambitious woodland creation projects. They took on a complex, challenging landscape and delivered it to a high standard, from ground preparation to deer fencing and especially the use of locally sourced seed.
“Kinrara offers both scale and ecological improvement opportunities, and we hope to take it into its next chapter whilst continuing the ambitious woodland creation and peatland restoration projects already planned across this landscape.”
Oxygen Conservation manages a portfolio worth £275m which covers 50,000 acres of land and 12 estates throughout England, Wales and Scotland.
