UK entrepreneur James Watt is looking at several breweries to possibly acquire for his new beer venture Second Best.
The former CEO and co-founder of BrewDog first revealed plans around the new venture in May.
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However, in a LinkedIn post this week, Watt said: “We are looking at three breweries that Second Best could potentially buy.
“And while we figure that out, we’re talking to some brilliant brewing partners about making the first batches for us.”
Details on where these breweries are located, who owns them, or the possible “brewing partners” were not disclosed.
Watt said in his post the Second Best business was “starting to come to life”, with recipes for two of its beers now “ready” – a West Coast IPA with 6.7% abv, and an Export Helles carrying a 5.4% abv.
He also said that 50,000 people had “registered to own a piece of our new beer company”.
Sharing news of his plans for Second Best in May, Watt said he would allocate up to 19.3% of the beer business to former shareholders in BrewDog.
In July, he also launched a bid to buy back his business from US brewer and cannabis group Tilray Brands.
Tilray struck multiple deals earlier this year to buy parts of BrewDog, including its brands and some of its UK, Australia and US assets.
After Watt’s launch of the bid, Tilray’s CEO Irwin Simon told multiple UK news outlets, including City AM, that the beer business was “not for sale”.
Watt also said on LinkedIn in July: “If we succeed, every registered punk gets their BrewDog equity back for free. We’d also restore the Real Living Wage, bring back the team’s equity and put the community back at the heart of the business.”
After announcing the bid for BrewDog, Watt faced complaints made to the UK’s data regulatory body amid claims he contacted the brewer’s former shareholders in connection with his bid to buy back the business.
A report from The Guardian at the time said as part of the proposal, a number of shareholders were contacted by Watt to offer them the “exact same stake in Second Best that you once held in BrewDog, for free”.
According to The Guardian, unnamed sources who received an email from Watt said they did not know how he had received their contact information, raising concerns around a possible breach of rules around general data protection regulation (GDPR).
Contacted by Just Drinks on the report, a spokesperson for the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) said: “We are aware of an incident involving BrewDog and we are assessing the information provided.”
Watt never responded to a request for comment from Just Drinks on the matter.
The Scottish entrepreneur stepped down as BrewDog CEO in 2024, while his fellow co-founder Martin Dickie left the business last year. Both of them were shareholders when the transactions took place with Tilray.
In his LinkedIn post this week, Watt also said: “In a week or so, we’re launching another drinks business that the Second Best community will also own part of.
“Hint: it helps with hangovers.”
Speaking to The Times in May, he also said the group was “initially launching a really interesting alcohol adjacent concept (more on this soon)”.
