BrewDog's new owner asks drinkers to give ailing brand 'a second chance'

The new owner of BrewDog has appealed to drinkers to give the brewer "a second chance" as it commits to investing more than £50m in upgrading its beers, pubs and working conditions.

US cannabis and drinks company Tilray bought BrewDog for £33m in March this year after the Scottish brewer collapsed into administration. The collapse followed five years of financial losses and a series of controversies over the treatment of staff under founder James Watt.

Tilray's investment is intended to revive a brand that built its reputation on an irreverent, disruptive approach to the craft beer industry but has struggled in recent years with both its finances and its public image. The company has signalled that improving working conditions for BrewDog staff is a specific priority alongside upgrading its pub estate and beer offering.

The BrewDog brand expanded rapidly from a single Scottish brewery into a global operation with bars and product lines across multiple countries, but that expansion left it with high costs and debts that ultimately proved unsustainable. Its fall into administration marked one of the most high-profile failures in the UK craft beer sector.

Details of how the £50m will be allocated between brewing operations, the pub estate and staff conditions have not been fully set out, but the new owner's public appeal suggests it sees rebuilding trust with consumers as central to any turnaround.