BrewDog has sold the Kinrara Estate in Scotland, a rewilding project it purchased for £8.8 million five years ago, as the embattled brewery faces mounting financial losses and controversy. The sale comes after half of the 500,000 trees planted on the estate died, and the company abandoned its claim to be a 'carbon negative' brewery.
The 'punk' brewery originally acquired the estate in 2020, pledging to turn it into Scotland's 'biggest ever forest' and fund the project through sales of its Lost Forest beer. However, the venture was marred by inaccuracies, including falsely claiming the site was 12,000 acres instead of 9,142, and overstating its carbon absorption capacity. BrewDog also admitted that offsetting carbon externally was too expensive.
The estate has been sold to Oxygen Conservation, a rewilding organisation. Rich Stockdale, CEO of Oxygen Conservation, defended BrewDog's efforts, stating: 'We were blown away by the job that had been done. No woodland creation or environmental restoration project is without its challenges.' BrewDog said the sale was timely, handing over to a specialist in natural capital.
The sale is the latest in a series of asset disposals as BrewDog struggles with financial performance. The company posted losses of £37 million last year, its fifth consecutive year of losses, and closed ten pubs. In August, its beers were removed from nearly 2,000 pubs across Britain, cutting UK distribution by more than a third.
CEO James Taylor, who took over after co-founder James Watt stepped down in 2024 amid allegations of improper conduct, recently described the company's financials as not making for 'happy reading'. The sale of the Kinrara Estate marks a significant retreat from BrewDog's ambitious environmental pledges.
