Brewdog chief executive quits months after takeover by US firm
Brewdog’s chief executive has stepped down from the business with immediate effect after less than a year in the job.
The abrupt departure of Brewdog’s chief executive, James Taylor, comes just over three months after the firm collapsed and was acquired by US-based Tilray Brands.
The termination of Taylor’s time as a director at Brewdog was confirmed in a Companies House filing dated 29 June.
Taylor is the third chief executive to step down from Brewdog in just over two years after co-founder James Watt and his successor James Arrow left within a year of each other.
Taylor took on the top job at the Aberdeenshire-based brewing and pubs group in March 2025.
He set about turning the business around amid continuing losses it ran up during an over-zealous expansion strategy.
Departure: James Taylor has left his post as chief executive of Brewdog with immediate effect
A spokesman for Tilray said: ‘BrewDog now sits under Tilray International and within this structure isn’t a requirement for a full-time chief executive.
‘James successfully led BrewDog through its ownership transition. We thank him for his contributions and wish him every success in the future.’
Brewdog chief commercial officer Lauren Carrol oversees the company’s day-to-day operations and reports to Rajnish Ohri, the president of Tilray’s operations business.
The Scottish company was acquired by Tilray in a £33million deal that included its UK brewing operations and 11 pubs in Britain and Ireland.
Brewdog had collapsed with more than £500million worth of debt.
In September 2025 Brewdog posted an annual pre-tax loss of nearly £37million.
Sales growth was up by less than 1 per cent to £357million.
In March, Brewdog announced plans to shut 38 Brewdog bars with the loss of nearly 500 jobs.
More than 200,000 people who ploughed money into the firm’s ‘equity for punks’ scheme will receive no return.
Earlier this year Watt said he would allocate nearly 20 per cent of shares in his new beer company, Second Best, to people who lost money after investing in Brewdog’s Equity for Punks scheme.
Watt co‑founded Brewdog with Martin Dickie in 2007. At its peak, the business had four breweries, around 100 pubs worldwide, and a valuation exceeding $1billion.
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