business

BrewDog founder sinks teeth into Guinness’s ‘250-year monopoly’

James Watt claims his stout, Black Heart, is achieving sales of over 50 per cent of its giant rival and aims to go head-to-head against the global brand in pubs

James Watt, chief executive of Brewdog: ‘Taking on a business which is 65 times our size globally is always going to be a challenge, but we are very much up for that challenge.’ Picture: Bloomberg

James Watt, founder of British beer company BrewDog, has said the sales of its own brand of stout have reached 50 per cent of Guinness’s sales in British supermarkets — and he plans to subsidise publicans in an aggressive bid to overtake what he’s called a “250-year monopoly”.

In a LinkedIn post last week, Watt said the company’s stout, Black Heart, is achieving “sales over 50 per cent of Guinness’s volumes” in supermarkets such as ...