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Former employees of ‘cult of personality’ BrewDog write open letter criticising workplace and bosses

Dozens of former BrewDog staff have signed a letter accusing bosses at the north-east beer giant of “lies, hypocrisy and deceit” and of fostering fear in their employees.

The lengthy open letter, addressed to the company but also directed at founder and chief executive James Watt, was posted on Twitter last night by a new account named Punks With Purpose.

It suggests workers for the Ellon-based brewery have been asked to “ignore” health and safety guidelines and bypass US customs to send beer to an event, and calls for “genuine, meaningful change”.

Brewdog Ellon.
Brewdog Ellon.

One section claims: “So many of us started our jobs there eagerly, already bought into the BrewDog ethos, only to very quickly discover that ‘fast-paced’ meant ‘unmanageable’, and ‘challenging’ meant ‘damaging’.”

It ends with the signatures of 61 people who describe themselves as former team members, using both initials and full names, as well as 45 others “who did not feel safe to include either their names or initials”.


Who are BrewDog founders James Watt and Martin Dickie?


‘Burnt out, afraid and miserable’

Apart from founders Mr Watt and Martin Dickie, no individuals are named in the letter.

A passage addressed directly to Mr Watt reads: “It is with you that the responsibility for this rotten culture lies.

“Your attitude and actions are at the heart of the way BrewDog is perceived, from both inside and out.

“By valuing growth, speed and action above all else, your company has achieved incredible things, but at the expense of those who delivered your dreams.

“In the wake of your success are people left burnt out, afraid and miserable. The true culture of BrewDog is, and seemingly always has been, fear.”

The initial post has been retweeted more than 1,400 times, and the group has also set up a website containing the full text of the open letter.

Founder responds

The letter has prompted a comment from Mr Watt, who said: “We saw the Punkspurpose [sic] tweet and we will post a full response soon.

“On our growth journey we have not always got things right and we are happy to admit when that is the case.

“However, we have always had a high performance culture, we have always moved at speed and we have always focused on growth.”

BrewDog’s James Watt on stage at one of the company’s AGMs. Picture by Darrell Benns

He added: “It is fair to say that this type of fast paced and intense environment is definitely not for everyone, but many of our fantastic long term team members have thrived in our culture.

“Our culture is built on rewarding and developing great people and focusing on growing our business.”

#MeToo in beer industry

The Punks With Purpose website credits the American bar worker Brienne Allan and Edinburgh-based beer writer Siobhan Hewison for inspiring the group to “finally speak out”.

BrewDog Dog Tap, Ellon. Picture by Kenny Elrick

Ms Allan sparked a #MeToo movement in the brewing industry last month, with an Instagram post calling for women to share their experiences of harassment, sexism, racism and assault.

The stories that followed led to the resignation of several prominent figures, while a number of craft beer businesses have launched internal investigations.

Ms Hewison, who runs the British Beer Girl website, has also been sharing stories of harassment and abuse on her Twitter and Instagram feeds.

She retweeted the open letter soon after it was posted last night.