BrewDog sold highland estate for knockdown price after abandoning reforestation plans

The Guardian - World NewsEN 4 min read 100% complete by Severin Carrell Scotland editorMarch 8, 2026 at 10:00 AM

AI Summary

long article 4 min

BrewDog sold its Kinrara Highland estate in the Cairngorms National Park to Oxygen Conservation in October 2023 for £8.85m, after abandoning its "Lost Forest" reforestation project. BrewDog originally purchased the estate in 2020 for £8.5m, with plans to plant millions of trees and become carbon neutral. The sale occurred after BrewDog experienced financial losses and a change in leadership. Oxygen Conservation used a legal loophole to keep the price confidential, but land records revealed the sale price was below the estate's expected value of £11.3m, considering inflation. The deal also included valuable carbon credits worth at least £4.8m, meaning BrewDog failed to realize the profits of those investments.

Key Entities & Roles

Key Player Opposition Context

United Kingdom 30% Blackburn & Hartsgarth 40% Dorback estate 40% Cairngorms National Park 50% Scotland ×260% Oxygen Conservation ×470% Kinrara ×670% James Watt ×380% BrewDog ×790%

Keywords

brewdog 100% highland estate 90% reforestation 80% carbon credits 70% oxygen conservation 70% land sale 60% carbon capture 50% peatland restoration 50% kinrara 40% james watt 40%