Gen!us beer brand owners call in administrators – Daily Business

The owners of a Scottish beer brand who pitched for investment on TV’s Dragons’ Den have put the company into administration.

Gen!us was launched in Glasgow by Jason Clarke and Charlie Craig in 2018, aiming to become a craft version of Bud Light. The low calorie lager was brewed by Marston’s at its Eagle Brewery in Bedford.

It received early investment from former Molson Coors global chief executive Mark Hunter, and David Wither, founder and chairman of the Montpelier Group, whose venues include Tigerlily and Indigo Yard in Edinburgh.

The founders appeared on Dragons’ Den in 2021 in search of £120,000 for a 4% stake in the business.

But they were criticised for over-valuing the venture and failed to persuade any of the dragons to part with their cash.

Commenting on the decision to put the business into administration, Mr Clarke said in a social media post that it was a “sad day that I hoped would never come”, but added that for the past 18 months it was “one which has been increasingly inevitable”.

He added that it had been a “brutal couple of years for the UK’s challenger craft brands as routes to market collapsed”, while the rise in low-alcohol beer was being captured by new formats of big brands.

“Consolidation across sales channels, in the on-trade and in retail, has made it incredibly tough for small, challenger brands to reach the customer – we simply couldn’t survive.

“It is with a heavy heart that Gen!us Brewing has to announce that our eight-year journey has come to an end and that the business is in the process of entering administration. We simply couldn’t survive in today’s ‘pay to play’ marketplace.”