San Diego's Stone Brewing Company Ready To Release Locally-Brewed Sapporo Beer

June 27, 2023

Nearly a year after being acquired by the Japanese beer behemoth, San Diego's Stone Brewing will soon start releasing locally brewed Sapporo. 

In June 2022, Japanese beer brand Sapporo USA made a deal to purchase San Diego's Stone Brewing Company for $168 million. Sapporo acquired Stone Brewing's production and sales operations as well as its restaurant business, hut Stone's Southern California distribution business was not included in the deal. At the time, Sapporo planned to produce its Sapporo-branded beers for U.S. distribution in Stone’s breweries in Escondido, CA and Richmond, VA, with the goal of brewing 360,000 barrels in the U.S. by the end of 2024, essentially doubling Stone Brewing’s current beer production.

After trying and failing to brew Sapporo at Stone Brewing Escondido, Stone has now perfected the recipe and will soon release the Japanese lager at Stone World Bistro & Garden locations under experimental labels. The company needs to invest $20 million in capital to upgrade its facility to handle brewing both Sapporo and its own line of Stone beers. As such, Stone is looking to hire more than 100 positions within the next six months.

For more information, visit stonebrewing.com.