USA, CO: New Belgium assumes production of premium Japanese Kirin Ichiban and Kirin Light beers

Having converted to MicroStar’s shared-keg model in 2018, New Belgium will now add Kirin’s line of premium Japanese beers in order to benefit from a more cost-efficient, sustainable and flexible keg supply chain solution, Yahoo Finance reported on September 9.

Kirin brands will be available in MicroStar-branded kegs in the U.S. beginning in January 2025.

These brands bring additional scale and growth to the New Belgium platform, complementing the #1 U.S. craft brand family by volume. Kirin joins the rapidly growing Voodoo Ranger portfolio, Fat Tire – America’s first certified carbon neutral beer and all of Bell’s highly-acclaimed brands including Two Hearted IPA - frequently voted the best beer in America - and Oberon Ale.

“We are committed to adopting human-powered business practices in everything we do, and this extends to how we choose our supplier partners,” said Shaun Belongie, New Belgium’s CEO. “MicroStar’s teams share our values and operate like an extension of our breweries which is incredibly important as we continue to grow. Additionally, MicroStar’s dense global network of shareable kegs shortens the distance empty kegs travel compared to the traditional owned keg model, lowering our greenhouse gas emissions supporting our sustainability mission.”

“Having worked closely with New Belgium for years, it’s no surprise that Kirin has entrusted their teams to produce these iconic Japanese brands,” said Casey Dodson, MicroStar’s Senior Vice President, Global Commercial. “As the global leader in keg solutions, we are excited by the opportunity to play a larger role supporting Kirin’s and New Belgium’s continued success.”

New Belgium’s expanded portfolio benefits from MicroStar’s dense network of kegs and achieves dramatic cost and sustainability benefits compared to the traditional owned-keg model. By sharing a pool of kegs rather than owning their own, over 1,200 leading brewers reduce their collective carbon footprint by over 10 million kg of CO2e annually based on an ISO-14040 framework LCA conducted by Deloitte.

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