USA: Sapporo’s Stone Brewing to pull out of all of its export markets in 2025

US craft beer pioneer Stone Brewing is pulling out of all 50 of its export markets from January 2025, the Drinks Business reported on November 20.

The brewery, founded by Greg Koch and Steve Wagner, was sold to Sapporo in August 2022 for US$165 million (approx. £130 million) and has since been renamed Sapporo-Stone.

CEO Zach Keeling said of the withdrawal: “This decision was not made lightly. Stone’s international export business makes up about 1% of our total sales. Despite our team’s strong efforts, the current environment has challenged our growth.

“We have a clear and very promising plan for future growth, which requires us to concentrate our focus on the US market where both Stone and Sapporo brands are experiencing the most success. We thank our international fans for their years of support.”

In May this year, the newly formed Sapporo-Stone announced its plans to become the 10th largest brewery in the country, which it hopes to achieve through the investment of US$20 million in Stone’s Escondido, California brewery and US$40 million in the Richmond, Virginia plant, which should give a capacity of between 700-800,000 US barrels (approximately 800-900,000 hectolitres), and means Sapporo is no longer reliant on brewing in Canada and Vietnam to service the US market with its core products.

Further signs of the company’s new direction came in October, when it announced the discontinuation of some special releases, Enjoy By IPA and larger format bottles, a move that signalled interest from the beer enthusiast and speciality market was no longer considered key to its business model.

These latest plays, on top of the sale when Stone had loudly built its name on being anti-big beer, are likely to have driven away the last drinkers who were interested in the brewery in the first place, but industry observers will be less surprised; a deal seemed inevitable when former CEO Maria Stipp, who oversaw the Lagunitas sale to Heineken, was hired in September 2022, added to the fact that it was seven years after private equity firm VMG had bought into the business and was looking for an exit strategy, especially after the challenges of the global pandemic.

The brewery’s stated focus is now on its successful launch of Delicious IPA multipacks and its Mexican salt and lime lager Buenaveza, a long way from the days of Arrogant Bastard IPA, which helped Stone make its mark in the burgeoning craft market in 1997.

UK importer, James Clay and Sons sought to reassure customers that it has sufficient stock to last through until early next year and had this to say: ‘As beer lovers, we’re sad to see Stone Brewing exit export markets globally.

“The nature of our imported portfolio requires us to be ready to respond to the evolving business plans of hundreds of breweries worldwide and, as always, we continue to seek out the best breweries and brands to represent in the UK market.”

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